The firm of Giambi, Smoltz and Baldelli
by RussGoodbye Giambi. I admire Giambi for the way he didn’t give up when the steroids thing became public and when he got hurt. He fought through it and had a good year a few seasons ago. That’s probably why his teammates liked him so much. But can I say it was a successful contract? Probably not. We didn’t get enough on the front end of it, a little bit in the middle, and got next to nothing on the back end of it.Â
As far as the Sox latest moves, if the Yankees had made these moves, I can see them being killed in the national press. “Does Smoltz have anything left?” “Smoltz has been injured alot lately.” “Baldelli, can he stay healthy?” “There go the Yankees again, acquiring older players past their prime and guys who can’t stay on the field.”Â
But we know that the Sox (and Theo Epstein) will be praised for their cunning, their shrewdness, and talent for acquiring low risk, high reward players, blah, blah, blah. While the Yankees are criticized for spending money on quality talent (this time around at least).
Didn’t the Four Tops have a song about that?
3 comments January 09 2009 9:43 am | Russ | Discussion |
Well….the counter to your point made by Red Sox people will be that the Yankees spent a lot of money or gave up prospects on the older players (Johnson, Brown, etc.). While the Red Sox have committed under $10 Million to these guys.
Those counter arguments will disappear if (i) Smoltz receives the incentives that could send his price north of 10 mill and (ii) they trade Clay Buckwheat as anticipated. Also, when was the last time the Yanks traded away a prospect with the tools of Hanley Ramirez?
Well…they DID get Beckett for H-Ram resulting in two championships. Not like they traded Hanley for a player past his prime.
The counter arguments won’t disappear if Smoltz receives incentives. Because that will mean that the risk paid off and he was successful. Theo will be lauded if that happens.
I think they’re down on Bucholz. Doesn’t mean he won’t be good, but he may not be good in the Red Sox system.