Jason Giambi Shows Up

Well, at least now, in Spring Training, he’s being fairly productive. Against Philly in their exhibition game, Jason Giambi hit a 3-run shot off of Cole Hamels, who is one of the toughest lefty starters in all of baseball (career .228 BA/.700 OPS). Giambi also had a double and he looked uncharacteristically mobile, which is always a good thing.

This doesn’t tell us much, I mean, it’s still Spring Training. Nonetheless, any indications of Giambi’s overall health and ability will not only tell us about his future (and production) with the team (this year), but they’ll also give Joe Girardi a better idea about the lineup, and whether or not Giambi can play everyday as the regular first baseman.

Players Reassigned to the Minors

From PA’s LoHud Blog:

The Yankees reassigned four players to the minor-league camp:

1B Eric Duncan
C Jesus Montero
INF Eduardo Nunez
C Austin Romine

Hank Was Right

Hanks comments:

“Go anywhere in America and you won’t see Red Sox hats and jackets, you’ll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We’re going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order.”

From the Biz of Baseball:

The NY Yankeesstill are far and away the most popular MLB merchandise to purchase according to information provided by SportsOne Source as of Opening Day 2007.

Below is a break down of the market share in the top 10 by licensed merchandise sales.

Team	Market Share
NY Yankees	25.4%
Boston Red Sox	8.2%
Chicago Cubs	6.7%
St. Louis Cardinals	6.2%
Los Angeles Dodgers	5.8%
Chicago White Sox	5.7%
Detroit Tigers	5.6%
New York Mets	4.6%
Atlanta Braves	4.3%
Philadelphia Phillies	3.1%

That looks like some compelling evidence.

(Thanks to Beyond the Box Score).

John Henry Makes Hank an Honorary Member of Red Sox Nation

From ESPN:

“I’m a big Hank fan,” Henry wrote in an e-mail to several media outlets, including the Boston Herald. “Just to ensure he knows how cool Red Sox Nation is, [Saturday] we officially inducted him as a member of Red Sox Nation and we are sending him his membership card giving him access to an array of options including our newsletter, bumper stickers, pins, Green Monster seats and a hat personally autographed by David Ortiz.”

Steinbrenner responded Sunday to Henry’s offer and said that while he respects Henry, he has no plans to join Red Sox Nation as a card-carrying member any time soon.

“I’m not gonna join Red Sox Nation — honorary or not — I’ll respond to that later,” Steinbrenner told the Boston Globe. “Trust me I’m never going to join Red Sox Nation. But John Henry’s a great guy.”

I think they should just have a fight to the death. That would be fun to watch, although John Henry would probably crumble into a pile of dust on his way to the ring.

Yankees VS. Phillies

If you’re not able to catch the game on tv (like myself), feel free to check out the box score, here. Pettitte started the game and threw 2 scoreless innings.

Media Tricks, No Treat

From Anthony McCarron (Daily News):

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Joe Girardi hasn’t talked much about the difficulties he had in Florida in his one-year stint as Marlins manager in 2006, but he is still on the mind of Florida owner Jeffrey Loria, who appeared to tweak the Yankee manager Saturday.

Said Loria Saturday in Marlins camp: “With the exception of last year, when we had the chain of injuries primarily hung over from the year before when there were decisions made that were not great decisions, this team has always been formidable.”

Loria was referring to the rash of injuries that struck the young Marlins pitchers. In 2006, the Marlins had four pitchers who won 10 or more games, but three of them – Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco and Anibal Sanchez – got hurt last year. Girardi once brought back Johnson after an 81-minute rain delay; Johnson later had Tommy John surgery. He has never blamed Girardi, but it seems Loria still does.

UPDATE– Here are two good rebuttals (one, two) against the idea that Girardi abused his pitchers.