My overall point about Teixeira is this: ask yourself, honestly, what overall production do you expect from him over the next eight seasons? I said .290/.390/.520, and I don’t think you can argue that he’ll do much better than that considering the last three years he’s been about .300/.390/.540. He’s good, but not great, for a first baseman.
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First, if he goes .290/.390/.520 over the life of the contract (or even most of the life of the contract) I’d say that’s a fantastic result.

Second, If you’re telling me that .290/.390/.520 qualifies as “good” but not “great” for a first baseman, I have no idea who you’re comparing him to. If you’re comparing him to Albert Pujols, OK, no one said Teixeira was a first-ballot HOF candidate and one of the best hitters of the past 50 years. But what’s been league average at 1B over the past decade or so? Has it been 290/.390/.520? I’ll bet not. So clearly the man is playing at an incredibly high level.

I guess if you’re splitting hairs between “good” and “great” you’re missing the point here.

Tex: he’s pretty much the same size that Giambi was at that point in his career, so I think you can make a reasonable argument that he’s in Giambi’s “mold”. Yes, he plays better defense, and I never called him “lumbering”, but considering he’s stolen all of 13 bases in his six year career, he’s obviously slow. He’s a big, slow player, like most first basemen are. I’m pointing out that many big, slow first basemen decline very quickly.

“Giambi was a lummox who had stone hands and all the range of a washer dryer and could only do three things at the plate: hit a home run, walk, or strike out.”

He hit .342 the year before we acquired him, collecting 178 hits, 38 of which were home runs. He was a great all-around hitter who could go the other way before his rapid decline…

My overall point about Teixeira is this: ask yourself, honestly, what overall production do you expect from him over the next eight seasons? I said .290/.390/.520, and I don’t think you can argue that he’ll do much better than that considering the last three years he’s been about .300/.390/.540. He’s good, but not great, for a first baseman.

But again, I’m glad that the 2009 Yankees just got a lot better. This should be a fun season.

Why, given all of the Burnett to Pavano comparisons, are there no Teixeira to Giambi comparisons? They’re both slugging, big (nearly identically sized at this point in this career, actually) first basemen, which is the kind of player that seems to significantly decline or get injured in the late stages of their career with a much greater frequency than other position players.
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1. Giambi did steroids, which made him bigger, slower, and less effective at most things not called hitting homeruns. Although we cannot be sure Teix has not done steroids, I think we can assume that he hasn’t (at least not in the last 4 or 5 years.) Therefore, I wouldn’t expect the same physical issues with him that we experienced with Giambi.

2. Teix hits for average and plays great defense, neither of which are Giambi staples.

3. (And this is purely my opinion), But Giambi wasn’t all that terrible in his time with the Yankees. Yes, the contract was an albatross, but if Giambi hadn’t gotten “hurt” with his “gland problem,” he would have been a very productive player his entire time with the Yankees. In fact, he was for the most part. His OPS+ in 7 seasons: 172, 148, 90 (in 80 games), 161, 148, 108 (in 80 games), and 128. Most of those numbers are not terrible, and that is with his “gland” problem and other steroid issues. He hit 40+ HRs twice with the Yanks, and 30+ HRs three more times.

Those are very good numbers, maybe not up to his contract, but not terrible by any means. Teix will certainly be as good, and likely much better, than Giambi offensively. Defensively there is no comparison. He also shouldn’t have “gland problems” that cause him to miss considerable time and render him ineffective for an additional time period.

For the last friggin’ time: Texeira is NOT a “big, lumbering” first baseman in the Giambi/Ryan Howard mold. He’s an above average defender who hits for average as well as power. Giambi was a lummox who had stone hands and all the range of a washer dryer and could only do three things at the plate: hit a home run, walk, or strike out. Texeira is cut from the Don Mattingly/Will Clark cloth, so your comparison is asinine.

~~~Steve, would you say it’s World Series title or bust at this point?~~~

FWIW, one out of three Yankees fans were saying that BEFORE all these moves…

http://waswatching.com/2008/10/30/october-2008-survey-question-6/

As far as the Tex/Giambi comparison is concerned, lets not forget one of the big reasons Giambi has such a huge decline was the fact that he was no longer juicing.

Just look at what happened in Boston this year. When it came to money and the options, Manny turned on Big Papi and Co on a dime.
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And was still a productive player. This wasn’t a Derek Bell “Operation Shutdown”

especially Teix since their offense was so middling last year.
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Their offense was middling, but expect bounces back from Jeter, Cano, & Posada. Maybe Melky. Defense is shored up a bit with Nady and Swisher. So they improve the offense to maybe an 800 run offense, better run prevention (better defense), which in turn will make the pitching a little better.

There are many moving parts to building a ballclub.

Why, given all of the Burnett to Pavano comparisons, are there no Teixeira to Giambi comparisons?
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There is no Burnett to Pavano comparision. Pavano wishes he were Burnett. On his worst day, Burnett is better than Pavano.

I mentioned this in another post and was lampooned, but I’m going to bring it up again: Why, given all of the Burnett to Pavano comparisons, are there no Teixeira to Giambi comparisons? They’re both slugging, big (nearly identically sized at this point in this career, actually) first basemen, which is the kind of player that seems to significantly decline or get injured in the late stages of their career with a much greater frequency than other position players. Quote

Teix is a much better defender than Giambi and that is important on a team that not only needs clutch pitching BUT clutch defense as well. Giambi was brought on board because the Yanks weren’t that great offensively in the 2001 world series. Teix is being brought in for the youth defense AND clutch hitting.

mean, I guess we really did need another big bat given the amount of question marks in our lineup. I just honestly would have preferred to see us somehow pull off getting Manny for two years and $55 million or something like that.Quote

I love Manny’s production no doubt,but he has a sh*tty attitude. Just look at what happened in Boston this year. When it came to money and the options, Manny turned on Big Papi and Co on a dime. Manny is tempting because he is a RBI machine BUT a cancer in the clubhouse. He’s kinda like the girlfriend that is a 10 on the hotness scale and a 12 on the high maintenance/bitchy scale!