As our Offseason Outlook shows, the Rockies only have two option decisions to make this winter, and Troy Renck of The Denver Post says both appear to have already been made. The team will decline their end of Aaron Cook's $11MM mutual option, and Jason Giambi seems set to exercise his end of a $1MM mutual option. We learned that the team intends to exercise their end of Giambi's option last month.
Cook, 33 in February, has thrown just 382 2/3 innings over the last three seasons due to various injuries. He's pitched to a 4.94 ERA during that time with 4.39 K/9, 3.21 BB/9, and a 56.7% ground ball rate. The team will pay him a $500K buyout, and Renck says they do have interest in bringing him back as long as it's on a low-risk contract.
Giambi, 41 in January, hit .260/.355/.603 with 13 homers in just 152 plate appearances this past season. He drew a lot of interest both before and after the trade deadline, but has talked openly about enjoying his time in Colorado. He'll return as the backup first baseman and pinch-hitter extraordinaire in 2012.
Last night we learned that all option decisions – regardless if it's team, player, or mutual – must be made by 11:59pm ET on Monday, October 31st.
Giambi did every bit of his damage last year on days he started. He was no pinch hit extrodanare, he was a pinch hit black hole. His .161/.250/.290 line as a sub proves that. The Rockies really need him to come through as the primary weapon off the bench, which is an area they really struggled with last year.
No doubt his PH ABs were horrible. Still a good back up in case Helton is hurt. I hope the Rockies can find another quality PH though so they don’t have to hold Giambi back so often. Really he should be getting a PH in almost every game and there were too many loses in which Giambi didn’t even get the call. Sometimes they hold him back until the 8th or 9th and then realize that all their best hitters are coming up those innings anyway. I want to see Giambi PH in the 6th or 7th even.
Matt Stairs 2.0?
Wow a former superstar who is realistic about his role, stays with a team he likes, in a community he enjoys instead of grabbing more bucks he could get signing elsewhere. My hats off to Jason.
how much more would giambino get elsewhere..not much..so the credit you’re giving him is unwarranted
The guy got 100mm from the yankees for using steroids and of course he likes playing in colorado, the coors effect!
Point is hes cheated people out of enough money to the point where money does not matter at all to him anymore. Also I dont see him playing anywhere for more then 1mm.
You probably like that model citizen Alex Rodriguez. You know Mr. Upstage the World Series by opting out of his contract. Talk about robbery!
No I do not like A rod, you clearly have no idea how to communicate.
Not surprised that the Rockies are declining Cook’s contract. His best year he went 16-9, with an era of 3.96; and his best era was 3.67 in 2005.
Giambi provides no real backup to Helton as he is terrible in the field. As he also hits from the left side, that doesn’t really give Tracy the option to run a right-handed hitter out there to spell Helton when the other team starts a lefty, either.
Not a good move, IMO.