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I don't understand Giambi

Bret Sabermetric Apr 17 2006 11:14 AM

He hit 2 monsters HRs last night. Is he juicing again? Is he doing this without the juice? (And if so, why did he need it in the first place?) Did he never use the juice in the first place? (And if so what was he apologizing for?) Is he just on a lucky tear and the final numbers will catch up with him? Is he using HG hormone, or something that gets past the testers? What do you say? I'm just puzzled.

KC Apr 17 2006 11:16 AM

I don't know about Giambi, but the way the balls were flying off Mets bats in Washington I was kinda wondering if the baseballs weren't juiced again.

mlbaseballtalk Apr 17 2006 11:20 AM

KC wrote: I don't know about Giambi, but the way the balls were flying off Mets bats in Washington I was kinda wondering if the baseballs weren't juiced again. Get someone to investigate that! CHECK THE BATS! Gotta be corked! People have been wondering about this since at least 1987 with juiced balls, juiced bats, juiced players, smaller ballparks. Seems like things will never change, even if logic dictates that things are changing

metsmarathon Apr 17 2006 11:27 AM

pitchers not being on greenies tiring out before the hitters, and thereby tossing fatter meatier pitches destined for the cheap seats?

Nymr83 Apr 17 2006 11:36 AM

I think juiced balls are a given, Seaver opened one up on the air once and said it was far more tightly bound than balls from his era, with a rubber core that didnt used to be there.

*62 Apr 17 2006 11:40 AM

Giambi is just a good, professional hitter. Even without the juice his power is ballpark-proof, and he doesn't swing at garbage. I don't believe he ever actually needed to juice, but got caught up in "keeping up" with all the guys who do. I expect he'll hit close to 40 bombs with 600 plate appearnaces.

Centerfield Apr 17 2006 11:43 AM

If that's the case, 62, (and I'm not saying you're wrong), how does one explain that first year off the juice where he hit .200?

*62 Apr 17 2006 11:46 AM

He was injured all year. Whether or not his injuries were a result of his doping, who knows, but he was injured.

metirish Apr 17 2006 11:49 AM

Wallace Matthews wonders about Giambi too. [url=http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/ny-spwally174705336apr17,0,7166604.column?coll=ny-sports-columnists]Jason Giambi[/url]

Elster88 Apr 17 2006 11:50 AM

Nymr83 wrote: I think juiced balls are a given, Seaver opened one up on the air once and said it was far more tightly bound than balls from his era, with a rubber core that didnt used to be there. I don't remember who it was, Jim Palmer maybe, who said that you used to be able to pinch the ball and the surface would come up.

KC Apr 17 2006 11:50 AM

OE: re: Giambi There has to be a withdrawl period too, I mean he was half dead for awhile.

metirish Apr 17 2006 11:52 AM

Even though he's a MFY Giambi is a likeable sort of fellow.

Elster88 Apr 17 2006 11:53 AM

Steroids don't work that way. It's not like if you stop taking steroids that all of a sudden all the muscle you built up will disappear. You'll still be well above the strength you were at when you started juicing. -------------- So what I'm saying is, just because Giambi and Bonds stopped taking steroids, if they indeed stopped, it doesn't mean they'll stop hitting balls to the moon. What's more likely is that they will get an injury that will take them a long-ass time to recover from, because another benefit of steroids is that you heal more quickly.

Rotblatt Apr 17 2006 11:58 AM

We'll see what happens over the course of the season. I think his batting average will drop to the mid-to-high .2's but he'll keep getting on base a lot. I don't think 40 HR is out of reach either. I suspect his days of .600+ SLG's are gone with the juice, but he'll probably be a very productive hitter while he's healthy, with good power. I haven't seen him play much this year, but I seem to recall comments about his bat speed being down last year and feasting on off-speed stuff. If true, pitchers with good fastballs will exploit that. He'll probably hit guys with mediocre fastballs but good control, like Radke, very well, since his batting eye neutralizes that control to a certain extent. Anyway, he put up solid to good numbers for a first baseman pre-juicing. While juicing, he was one of the best players in baseball. No reason to think post-juiced Giambi won't be as good as pre-juiced Giambi.

Nymr83 Apr 17 2006 12:21 PM

Elster88 wrote: ="Nymr83"]I think juiced balls are a given, Seaver opened one up on the air once and said it was far more tightly bound than balls from his era, with a rubber core that didnt used to be there. I don't remember who it was, Jim Palmer maybe, who said that you used to be able to pinch the ball and the surface would come up. I don't know who originally said it but that was one of the points Seaver made on the air as well. regardless of what you think of steroids there are juiced balls, "juiced" bats (newer, lighter woods than were being used 30 years ago), and smaller ballparks to contend with.