Jeremy Giambi's season is over

[-tz]

I feel bad for him, especially knowing how close he and Jason are ...

08/15/2003 10:37 PM ET
Notes: Giambi's season is done
By Ian Browne / MLB.com

SEATTLE -- The most frustrating season of Jeremy Giambi's baseball career will end with no chance for redemption. The left-handed DH-OF has taken his last at-bat of 2003. He will leave the Red Sox this weekend and fly to Los Angeles, where he will have arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday to repair his ailing left shoulder.
Giambi has a partial tear of his labrum and a slight tear in his rotator cuff.

He spent roughly 48 hours debating whether he should have the surgery now or postpone it until after the season.

If it was solely up to his heart, Giambi likely would have chosen the latter. However, Giambi determined that having the surgery now is the right thing to do.

The procedure will be performed by Dr. Lewis Yocum, one of the most noted physicians in sports.

The recovery time is estimated at four-to-six months, which means even if it's a full six months, he should be ready to go at the start of Spring Training.

Though the Red Sox have the choice to offer Giambi arbitration this winter, they can also non-tender him.

Being a free agent would not be a good thing for Giambi if he wasn't ready for the start of Spring Training. If he waited until after the season to have the surgery, it's highly doubtful he would be able to report to camp by February.

"It would have been something that would have been an April 1st thing," Giambi said. "Basically unless I was coming back here, this would be the only team that would be sympathetic to a rehab stint in Spring Training. Any other team I go to will want me healthy Feb. 14.

"The doctors and everyone else were telling me I needed to do it now. More so, I was telling them I wanted to play through it and try and help this team win a World Series. Basically they said you have to be smart about your career. Playoffs and World Series are important but sometimes your career is more important in other aspects."

Giambi acknowledged that he did ask the Red Sox if they could offer him security regarding next season before he made his final choice.

"I talked to them and they indicated no guarantees as of the contract situation," Giambi said. "They said at this time they wouldn't be able to. That weighed into it a little bit, but basically with the doctors saying it's six months ... They figured probably the best thing without injuring it anymore was to go and do it right away. Going into Spring Training next year, it's tough when you've already played through it hurt all year and it's gotten worse. To ruin another year doesn't make sense either."

It was a rough way for Giambi to see it all end. When GM Theo Epstein acquired Giambi from the Phillies in December, he called him "an on-base machine". But things simply never panned out.

Giambi started Spring Training vying for Boston's vacancy at first base. But Kevin Millar and David Ortiz -- both of whom were acquired after Giambi -- beat him out.

Once the season started, manager Grady Little typically mixed Giambi in at DH three or four times a week. A couple of times a month, he'd get a start in left field.

But he slumped mightily out of the gate, and eventually Ortiz became the everyday DH.

Giambi -- who finishes the season with a .197 average, five homers and 15 RBIs in 127 at-bats -- never could get hot. And as the weeks progressed, the condition of his shoulder worsened.

"We're all disappointed for Jeremy that it didn't work for him this year," Epstein said. "He has a pretty severe injury, that probably explains a lot about why he's struggling. He didn't have a lot of regular playing time and it was hard for him to get in a rhythm. He was just a good hitter who had a bad year and I'm sure he'll bounce back and have a promising career."

Epstein was unsure if that career could involve more time with the Red Sox.

"We'll see," Epstein said. "We're thinking about 2003 right now."

Giambi -- who will cheer his teammates on from the bench once he recovers from the surgery -- was disappointed he won't be a part of Boston's push for the pennant.

"This year we're in a playoff race," Giambi said. "For every one of these guys in there, I wish I could be in there with them."

http://yankees.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/ml...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[DJeter1287]

Feel better Jeremy.

[ACPS]

"This year we're in a playoff race," Giambi said. "For every one of these guys in there, I wish I could be in there with them."

Jeremy, I'm not so sure if that feeling is mutual...