Jason Giambi's mustache provided a much-needed drag reduction as he ran the base paths in 2008.

Benjamin Kabak at River Avenue Blues got a bee in his bonnet over Joel Sherman’s comment about Jason Giambi’s base running. Sherman claimed Giambi was “station-to-station” and “offered no threat on the bases,” which is more or less true, but the guy was second-highest on the Yankees last year in terms of OPS. So this caused Kabak to wonder, how much of a detriment can a guy be when he hits 32 home runs and gets on base better than the vast majority of players?

While he doesn’t provide a definitive answer, Kabak does some math and figures out that Giambi’s one of the least efficient base runners in baseball, at least in terms of runs scored per times he reached base.

With an OBP of .373 in 565 plate appearances, he reached base 211 times last year. He scored just 68 runs for a conversion rate of just 32.2 percent. As Sherman notes, when we omit Giambi’s home runs, he scored 36 runs in 179 times on base. That means that in just 20 percent of his non-home run times on base, Jason Giambi scored a run.

Compare that 20 percent with a league-average 31.5 percent. Now, who knows exactly what that means? Giambi’s ability to score once he reaches base has as much to do with the people hitting behind him as it does his ability to go first to third.

Of the people hitting behind him, he was getting a fair amount of help last year. Throughout the year, Giambi could count on some combination of Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano and Xavier Nady hitting behind him, all guys who get on base quite a bit and posted slugging percentages of .424, .468 and .474, respectively, last year. So it’s safe to say he had a good amount of extra-base hits behind him in the lineup.

Without a larger sample size, though, it’s pretty much impossible to determine just how much Giambi’s scoring efficiency affected the Yankees last year, but Kabak’s numbers still make for a good jumping-off point.

Source.

Joe Blancato benjamin kabak, hideki matsui, jason giambi, river ave blues, robinson cano, xavier nady, yankees

The Yankees Are Better Than You And Also Have Nicer Boobs

The Yankees have hit upon a solution to Derek Jeter’s chronic grounding into a double play, which is to make sure absolutely no one is on base when he comes up.

Joe Girardi is considering putting The Captain at the top of the order, thus ensuring slightly fewer rally-killing GIDPs at critical moments.

Jeter swears it is fine, really, he’s not mad.

“It’s exactly the same unless somebody’s on base,” Jeter said. “Some particular inning whoever is hitting ninth leads off and gets on base, then it’s back to hitting second.”

Girardi liked what he saw earlier in spring training when Damon batted second so catcher Jorge Posada, who is coming back from right shoulder surgery, could hit first and get extra at-bats.

Shortly thereafter, he headed towards A-Rod’s padded room with a switch and an angry look in his eye.

Source.

Rick Vaughn batting, derek jeter, GIDP, joe girardi, johnny damon, yahoo

Beats a picture of Youk.

Dave Cameron over at FanGraphs has put together a super-comprehensive ranking of all 30 MLB teams, rating their franchise using five criteria: Ownership, Front Office, Major League Talent, Minor League Talent and Overall.

Rounding out the top three are the Red Sox at No. 1, with the Yankees and Rays tied for third. Cameron had this to say about the Sox:

Well capitalized owner who wants to win and invests in the product? Check
A cohesive front office that combines scouting and statistical analysis? Check.
A major league team that can win immediately and has pieces to build around? Check.
A minor league farm system that will replenish the major league roster? Check.

The Red Sox are the cream of the crop in baseball right now.

Hard to argue with that, though the AL East certainly remains up for grabs as the Yankees continue to spend and the Rays keep improving their young club.

The worst three franchises are the Nationals, Marlins and Astros. Cameron’s thoughts on the Nats:

It’s impossible to find an organization in worse shape than the Nats. They’re coming off a major league worst 102 loss season and their GM just resigned amidst a scandal over significant issues with their Dominican scouting operations. Rather than hiring a new general manager, the team president is just handling business himself while giving Asst. GM Mike Rizzo some increased authority without a promotion.

Yeesh.

Source.

Joe Blancato astros, dave cameron, fangraphs, marlins, nationals, rankings, rays, redsox, yankees

Price will start the year in AAA Durham

Bart Given, former Assistant GM in the Blue Jays organization, has weighed in on the Rays’ decision to send post-season phenom David Price back to AAA Durham, at least for the bulk of the regular season.

Given believes that the Rays were wise to restrict Price to minor-league duty, as he imagines the organization doesn’t want to expose Price to 200 innings of Major League ball, and therefore expose his young arm to injury. “He pitched just under 140 innings combined in the Majors and Minors last year,” he said, “and I’d imagine the organization would like to limit his innings in 2009 to the 170-175 range.  Many Clubs feel the ideal way to keep a starting pitcher healthy is to limit his increase in innings pitched to approximately 20% from one year to the next.”

Given also poo-pooed the notion that Price could get his work in the Rays’ bullpen. Given Joba Chamberlain’s injury last year, possibly the result of straddling the bullpen-rotation divide, it’s hard to argue with Given’s assertion, at least anecdotally.

Source.

Joe Blancato bart given, david price, joba chamberlain, rays