Giambi used to be my favorite player when I was in the third grade, which was about seven, eight years ago in 2001. I would wear my Giambi shirt to school every Friday.

Please stop talking to Jason Giambi, he makes absolutely no sense for this team.

ESPECIALLY on a 2-3 year deal.

I think it would be a great addition to the offense and a way for Giambi to contribute some veteran leadership in the clubhouse along with Duke, Chavvy, Ellis, and Holliday. Say what you want about veteran leadership being overrated and meaningless, but I do happen to beleive it helps on a team this young. Plus, it’s time for the Giambino to come home…….

2 years for 17-18 million w/ a club option for a 3rd – or a buyout. The A’s can absolutely afford this and still shop for Ben Sheets and perhaps a trade if one looks promising for an alternative to Crosby at SS. My two cents……..

though not sure if we’ll ever work with his Agent again (Kinzer Soze)

and Beane has dealt with him before, so they definitely are familiar with the other.

Kinzer=douche
Tellum=okay till proven otherwise.

I know it looks bad for his agency right now because of the bad publicity with Furcal/Kinzer….but that doesn’t mean that Tellum is responsible for either one’s behavior. Does it look bad for the firm? Yes. Does it mean Tellum is at fault? Probably not. It was Kinzer representing his direct client and he fucked up, and, he will have to deal with the consequences here after. Agian, just my two cents.

we saw the money offered, 4 years-38 million, and the A’s were still the only team to offer 4 years “"guaranteed” as far as we all know. And Furcal still did not want to play here……I think we have talked Furcal to death at this point. Right now, I want to talk about what’s still to come, what could happen, what is not yet doe, sir.

Serve……

:)

thing is just a head-fake.

The A’s are probably the “mystery team” in the Teixeira sweepstakes because Beane and Forst are so miffed about missing out on Furcal that they’ve decided to go for broke…

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081219&content_id=3723826&vkey=hotstove2008&fext=.jsp

unless Barton is going to be included in a deal for a MLB SS. Except, that would make no sense, since both the Brewers and the Braves are set at 1B in terms of prospects (Gamel/Freeman).

Giving Barton one more year at Sactown is one thing. No way Barton stays down there for two more years though, obviously.

Although, Giambi on any deal isn’t a smart move IMO, a 1 year deal is tolerable.

And then it really makes sense to sign Giambi for at least 1 year, although it will take at least a 2 year deal to get him to sign.They might be getting older, yes, but a heart of the order that featured Cust, Holliday, Chavez, Giambi, Tejada is still bound to put some fear in the opposing pitcher.

:)

I am not a believer in “play all the young guys” when those young guys are not ready for primetime. Mix in a Giambi, Thomas or Dunn and those pups will get better much faster. I would love to see two accomplished hitters in our lineup in 2009 and we already have one in Holliday so I have faith that BB will find another soon.

Will Barton continue to progress if he only plays a limited role vs. plugging in a slugger at 1B? I think it’s worth the attempt at his age. Now if we could only find a SS worth risking the same deal from the opposite perspective. I actually prefer to go with Crosby for another year if we can’t find someone from outside the organization. Pennington may never be the answer.

And that’s being generous…..

He was my favorite player until he went to the Yankee$, he’s dead to me now. I don’t want to see the guy, who cried at the press conference introducing him as the Yankee$ new player, back in the uniform of my favorite team, it will make me puke.

Production from 1st Base, and he can mentor Barton. Next is Tejada and Randy Johnson! I like an older A’s team!

The realist in me says no because his defense is subpar and his offense more than likely will regress leaving Yankee stadium and coming back to Oakland.

Then there’s the fan in me who gets another cup of the kool aid and says “Hell yeah!” Before this past year I didn’t pay as close attention to defensive metrics as I do now so it’s time to go back to those glory days. Plus, putting Chavez and Giambi and possibly Tejada back into the middle of our order is really why we love this game. I love the stories and that certainly is a story. I’m not bagging on anyone who really enjoys looking at the all telling stats, because I do it too, but sometimes I think it’s fun to step back and just let your inner ignorance take over and do something naughty. In this case it’s supporting the signing of Giambi because you just haven’t gotten over the glory days of this decade.

Giambi’s swing isn’t well suited to McAfee. His (small sample) OPS last year was 1.300, the year before .857 – against above average pitching, in that he was facing Oakland. Career it’s 1.004.

You’re right Nico…..JG has always hit very well in Oakland and he should continue to do so….

But should we really ignore the fact that we can have the most signature A’s infield of recent history intact for 2009? Giambi, Ellis, Tejada, Chavez….

So they are getting old, so each one has an Achilles heel of one kind or another. The fanatic fan in me is screaming that the stars are aligned and that this is more than just random…

Either way, the bottom line is that this infield is better than our current infield, all signs point to DOOOOOOOOOOOO IT!!! Imagine, if we caught fire and went to the playoffs, it would be the most gleeful season in my young life of fandom.