Goodbye Oakland, Hello New York (1 Viewer)

[Trey Fletcher]

Unfrickenbelievable...

Well Steinbrenner did it again. Just heard on the radio that subject to passing a physical, Jason Giambi will be wearing Yankee pinstripes next year. 7 years, at $18 million per year. I guess that officially seals Tino's fate, which will actually upset a few NY fans. Shit, they'll probably go after Bonds next...

 

[Mark Schermerhorn]

Well, I'll get the Yankee bashing underway:

Hey cool, they're trying to purchase another world series. That's really inspiring. And my team is probably going to be offed after they build a team the old fashioned way.

 

[Jeff_A]

I can't wait for the first post from one of our many Yankee fan's trying to convince the rest of us that their team plays on the same monetary field as the rest of MLB. Yeah, right! :rolleyes

 

[MikeM]

[sarcasm]Hey, just because the Yankees can afford to buy all of the best players, doesn't guarantee them a championship. How did the Dodgers with their high payroll do last year? How about the Orioles? And just because we might sign Bonds and even Sosa, that doesn't mean we're buying the Championship.[/sarcasm] :rolleyes
If you think I'm serious, just look at what city I'm from.
It's like playing a game of Monopoly where one player starts out with Boardwalk, Park Place and $100k, and other players are given, Baltic, 2 bucks and a pat on the back. Baseball has become a joke.

 

[Jim__B]

Being a Yankee fan this is great news. I know there are lots of Yankee haters but if you have the $ and no cap why not get the best.

 

[MikeM]

Link Removed
This is a sad, sad day in Oakland. :frowning:

 

[Rob Willey]

So is Tino now Oakland bound?

Rob

 

[Tomoko Noguchi]

Yah,

I'm waiting for RikP to come in soon.

The only way to eliminate the disparity in the MLB is to start revenue sharing. The Yankees are playing within the rules as they are now, but I cannot believe that most fans will even want to go to games if the Yankees win the next 3-4 world series. I know I wouldn't

 

[Marvin]

Well, at least all of you Yankee haters can be comforted by the knowledge that this (if it turns out to be true) will weaken the team defensively. And Tino wasn't too bad offensively.

 

[James RD]

I don't know why the press keeps characterizing Giambi as a defensive liability. He is an adequate first baseman and has improved over the years. He is especially adept at digging out throws. He is slow, but a good baserunner. You Yankee fans will be surprised and pleased with his offense (you already know that) his defense and his attitude.

I don't believe he EVER intended to sign with the A's. It was always the Yankees. Okay. We will move on. He is now the enemy.

 

[John Thomas]

Yep. You can't fault the Yanks for playing with the cards given, but in this case the dealer is the MLB who basically is allowing this imbalance to continue. The Yanks -do- have more money to lure players away; Giambi was almost a guarantee to be a Cardinal, but who can compete with the biggest market when it comes to money?
At least John Smoltz recognized the devils and left 'em alone. More appropriately, he chose the lesser of two evils.

 

[Marvin]

I didn't mean to say Giambi is a defensive liability; just that Martinez is an excellent first baseman.

I just read a report in which the Yankees denied that any deal has been reached, so it's not definite yet.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Tomoko, please let the Ric thing go already. Sheesh.

MikeM, I thought of you during this process. Honestly, this sickens me. I really like the OAK club and was fully prepared to watch them take over as the Yanks aged out of contention.

The Mussina thing bugged me, but BALT had spent a lot on him too and hadn't won and he was getting older, so I could deal with it. Plus, while he put up nice numbers he was still no 100% sure thing like a Pedro or Randy. He had weakpoints.

Clemens bugged me, but honestly I still think that was a lame deal. He had the wins this year, but I don't think at this point he is really that much better than what Welles would have been had he stayed with the Yanks. In that way it truly pissed me off when they went after him. I would MUCH prefer that Boomer had simply been kept.

Knobby, well that didn't work out really well, thank god, because it was another deal that I didn't like and couldn't totally understand. If you think he was the difference maker, you are crazy. The Yanks could have put a lot of other people in his place and still won based on what he has brought to the table.

But this Giambi deal, this IS buying a WS. The guy is just hitting his prime. This isn't Reggie after he put in perhaps his best years with the A's. This is a guy who probably has another 5 just like the last couple at least.

I can only pray that the Giambi deal bites the team in the butt. I hope Tino goes to OAK and they do better than the Yanks thanks to that deal. I LIKED rooting for Tino, partially because he came through without being an MVP candidate.

Look, I'm a YANKS fan, not a fan of whatever hired gun they bring in. I like the homegrown guys, the straight up trade guys and the guys that other people were willing to pass on. But this Giambi thing...too much.

I like him as a player, but I think it is HIS doing that will put him in NY. And that bothers and confounds me. What the hell do the Yanks have that the A's don't?? Especially next season. I think the better team for JG was Oakland.

BTW, blame Bud for the Twins thing, not the Yanks. The Twins must have been doing something right by putting a couple of WS teams together and based on this season putting together another competitive team. Bud is just an idiot, and this isn't the first time we've seen it. There is no good reason to close down that team.

 

[PatrickM]

Giambi to the Yankees was an inevitable deal. George likes to win and he's got the money to do it.

You hear all these sports columnists saying how can the baseball owners cry that there are problems in baseball with players salaries when owners pay A-Rod and Giambi big bucks. Well in reality its not the owners its certain owners like Tom Hicks (what a moron) and Steinbrenner.

Without these two in the league you would probably have less of a bidding war for players. But, of course if there is no bidding war then the players union cries collusion.

Oh well, hopefully the most expensive team doesn't win.

Patrick

 

[MikeM]

Seth, that was a great post.



We've differed in the past on this subject, but I want to thank you for seeing the other side of the coin in this case.



What's really sad about this whole deal is that Giambi was the heart and soul of the A's. He was their leader. Whenever the press needed a quote, they'd go to Giambi. He's such a likeable guy, that even going to the Yanks won't stop me from rooting for him. (Hey, I have practice in rooting for McGwire as a Cardinal.) When he made the All-Star team in 2000 he took out a full page ad in the local paper saying that this was the best year any player could dream of. He got to play with his brother on the team, got voted into the All-Star game as a starter from a small market team, and led the A's to winning the AL West. All storybook stuff.



What makes this move even worse is that I've followed Giambi's career from the beginning, and one thing I know is that he loves[/b[ to play first base. The guy talks up a storm with every guy who reaches first base. He's always laughing a joking with them, and it's really fun to watch. Plus, he can play. People who don't follow the A's will just remember his defensive series with the Yanks this year and think he can't play. He can. But I'm sure that Torre will eventually start him more and more at DH, and Giambi in the field will be one more thing fade away from baseball. Sad.

 

[Steve Hill]

Mark Schermerhorn

i always like to remind people who say that the yankees purchase their world series that:

Jorge Posada

Derek Jeter

Alfonso Soriano

Shane Spencer

Bernie Williams

Mariano Rivera

Andy Pettitte

Ramiro Mendoza

all of these players came up in the farm system. it's just awesome to have the best owner in pro sports. deep pockets never hurt either!

 

[Joseph S]

all of these players came up in the farm system. it's just awesome to have the best owner in pro sports. deep pockets never hurt either

Too bad that the Yankees also have the largest minor league farm system and highest paid scouts so this argument doesn't fly in MLB. It's not the NBA or NFL draft where players both national and foreign are available to all teams. You don't have to be a genius if you sign every prospect available and stick them in your development camps and minor league francises.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseb...play/built.htm
The only players the Yankees drafted on their team are:
Pettite, Posada, Jeter, and Spencer.
That's it, the rest are free agents or trades.

 

[Tomoko Noguchi]

Steve,

I think everyone knows that the Yankees have developed many great players in their farm system. It's that they can and have paid alot of money to keep the great ones, gone after the ones who are great with money, and will continue to go after the great ones with money unless this insanity ends.

 

[Sam C]

Just another huge argument for revenue sharing ... And when speaking on Giambi ... Well ... Huge comes to mind ...

Note to Giambi: Krispy Kreme is a treat ... Not a food group !!!

 

[John Besse]

Damn, I wish that Bud Selig would put a damn salary cap on teams in baseball. I hate the Yankees. What fun is it to buy the World Series each and every year. Give some other teams a chance. This is the worst news I've heard all day.

If Barry Bonds goes to New York. I will not be watching baseball next season. I was so glad to see Bonds take the Home Run record. If he goes to New York, McGwire should have just kept it. New York, St. Louis... My 2 most despised teams in baseball, in that order.