You Can Go Home Again

Especially if your name is Jason Giambi. The former leader of the Oakland A's playoff teams of 2000-2001 has re-signed with the A's after 7 years in New York. Giambi passed his physical, enabling him to put his John Hancock on a 1 year, $5.25 million contract to play for Oakland.

Giambi built his reputation as a slugger, and steroid user, while averaging 35 home runs and 122 RBI from 1998-2001. He won the AL MVP Award his last season in the Bay area before bolting to the Yankees for 7 years and $120 million.

His time in New York was a mixed bag of home runs, walks, strikeouts, injuries, golden thongs, and of course, the steroid scandal. While he screwed up, he still had the backing of his teammates, most notably the Yankees captain, Derek Jeter, and was well liked by the fans and media.

Good luck in Oakland, Big G.

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A-Rod Silent, but Hank Bashes Josebag

Alex Rodriguez has refused to answer Jose Canseco's rants, but Hank Steinbrenner, to no surprise, let the king of sleeze have it in the Bergen Record.

"if [Sandy] Koufax, [Mickey] Mantle, [Babe] Ruth, [Willie] Mays or [Hank] Aaron were playing today, they all would be suspected of doing something — and of course, they didn't do it. There was no such thing in their day.

"This is the age of paranoia."

"Consider the source, that's No. 1," Steinbrenner said of Canseco. "He wouldn't have been able to hit the ball out of the infield without steroids.

"And No. 2, if Mantle or Ruth were playing today, with the 550-foot home runs they hit, everybody'd be saying they were on something. They didn't even lift weights in those days. They played on alcohol and hot dogs.

"There are certain naturals. There are guys who can just do it, and Alex is one of those guys," Steinbrenner said. "He's just friggin' great."

"He got a couple of things right with the first one, and now he's just trying to make money," said Steinbrenner, who suggested that Canseco needed this attention, "or else he'd be on some reality show on TV.

"It's a shame, because he's preying on a player that everyone's attention is on," said Steinbrenner, who emphasized A-Rod's comparison to a modern-day Mantle regarding natural ability.

"Without injuries," Steinbrenner said, "[Mantle] would've broken every record in the book.

"[Rodriguez] is not only one of the greatest hitters ever, he's one of the best shortstops ever, and one of the best third basemen," Steinbrenner said. "He is just a natural. People have to come to grips with that."

Canseco's claims are disturbing, but not as disturbing as Canseco himself. Deadspin.com has excerpts of a piece by Pat Jordan on the overmuscled creep. Be warned that after reading this you may want to shower or vomit.

All those needles and vials of performance enhancing drugs around the house which his woman of the moment must learn to differentiate, winstrol from deca-durabolin from HGH, and then draw the proper amount of fluid into each syringe and inject that needle and its fluid into Jose's buttocks.

That's just a minor example. One wonders why any woman would even hang with him. They must be under the false impression that he has money.

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The Daily Yankeeland

Can't say enough about what a great day yesterday was in Blacksburg, Virginia. The Yankees-Va Tech game was one sided, but the score didn't matter. Seeing Alex Rodriguez sitting in the Va Tech dugout, talking with the players. Joe Girardi sitting in the stands with the fans. Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon signing autographs until their hands practically fell off. A good day indeed. Click Here to see a photo gallery from the Journal News.

Kevin Kernan of the NY Post has a lengthy story on Doc Gooden's rise from the ashes. Doc is taking things one day a time. No more BS it would seem, just reality. Doc is helping his son Dwight Jr. get a rap career going. Sadly Dwight Jr. was in prison for selling drugs at the same time his Dad was in jail. Here's to a better life for both of them.

Jose Canseco loves to shoot his mouth off, but lets see what happens now when he meets with fed Jeff Novitzky about Roger Clemens reported steroid use.

Mariano Rivera threw 2 perfect innings yesterday against the Blue Jays Double-A affiliate, New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

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The Daily Yankeeland

The Yankees open the spring season against the University of South Florida today. The Yankees defeated the Bulls the only time they ever met, back in 1982. The local CBS radio affiliate carries the USF games, but we don't know yet if this game will be on air. Here's the link just in case.

Tino Martinez warned the USF team, for which he's a volunteer assistant, not to try impressing anyone with an overly aggressive slide or by brushing back one of the Yankees hitters. Tino remembered some players on San Diego State U. doing just that when the Yankees faced them back in 1998.

Red Sox GM Theo Epstein apologized to Mike Mussina, via Brian Cashman, for his asinine "Bad Apple" comment the other day concerning the Yankees trip to Japan. Moose continued to downplay the whole thing.

Peter Abraham did a Q & A with Phil Hughes, using questions sent by readers of their respective blogs. Our favorite? "Who would win in a cage match between Joba and Ian Kennedy?" Surprisingly, Hughes went with IPK.

The FBI has confirmed that they have begun in an investigation to determine if Roger Clemens lied to Congress.

Mariano Rivera will not pitch before next Wednesday as the Yankees allow him to continue at his own pace. Hidkei Matsui is not expected to play in a spring game until March 9, so that his knee will be in better shape.

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I Never Used Steroids

You were probably expecting us to talk about Roger Clemens with the title of this post, but that's not who we're referring to at all. And in this case there would be no doubt about the veracity of the statement. That's because it pertains to Daniel McCutchen, the Yankees pitching prospect that was suspended for 50 games towards the end of the 2006 season for the use of performance enhancing drugs (P.E.D).

While it was assumed by virtually everyone, and even written up that way by the media, including McCutchen's home town paper, the suspension was not for Steroids or HGH. As Peter Abraham of the Journal News reports, McCutchen was suspended for using Adderall, a prescription drug legally given to him for attention deficit disorder (ADD).

McCutchen's mistake was not filling out the proper paper work with the Yankees after he signed with them. The error cost McCutchen the last 30 games of 2006 and the first 20 of 2007. McCutchen used the time off to finish his bachelor's degree and then worked on re-establishing himself within the Yankees organization. He did just that, going 16-4, 2.59 combined for Tampa and Trenton at the single and double 'A' levels.

McCutchen has established an aggressive attitude on the mound, so much so that his teammates have nicknamed him "Danimal". His progress and demeanor have not gone unnoticed by the Yankees hierarchy.

"There's a game plan for everybody, but some guys move themselves, and he's one of those," (Brian) Cashman said. "He's a starter for now but we believe he does have the ability to relieve. Once we get more performance indicators, we'll see where he fits. But we like him."

At 25, McCutchen knows he has to step it up quickly or he'll fall off the Yankees radar.

"At my age, I need to be on the fast track," he said. "But whether I started the year at Double-A or Triple-A, I know I'm close to the majors.

"I've gone through too much already not to keep pushing and get there."

With a 94-mph fastball, a good sinker, changeup, and curveball, the odds are he'll reach his goal sooner rather than later.

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