My Life and Times

December 4, 2004BASEBALL ANALYSIS
Yanks May Have to Pay to Send Giambi AwayBy JACK CURRY
he Yankees are making plans for the 2005 season, desperately hoping that Jason Giambi will be a former Yankee but operating, at least for the moment, as if he will be with them.
It is obvious that the Yankees do not want Giambi any longer, and they would love it if his admission about using steroids allowed them to escape the four seasons and $82 million left on his contract.
But even though the Yankees are trying to develop a case against Giambi, they are skeptical about getting his contract voided. They are preaching caution as they tiptoe through a complicated off-season that has become more muddled. Still, interviews with individuals in the baseball world with connections to Giambi and the Yankees indicate that both sides are aware that one possible way to part with each other is through a buyout of Giambi's contract.
A buyout could be attractive for the Yankees because it would sidestep the fact that Giambi' s admission of illegal steroid use, contained in an article in The San Francisco Chronicle about Giambi's purported grand jury testimony in the Balco case, amounts to hearsay at this point and carries no legal heft.
On the other hand, any buyout plan would have to win the approval of the Major League Baseball Players Association, and that might not be possible, no matter what the terms.
In a buyout, the Yankees and Giambi would have to determine how much money each would give up to end their relationship. How much would the free-spending Yankees give Giambi to have him drift away? How much would Giambi, who has long been uncomfortable in New York, accept to leave?
Start at the midway point. Would the Yankees give Giambi $41 million. It is an alarming sum of money to pay someone who was unavailable for most of the 2004 season and who violated the team's trust.
But the Yankees could easily view it as a way to save $41 million, too, and trudge forward. Especially if they conclude that they do not have a strong enough case to pursue anything legally.
But the players association would certainly object to Giambi's sacrificing half of his contract. The union balked when Alex Rodriguez tried last winter to defer enough money on his contract to save the Boston Red Sox $28 million and allow him to escape from the Texas Rangers. In the end, the union's stance killed the trade to Boston, and Rodriguez instead became a Yankee.
The union's approval of any Giambi buyout would be needed because it would represent a devaluation of an existing contract, as was the case with Rodriguez. And a devaluation cannot occur without the union's approval, regardless of the player's desire.
If the Yankees no longer wanted Giambi, the union would undoubtedly maintain that the club should simply release him and pay him the remainder of his contract. Giambi would then be free to sign with any team he wanted, with that team owing him only baseball's minimum salary.
That would be an intensely costly option for the Yankees, and one they might resist. But could Giambi prevail on the union to compromise on the buyout issue and get him out of an uncomfortable situation in New York? It's not unthinkable, even if it's not likely.
For the moment, the Yankees are incensed with Giambi. A baseball official who was briefed on a meeting between the Yankees and the commissioner's office on Thursday said the Yankees felt Giambi misled the team's medical staff while he was being treated for an intestinal parasite and a pituitary tumor last season. The official said the Yankees told the commissioner's office that the team questioned Giambi about possible use of steroids and that he denied using them, which had an impact on the medical treatment he received.
When the Yankees signed Giambi to a seven-year, $120 million contract before the 2002 season, they knew there were steroid rumors about some players, including Giambi. Still, they chased after him, ignored that he was a designated hitter masquerading as a first baseman and ended up with a player who was good for one season, disappointing the next and a nonentity in 2004.
Now the Yankees are stuck with Giambi, a 33-year-old player they privately consider useless.
If they can find a way to sever ties, through a buyout or other means, Giambi might end up back in Oakland, where he was the American League's Most Valuable Player on a very talented team.
The A's, whose fans are probably more forgiving than those in New York, could portray Giambi's return as an effort to help a former star resurrect his career.
The Yankees would probably be content with that storyline, too.
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