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That doesn't mean they're a better team without him, or that they can't use him. Our "DH," Damon, isn't hitting. If Giambi is healthy, he can help the team.

You're not one of those Tim McCarver, "he's clogging up the bases with all those walks" kind of guys, are you?

correlation != causation

correlation != causation

Even moreso when you just take 5 seconds to analyze the situation.

Melky Cabrera - .275/.330/.709
Johnny Damon - .241/.338/.671

Melky replaces Damon as a leadoff hitter and you stick Giambi in the 6th or 7th spot and see how he is coming along. If he's hurt, he's going to be what Damon was. If he's the usual Giambi, he could very well have an OPS of over 1.000 for stretches at a time he makes this line up much more difficult to get through.

~~~You're not one of those Tim McCarver, "he's clogging up the bases with all those walks" kind of guys, are you?~~~

Nah, I’m one of those “When Jason is in the line-up, the Yankees think ‘Wait for the 3-run homer’ and sometimes it doesn’t come” guys. I’m also one of those “Without Giambi in the line-up, the rest of the line-up understands that it’s up to them to get it done – rather than look towards the ‘big man’” guys.

If Giambi returns, he plays. And if he plays, there's no way Torre chooses Melky over Damon...

...Which is why I think they're a better team without Giambi - for now.

Nah, I’m one of those “When Jason is in the line-up, the Yankees think ‘Wait for the 3-run homer’ and sometimes it doesn’t come” guys. I’m also one of those “Without Giambi in the line-up, the rest of the line-up understands that it’s up to them to get it done – rather than look towards the ‘big man’” guys.
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Neither of those approaches makes any sense. On offense, a batter is to reach base and eventually score. Whomever's hitting in front or behind him is irrelevant.

I agree 100% with what Steve said there, there is a psychological factor that we aren't taking into account. In theory, the Yankees should be more lethal and score more runs on offense with Jason there versus him not being there. But in practice it doesn't happen that way. I think guys feel less of a burden of responsibility the minute more sluggers are on the lineup.

Can I prove that? It would be impossible, but I can sense that the team does what Steve said - ‘Wait for the 3-run homer’.

If Giambi returns, he plays. And if he plays, there's no way Torre chooses Melky over Damon...

...Which is why I think they're a better team without Giambi - for now.

Now that I will agree with. If + Giambi means - Melky, well then, that will suck. But how you can argue that Giambi and has .400+ OBP and usually .900-1.000 OPS is... what's the word.. ludicrous.

~~~On offense, a batter is to reach base and eventually score. Whomever's hitting in front or behind him is irrelevant.~~~

Just to echo what Garcia said, the mind is a tricky thing. A person can be afraid of something that cannot harm them – or where the chances of them being harmed is less than 1%. Like the fear of leaving the house. Or, the fear of spiders. There’s no logic to their fear – yet, it exists and many times hugely impacts the way that they perform. Again, the mind can make things that should be “irrelevant” into things that are actually very relevant to the people involved. On paper, and in the stats, it’s makes no sense – sure. But, in the real world, the mind makes it real.

correlation != causation

Wil Nieves has had 20 games with 2 or more AB. The Yankees are 11-9 in these games.

The Yankees are 35-35 in games where Nieves has 0 or 1 AB.

I dunno 'bout you, but, to me, it sure looks like the Yankees can win baseball games without Jorge Posada in the line-up.

I agree with bobo.

And I'll add that the Yankees won 22 World Series since 1935.

It sure looks like the Yankees can win games without that George Herman guy being in the lineup.

Can I prove that? It would be impossible, but I can sense that the team does what Steve said - ‘Wait for the 3-run homer’.
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It's not impossible; you just have to figure how many runs the Yanks score with Giambi in the lineup and how much they do without him in the lineup.

Also, just because we sense something, doesn't mean that it's true; perception != reality.

Nah, I’m one of those “When Jason is in the line-up, the Yankees think ‘Wait for the 3-run homer’ and sometimes it doesn’t come” guys. I’m also one of those “Without Giambi in the line-up, the rest of the line-up understands that it’s up to them to get it done – rather than look towards the ‘big man’” guys.
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I don't think inserting one player is going to completely change the philosophy of the team. I know we're all paranoid about this because of the ALDS against the Tigers, but there was a lot more going on there than just Sheffield coming back. Melky was benched, which in this case wouldn't happen, and Damon stopped hitting, Giambi stopped hitting, and A-Rod stopped hitting. Damon and Giambi nose-dived at the end of the year and were fairly worthless in the playoffs. That had as much to do with the post-season collapse as anything else.

I don't believe for a second that Jeter, A-Rod, Abreu or Matsui change their approach because Giambi is around. Do you think A-Rod thinks of Giambi as "the big man"? I don't. I think if Giambi comes back healthy, things will remain the same, except that there will be production from the DH spot.

Raf,
I guess we'll just have to see. It's not anything against Giambi, I just feel the Yankees are better off without than with him.

I'd like to ask you a follow-up, what happened to the Yankees last year when Sheffield and Matsui were all put into the lineup? No longer did we have the role players getting the slap hit/double, we had a bunch of sluggers that were all trying to hit it out of the ballpark.

We'll just have to wait and see. But let's not repeat history, especially when we have so many games to win.

Yankees, Team Record in games where Jason Giambi has an appearance (Yanks record in other games in parenthesis):

2007, to date: 20-25 (26-19)
2006: 82-57 (15-8)
2005: 84-55 (11-12)
2004: 50-30 (51-31)
2003: 95-60 (6-1)
2002: 99-56 (4-2)

Say what you want, but, over the last two years, when Jason Giambi is not in the Yankees line-up, the team plays better – in terms of winning percentage.

Let's see... in ALDS game 1 Giambi's presence didn't hurt the Yanks.

In game 2 Giambi's presence must have caused Mussina to give up the lead.

In game 3 Giambi's 0-4 killed the Yanks, not Randy Johnson's poopy performance?

In game 4 Giambi didn't even play but his clogging up (the bench?) was the reason the Yanks lost. Did he give Wright the evil eye?

As usual in the post season it's the pitching.

If Giambi becomes healthy enough to play then make the decision based on who he would take the place of. Until then there's no need to worry.

Personally, I don't think he'll be back this year but that's just my guess.

I'd like to ask you a follow-up, what happened to the Yankees last year when Sheffield and Matsui were all put into the lineup? No longer did we have the role players getting the slap hit/double, we had a bunch of sluggers that were all trying to hit it out of the ballpark.
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In those 10 games, the Yanks went 5-5.

They scored 4, 0, 4, 16, 5, 16, 1, 7, 5, 5 runs. Averaging 6.3 runs a game doesn't tell me they had trouble scoring.

Say what you want, but, over the last two years, when Jason Giambi is not in the Yankees line-up, the team plays better – in terms of winning percentage.
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You should work for a Republican pollster.

Don't you find the the sizes you're comparing absurd, and do you really think Giambi is the sole factor if they win or lose? You can't just look at how a team plays with someone in or out of the lineup and say "they win at a higher percentage." What if Giambi drives in five runs but the pitcher gets bombed? Is it Giambi's fault they lost? You can't hang every loss on a player who appeared in the game. There are too many factors to make it meaningless.

Maybe another way to look at it is that Giambi out has opened an everyday spot for Melky. I just hope that Torre doesn't make the same mistake as last year. If Giambi comes back make it Giambi or Damon for DH, gotta keep Melky in there everyday.

It should also be pointed out that according to his wikipedia page, Miguel Cairo has the highest winning percentage of any active player in games he appears in. So clearly Miguel Cairo should be the starting first baseman.

Never mind that he's played for some teams that have high winning percentages; clearly the explanation should be some vague reference to his "grit" and "desire to win."

The Yankees are undefeated without A-Rod in the lineup, too...

The Yankees have officially signed Erubial Durazo, for real this time:

http://pinstripespa.blogspot.com/2007/07/yankees-officially-sign-durazo.html

Frankly, the idea that they sit around and wait for the 3 run homer with Giambi is ridiculous, and that's being generous. Why ? Because if they would do that with Giambi in the lineup, why not with the guy leading MLB in HR, RBI, and SLG% ? That argument falls apart pretty quickly.

Besides, when Giambi WAS healthy, the problem the team had was not scoring runs, but pitching. I don't recall Giambi ever taking the hill for this team.

I guess you are just trying to start an argument when you say things like this.

Everyone knows that Melky replacing JD in CF has made a big difference in the way the Yankees play. As most here have stated, it's Melky IN, not Giambi OUT, that has had the impact.

And a lot of that impact is defensive range and throwing. How many plays has 'Melky's arm' made a difference? And I believe Melky has better range now in CF then JD.

Also, Giambi is not just a '3-run homer’ guy. He is a .400 OBP guy and the 1st or 2nd best OPS guy for the Yanks every year but his injury year. He's one-dimensional? Fine... the Sox are better off withOUT Papi and Cleveland is better withOUT Hafner.

Imagine Giambi's OBP in the 3 hole in front of ARod. Or the pitches ARod sees with Giambi behind him.

If Giambi comes back, and Torre benches Melky instead of JD, well, that's Torre's stupidity, not Jasons 'lack of value'.

Look our record in 1 runs games. I think the 9 or so HRs we are missing (from Giambi), and well as his ability to keep rallies going, would have had a big impact of that number. With ShefSui OUT last year, Giambi posted a .971 OPS. I believe he could have hit for a higher BA and OBP, but he was 'trying' for the HR to compensate for Shefsui being out.

If Giambi can post 'Giambi like' numbers as DH (and therefore NOT be a liability in the field), he is tremendously valuable to this team.

Me... unless we can find a real impact 1st baseman, I would like to see (in 2008) Giambi at DH, Matsui at 1st, JD in LF (as Matsui I think is even worse now in LF then before his wrist injury) and Melky in CF. (The Yanks will probably keep Mats in LF and maybe use JD at first, but I think my plan is better).

Of course, this assumes Giambi comes back healthy and that we don't sign Tex.

Last year, Giambi SCORED 92 runs, drove in 113 and had a .413 OBP. in 2005, Giambi had a .440 OBP.

Really Steve.... picking a fight just to get comments?