Hi! My Name Is: Jason Giambi (DH / 1B)

Each day, "Piss and Wynegar" will present Yankees "player previews" for the coming 2008 season. In what can only be referred to as a "revelatory" strategy, we will use statistics, as well as opinion, to further our analysis.

Holy shit, is Jason Giambi the starting first baseman?! Spitting in the face of reason, it appears that Mr. Giambi is the first-string option to man the not-so-hot-corner in ’08. Aided by the off-season jettisoning of Andy Phillips and Doug Menkietwiecz, the Bombers don’t appear to have many defensive options, especially with fleet-footed Wilson Betemit as the backup apparent. Why should this frighten Yankees fans? Well, it shouldn’t, as long as Yankees fans find a lack of basic fielding range, butchered ground balls, and sub-Little-League-quality throws to second and home comforting.

Well, at least the Giambino still brings the thunder at the plate, right? Right? Oh, boy.

With every mysterious, season-killing ailment that befalls Jason, we die a little inside. Last year, Giambi’s numbers were stunted by a lingering foot injury and the stats ended up eerily reminiscent of 2004, when a small worm ate away at his insides and a benign tumor infiltrated his pituitary gland. Ah, memories. So, while it might seem like a cop-out, we’re willing to say that it was Jason’s injuries that held him back in ‘07, especially when one considers that his OBP was nearly 60 points off of his career average and his SLG was off by more than 100 points (the only other year in which the numbers were so drastically skewed was the aforementioned ’04).

Meanwhile, the former offensive beast still maintained a finicky eye (40 BB in only 254 AB), but Giambi often looked like a shell of his former, 'roided self; sluggish and overmatched at the plate. Here's hoping that #25 will start playing for a new paycheck and that a little of the ol' WWE-lovin', tattoo-wearin', goatee-shavin' basher will return; however, there is also a distinct chance that Jason will continue to transform from a hitter that "doesn't swing at bad pitches," to a hitter that just, "doesn't swing." In that case, it's going to be a bumpy season.

To read previous "Hi! My Name Is" entries, click here.

Spring Has Sprung A Blog

Greetings, friends. Welcome to "Piss and Wynegar," a blog determined to gleefully deconstruct the goings-on of our favorite Major League Baseball team, the New York Yankees, as they and their fans embark on yet another year of A-Rod bashing, Melky-worshiping, and fatalistic calls to sports talk radio stations after losing two out of three to the Orioles in April.

The full squad has reported to Tampa, the crack of the bat can be heard echoing throughout this great land of ours and, finally, we can turn our attention to talk of baseb -- what? [pause.] Seriously? A press conference? About what? Shit.

As you can plainly see, it's going to be a fantastic year. When talk of shooting syringes into one's ass is the hot topic of conversation on the first day of Spring Training it can only portent wonderful things down that proverbial 162 game road.

Let's all savor the moment, shall we?

In short, "Piss and Wynegar" has been created to add its collective two cents to the already overgrown world of Yankee coverage. Why? Because we feel like it. And we hope that we can add some perspective.

A simple approach applies to this site: 1) We love the Yankees, and have since we were itsy-bitsy li'l boys hitting .205 in Little League, still believing that we could "make it" in the Bigs someday; however, 2) We recognize that a lot of ridiculous shit goes on throughout the year and we are just as passionate about being critical as we are about watching the Bombers win a World Series.

In other words, while we defend the honor of Derek Jeter and the like, we don't drink the Kool-Aid when it comes to reality. Hopefully, that'll be enough to make it interesting. If not, well...we can always rely on a good ol' fashioned "Sawx Suck!" post to even the playing field.

So, come for the Yankee talk. Stay for the dry wit and cynical perspective of the authors. Welcome to "Piss and Wynegar."