Upon Jason Giambi

So Brian Cashman expects Jason Giambi to be 100% healthy for the upcoming year. For the price the Yankees are paying, I would say he damn-well better be. The initial signing of Giambi was an extravaganza which furthered the cause of the Yankee haters who argued, "The Yankees just buy their way to a championship". They had just signed the reigning MVP away from the Oakland A's, and were in position to win a 4th straight World Series title. Now, nearly 5 years later, the Yankees have yet to see their signing pay the World Series dividends that they expected. Giambi has not won a ring with New York, and neither have Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, or Javier Vazquez (who probably never will). The spending has led to 2 World Series appearances, an ALDS exit versus the eventual Champs the Angels, and last year's bow out to the eventual champion Red Sox when the road to another title was paved.

The pundits would have you believe that the Yankees free spending ways have caught up to them. They have morgatged their future for a present that hasn't panned out. The farm system has been compromised, leaving them no trade prospects. The rest of baseball has spent smarter than the Yankees. These points can certainly be argued, but one would be hard-pressed to name a team in baseball who can claim to have been more successful than the Yankees in the span since they last won a title in 2000. The Diamondbacks, Angels, Marlins, and Red Sox have all won titles. However, The D-backs have turned into a 100-loss team, the Angels have bowed out in the ALDS, The Marlins have missed the playoffs altogether, and the Red Sox have only just overcome the Yankees, though they finished second in the AL East yet again.

Now, look at the 2005 Season. The winningest team in the AL got rid of second-half loser Vazquez and brought in Carl Pavano, replaced John Leiber with Jaret Wright, bolstered the already strong but over worked bullpen with Mike Stanton, Felix Rodriguez, and healthy Steve Karsay, resigned Tino Martinez (arguably the championship catalyst), picked up Tony Womak to be a true lead-off hitter and swipe his average 40 bases, resigned a personal favorite of mine Tanyon Sturtze. Combine this with the successful surgery of Gary Sheffield which can only mean good things, a second year in NY for A-Rod, a third year for the ever improving Hideki Matsui, and the signing of Randy Johnson, and you should have a decent team out on the field.

So if you take this beast of a team, and add a .290 hitter who is good for 40 HR, 100+ RBI, and a left-handed threat in the Stadium, shouldn't that make them absolutely terrifying? If you can put 8 20+ HR hitters in a row into a line-up, left and right-handed with switch-hitters, does this not comprise a Murder's Row? If Giambi can return to the form he exhibited in his MVP year, and his first 2 years in NY, the league is in real trouble.