So it appears we have a new first baseman to replace that Giambi guy. I've had a love-hate relationship with Giambi. Just when you think Giambi is turning the corner he just lets you down. Don't get me wrong, he's done pretty good for himself offensively and occasionally had some good plays at 1st base.
Giambi was that huge MVP that the Yankee brass went after the 2001 World Series. George took that loss to the Diamondback really tough as did most of us. I can handle the 2004 collapse because I saw it coming. At no point in time did I see Mariano blowing the 9th in Game 7 of that World Series.
Replacing this guy would be tough. Martinez became an icon after winning 4 World Series rings and doing some incredible things during that postseason run. Giambi fell short specifically in batting average. He digressed into a power hitter-home run-rbi-strikeout guy. He pretty much became a designated hitter and all his "troubles" that he was "sorry" for didn't really help matters. I think in his final year he became that Yankee player we were all waiting for. He still wasn't the hitter we were expecting although he did surprise us a few times beating the shift by hitting to the opposite field. But it wasn't enough to warrant the Yankee brass offering him another contract.
Fast forward and the Yankees pick up Nick Swisher to be our 1st baseman/4th outfielder. We traded away Wilson Betemit who I was kinda fond of. As a utility man, Betemit did a pretty damn good job in my opinion. I think if he was able to play regularly he could be a decent consistent player.
Fast forward and the Yankees pick up Nick Swisher to be our 1st baseman/4th outfielder. We traded away Wilson Betemit who I was kinda fond of. As a utility man, Betemit did a pretty damn good job in my opinion. I think if he was able to play regularly he could be a decent consistent player.
So this man was our 1st baseman. To be honest, I didn't believe it. I really expected this idea to fail and Juan Miranda to take over first base. Then the Yanks end up signing CC and AJ Burnett. They overspent for CC, and I'm not sure if Burnett will work out. Anyway, that's a whole lot of money to throw out and I figured we were done shopping. I was hoping we'd pick up some else to cover 1st base. Also praying that Tex wouldn't go to the Red Sox. And I don't want Manny Ramirez. I'm sorry, we have enough outfields who can't play outfield well. We're overflowing with DH candidates so we don't really need another one.
Then the Yankees go ahead and give the fans an early Christmas:
Then the Yankees go ahead and give the fans an early Christmas:
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!
1st base became a revolving door for us. Hell, Gary Sheffield played first base. We brought back Tino, we had Nick Johnson, Andy Phillips, Wilson Betemit, Johnny Damon played for part of a game. We had rumors of Posada going to 1st, Matsui, Damon, even Jeter.
I do feel bad for the players in the minors because we have 3rd and 1st sewed up for a long time. Juan Miranda will be relegated to a 40 man roster backup. Eric Duncan probably won't ever see action in the majors. But that may be for the best. I'm not a baseball scout and I can't tell you how well they'll do in the show. The little I saw of Miranda when he was called up and the two games at the Governor's cup were a small sample. He had promise but sometimes you just never know.
I really don't know how things work out with Tex. He seems like a player that works hard and has been consistent over the years. I hope he can continue being that same player with the Yankees. Do I think he's worth the money? Probably, he's one of the few good offensive first basemen who is a good fielder that's left. Should the Yanks have let him go to the Nationals? They could've, but then there'd be that hole at 1st base (I'm sorry I never saw Swisher as a REAL solution to first base). And we've lost lots of RBI's and Runs when we let Abreu and Giambi walk. All I know is our infield is pretty set for quite a while. Our outfield will continue to be a work in progress but I hope it's an outfield that includes Xavier Nady. I'm a big fan of his style of game and I hope the Yankees have him in their plans moving forward.
I don't know how I feel about this team. It feels different than the teams we've been fielding for the past few years. I hope it's different in the right direction. But we won't know until they take the field in 2009. I've grown accustomed to avoiding predicting or expecting the Yankees to make the playoffs due to the last 3 years or so.
But, for me, no one will ever replace this man at first base. He is and will always be the 1st basemen of my Yankee team.
I do feel bad for the players in the minors because we have 3rd and 1st sewed up for a long time. Juan Miranda will be relegated to a 40 man roster backup. Eric Duncan probably won't ever see action in the majors. But that may be for the best. I'm not a baseball scout and I can't tell you how well they'll do in the show. The little I saw of Miranda when he was called up and the two games at the Governor's cup were a small sample. He had promise but sometimes you just never know.
I really don't know how things work out with Tex. He seems like a player that works hard and has been consistent over the years. I hope he can continue being that same player with the Yankees. Do I think he's worth the money? Probably, he's one of the few good offensive first basemen who is a good fielder that's left. Should the Yanks have let him go to the Nationals? They could've, but then there'd be that hole at 1st base (I'm sorry I never saw Swisher as a REAL solution to first base). And we've lost lots of RBI's and Runs when we let Abreu and Giambi walk. All I know is our infield is pretty set for quite a while. Our outfield will continue to be a work in progress but I hope it's an outfield that includes Xavier Nady. I'm a big fan of his style of game and I hope the Yankees have him in their plans moving forward.
I don't know how I feel about this team. It feels different than the teams we've been fielding for the past few years. I hope it's different in the right direction. But we won't know until they take the field in 2009. I've grown accustomed to avoiding predicting or expecting the Yankees to make the playoffs due to the last 3 years or so.
But, for me, no one will ever replace this man at first base. He is and will always be the 1st basemen of my Yankee team.
2 comments:
I will be more than happy to boo Tex the same way I booed Giambi :)
I remember a couple of years ago before Tex was traded to the Braves, some one on yahoo asked the question where did people think Tex would end up. I thought either Baltimore (home town kid comes home) or the Yankees. I picked the Yankees since Tex's favorite player growing up was Donny Baseball. For a while there was an advertisement with Tex holding the Don Mattingly rookie card which I thought was cool and even tried to find for the blog (no luck as of yet). Anyhow, Tex is a great player, I don't know the demensions of the new ballpark but I'm sure he'll do fine from either side of the plate and provide some solid defense in the field. Merry Christmas Pete.
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