Where have you gone, Giambistache? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. A-woo-woo-woo.

Well, we can only hope the mustache makes a triumphant comeback.

Jason Giambi’s return to Oakland has sparked a resurgence of positive thoughts, according to ESPN’s Howard Bryant. The thong-wearing slugger is full of hopes and dreams for this season and, if nothing else, seems refreshed by his return to the snazzy green uniform.

He is convinced that he is past the strategy of sacrificing average for power he employed during his final years in New York because he no longer swings in agony. He believes the things his body can no longer do he can compensate for with experience and — most importantly — the absence of pain.

As Giambi fans, we must admit we’re hoping for a teensy slump, if only to bring back that glorious facial hair.

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Rick Vaughn athletics, espn, jason giambi

Pictured: The WBC

If you missed the World Baseball Classic, you missed one hell of a good time. It only helps that foreign stars get a chance to shine because all the US high-caliber free agents and/or their teams are terrified of getting injured. Good news, WBC fans. According to the league, the WBC did not bust in and injure everybody.

There were 69 players on disabled lists at the start of the season Sunday, down from 106 last year and 97 in 2007. The only lower total since the major leagues expanded to 30 teams in 1998 was when there were 66 in 2006, the commissioner’s office said Monday.

Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive vice president of labor relations, said the figure counters those who say the World Baseball Classic causes more players to get hurt.

Haters gonna hate.

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Rick Vaughn espn, injuries

Braves fixture and all-around mostly-good guy* Chipper Jones has signed a 3 year, $42 million deal that should put him with the Braves through his retirement. As a big fan of Chipper throughout his career, it’s good to see the guy stay in one uniform for the duration, and we sincerely hope we’ve avoid the demoralizing sight of the once-great hero* limping around in a bizarro uniform for one more season.

Just in case you need a reminder, here are some highlights of Chipper’s career, courtesy of Wikipedia, god’s gift to slackers and aspiring sportswriters.

• 1st pick overall in the 1990 amateur draft
• TSN Rookie of the Year (1995)
• 6-time All-Star (1996-98, 2000-01, 2008)
• National League MVP (1999)
• 2-time Silver Slugger at 3rd base (1999-2000)
• Holds the Major League record for most consecutive games with an extra-base hit (14; tied with Paul Waner).
• 8 consecutive 100+ RBI seasons (1996-2003)
• 14 consecutive 20+ home run seasons (1995-2008)
• Most home runs in a season by a National League switch hitter (45; in 1999; tied with Lance Berkman, although Jones completed the task first.)
• Third-most home runs for a switch hitter, behind Eddie Murray (504) and Mickey Mantle (536)
• Hit the first home run at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. (2008)
• 400 Home Runs (hit 400th off Ricky Nolasco of the Florida Marlins) (June 5, 2008)
• Most Home Runs to begin a career playing under one manager (Bobby Cox)
• NL Player of the Week (June 2nd–June 8th, 2008)
• 2008 NL (and MLB) Batting Champ with .364
• 2008 Highest On Base Percentage with .470

*at least until something horrible comes out, which we hope never happens, but you can never be too careful.**

**I was just reminded of the affair with the Hooters waitress but am unsure where this charts on my outrage-o-meter.

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Rick Vaughn chipper jones, espn

Jose Canseco's defensive woes could have impacted his net worth in the developing market.

Eric Neel has a great article on the developing world of defensive sabermetrics at ESPN. He details how GMs around the league are all warming up to run differential as a way of evaluating a player’s overall contribution to a team.

Neel drags out all the usual suspects: He mentions Bobby Abreu’s fear of padded walls, Derek Jeter’s range to his left and the giant hole in Adam Dunn’s glove. He also talks about how more front offices are adopting stats like WARP and UZR to determine how much they’re willing to spend on a player.

Of course, baseball is steeped in tradition, for better or worse, so this new renaissance of glove work is born less out of progress and more out of precedent, namely the 2008 Rays:

In 2007, Tampa Bay had one of the worst defenses in modern history; according to BP’s calculations, the fielders cost the pitchers 117 runs compared with a league-average defense. But a few smart moves turned it all around: switching B.J. Upton from second base to centerfield; trading Delmon Young, who had been playing some center; and establishing Jason Bartlett, acquired in the Young deal, as the starting shortstop. Then, two weeks into the season, Evan Longoria came up from the minors and solidified third base. The collective result was one of the best defensive teams in baseball, saving 59 runs in the field. The net turnaround, from –117 to +59, accounted for almost 20 wins.

It’s hard to argue with that.  I doubt baseball will start throwing record-breaking contracts at the Christian Guzmans of the world, but in an era where power numbers are in decline, teams will need to find new metrics to be successful.

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Joe Blancato adam dunn, bobby abreu, christan guzman, derek jeter, eric neel, espn, statistcs

Immigration to the U.S. has never been easy, baseball prospect or no.

Looks like the art of smuggling baseball players has finally drawn the long arm of the federales. Peter Gammons is reporting that Major League Baseball is working with the FBI to get to the bottom of a litany of problems originally brought about by issues within the Nationals and White Sox organizations.

Former Nats GM Jim Bowden was recently forced to resign over accusations that he was skimming bonus money from contracts offered to Latin American players, and the White Sox have been accused of falsifying birth records to speed up the immigration process  for their prospects.

So far, over 70 players have been detained. It seems like much of the investigation at this point is clerical; just making sure every player is in fact who he says he is. But who knows how far the investigation can run up the chain.

Smuggling players out of Cuba has been a cottage industry for quite some time, as Michael Lewis wrote in “Commie Ball.” Much of what Lewis discovered was shady as all get-out, but due to Cuba’s diplomatic status with the U.S., Cuban players have the luxury of asking for political asylum before going on to make millions in the Majors.

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Joe Blancato espn, immigration, jim bowden, nationals, peter gammons, smuggling, white sox

Don't Call It A Comeback

Fresh off an 0-for-5 outing in the WBC, retired Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams is considering a return to MLB.

The budding musician said,

“I felt really good about playing,” Williams said. “I am my worst critic and I didn’t feel very bad about it. It took me a while to get acclimated. But after a while, I felt very encouraged.”

“I can still play,” said Williams, 40, who was in New York to tape an interview for the YES Network’s “CenterStage” program.

Williams’ second album, Moving Forward, comes out this April, but considering the shaky state of the Yankees outfield, he may be donning the pinstripes once again.

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Rick Vaughn bernie williams, espn

Manny actually stole this bat from a baby.

Every now and then, the collective baseball writer hive mind shakes itself out of wondering whether eight trips to the buffet is too many and realizes something. Like every now and then, they realize despite the tremendous amount of bile they sling at Manny Ramirez, he’s actually a pretty good hitter. Perhaps this is why people put up with his shenanigans?

In a roundup of commentary from active players, we find some of the secrets to success from one of the best hitters in the game.

But Manny, from his negative move through contact — or 24/60ths of a second for a 90 mph fastball — never seems even to ruffle a dreadlock. When he completes his swing, with his long, high follow-through, his feet have hardly scraped the dirt. Slaught says that when he analyzes Manny’s mechanics, about six out of 10 swings are categorized as “perfect,” more than for any other hitter RightView Pro has studied. “The best of the rest are at about five perfect swings out of 10,” Slaught says. “Manny is just special.”

Perhaps more importantly, it’s important to support any article that doesn’t use the word “cancer.” Not once!

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Rick Vaughn dodgers, espn, manny ramirez

Duchscherer is out for at least a month with elbow surgery.

ESPN has the news about Justin Duchscherer’s impending elbow surgery. The starter has been battling elbow soreness all Spring Training, and now he’s going under the arthroscopic knife to repair the problem.

As’ manager Bob Geren told ESPN, “Anytime you lose a guy it’s disappointing, especially when the player is a possible No. 1 guy.” Huge bummer for the team, but this is his second injury in as many years. Between Duchscherer and former A Rich Harden, you gotta wonder if something’s going on in the As’ program lately.

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Joe Blancato athletics, bob geren, espn, justin duchscherer, rich harden

Unfortunately, Jean Valjean washed out in the minors.

Miguel Tejada has gotten his sentence for perjuring himself in front of Congress and the entire world. Our obviously seriously upset leaders saw that he got…

1 year of probation and community service.

For a professional group of angry white guys, the sportswriters histrionics union is curiously silent.

Look, personally, I give no crap about steroids. If I could double my income and tack five years on my career, I’d be screaming for a needle. But what I don’t get is the unequal treatment. If we’re going to watch the sports commentariat melt down in jowl-quivering rage because A-Rod used steroids back in the day, shouldn’t we be treated to similar temper tantrums when Tejada is convicted and sentenced for lying to Congress?

Or,  just gonna throw something out here, Manny Ramirez acting a little weird roughly makes him comparable to Hitler. Miguel Tejada lying to Congress gets a shrug of the shoulders.

Not that I’m saying we need more wordy columns with the word cancer in them, not by any means. All I ask is some consistency. Where should we be outraged, sportswriters?

Today’s justice lesson. Sporting superstar lies to Congress–and I always hear how these guys are role models even when they don’t want to be–in a pseudo-important investigation, 1 year of probation and community service. Hungry homeless man robs a bank of $100, 15 years in prison.

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Rick Vaughn astros, espn, miguel tejada, steroids

Mark Teixeira - the next Reggie?

Howard Bryant at ESPN drew on his experience in following the Yankees in Spring Training, and considers Mark Teixeira the next in a long line of potential saviors to sit down with Reggie Jackson to have “The Talk.” Every time the Yankees sign a big free agent when they’re on the World Series hunt, Jackson typically takes them out to dinner to give them a rundown on what it’s like to play for New York as a high-dollar acquisition.

Jackson has spoken with Jason Giambi and A-rod in the recent past, and while both of them performed admirably for the Yankees, neither did what Jackson did: win the team a World Series title. Bryant believes much of Jackson’s success was due to his legitimate desire to prove himself in New York: “Reggie came to New York for the most authentic of reasons. Jackson craved New York, wanted it to become a part of him. He left for free agency following the 1981 season; but for the most part, he has been back ever since the day he retired. Wanting to absorb all of New York was real for him.”

There’s no telling on how Tex will shake out, but Bryant’s perspective is an interesting read.

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Joe Blancato a-rod, espn, howard bryant, jason giambi, mark teixeira, reggie jackson, yankees