What to do if/when Giambi gets back

We have had some discussion about Giambi getting close to coming back and whether that's a good thing or not.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen if he is actually as close to returning as he thinks he is.

July 26, 2007 - Associated Press

Manager Joe Torre said both he and GM Brian Cashman thought DH Jason Giambi's prediction that he would be ready to rejoin the team next week might be overly optimistic. Giambi has been out since May 30 with torn tissue in his left foot and is set to start a minor league rehab assignment on Friday with Class-A Tampa. ``I just talked to Cash about that, and he, like I, thought that was a little quick,'' Torre said. ``I don't know who communicated that to Jason. I haven't.''

But I'm curious to see what we think we could actually do with him when he does return to the team.

I bring this up because when you look at it, there aren't many places where he fits into the lineup (at least at first blush).  

Here is Giambi's line from the beginning of the season.  It is not good enough in my opinion to warrant plopping him in to the 5th or 6th hole in the order right away, but it is good enough to warrant giving him some at bats to prove that we can move him into one of those slots if he puts up some numbers first.  I'm going to try to list a set of assumptions:

1. Giambi is limited to dh, and is a superior option over Damon at dh.
   
2. Andy Phillips should be our regular 1b as long as he bats in the 7, 8 or 9 hole.
   
3. Melky Cabrera is far superior to Johnny Damon in cf, and measurably superior to Damon at the plate.
   
4. Melky might actually be our best option at leadoff (please see his splits when batting leadoff; to summarize: 80 AB .275 BA .379 OBP .375 SLG .754 OPS) - I know it's a small sample set, but it is encouraging.
   
5. Hideki Matsui is far superior to Damon at the plate and is at worst, only slightly worse than Damon in lf, and at best equal with him in lf.
   
6. Joe Torre will continue to insist upon his alternating L and R batters in the order (I don't wish to have an argument about whether or not this is a good idea, I'm simply stating that Torre will be Torre and this is a batting order philosophy he is very unlikely to break with).
   
7. Historically, Robinson Cano does his best hitting in the #7 hole.

So...that's a lot of setup, I know, but where does that leave us?  Consequently, I'm interested in hearing other considerations that I may have left out in my set of assumptions.

WHERE DO WE BAT THIS GUY?

Ninth.

It ought to fit with all the previous assumptions and I think it even leaves some flexibility in the lineup late in games (more on that later).  Here is my proposed order (in case it's not obvious the extra letter after the batters' position is their batting preference: left, right or switch):

1. Cabrera cf s
   
2. Jeter ss r
   
3. Abreu rf l
   
4. Rodgriguez 3b r
   
5. Matsui lf l
   
6. Posada ca s
   
7. Cano 2b l
   
8. Phillips 1b r
   
9. Giambi dh l

At least until he proves he can really rake like we all hope he can.  Admittedly, he won't have any real protection between Phillips and Cabrera, but he'd be a guy who can likely get on base (more than Damon at this point, at least) and not eat up outs.  If he draws the customary 7th or 8th inning walk in a close game there is a simple solution: pinch run with Damon and you don't need to burn two bench players to replace him because you can leave Damon at dh.

The biggest problem I see has been Torre's historical reluctance to sit guys with big contracts (ie Damon in this case).

Poll

Which Giambi will we see when he returns?

20%

Giambi from April: .322 BA .404 OBP .517 SLG .921 OPS

5 votes

8%

Giambi from May: .177 BA .350 OBP .323 SLG .673 OPS

2 votes

72%

Somewhere in between

18 votes

25 votes | Poll has closed