Lawrence Rocca has no shame.

On August 10th, Lawrence Rocca claims that Jason Giambi is one of the keys to Yankee success in the postseason.


Two days later, Rocca wants Giambi off the team entirely.


I hardly know where to start ripping the second article apart.

1. Waiver-clearin', .250-hittin' John Olerud is suddenly the Key to Success that Completes the Team. Because of his Intangibles. Hard to believe that columnists like Rocca will push this idea, just banging their heads against the wall, no matter how much proof is piled up year after year after year that intangibles and clubhouse chemistry don't mean squat.
2. The meaningless "record without Giambi," without even bothering to compare to "record with Giambi." How vapid can you get? The Yankees could win without Jeter and Rivera, for that matter. One reason is because they continually feast on teams like the last-place Toronto Blue Jays (Rocca's prediction to win this year's World Series, by the way. His Intangible Evaluation Meter must have been off.).
3. It's hard to believe that Rocca and others keep insisting that Giambi begged out of a World Series game. He was was benched by Torre, as was Soriano. Soriano came off the bench and struck out. Giambi came off the bench and hit a ninth-inning homerun. In the Best Game Ever, Mister Clutch hit two homeruns off Pedro. But those homeruns probably don't demonstrate a wnning attitude, clutch hitting, flair for the dramatic, leadership, clubhouse chemistry. You know, intangibles.
4. What is this notion that Giambi is "suddenly too expensive"? There is no doubt that the Yankees are paying him too much vis a vis the rest of the league and based on his performance, but so what? Since when do the Yankees win titles by spending their money efficiently? It's not your Rotisserie league. If Cashman actually traded Giambi -- which will probably happen sometime next Never-uary -- and only if the Yankees paid a lot of his salary, anyway -- how does Rocca think this will improve the team? Cashman will spend the money on the suddenly-affordable John Olerud? Maybe he can afford to pay Sterling Hitchock $6 mill again to be the mop up man? What kind of long-term strategy is that? Yeah, you wait for the Former MVP to get healthy and see if he can put up those stupid Moneyball stats like 40 homeruns and 100 walks. The exact same stupid Moneyball stats which currently have the Yankees in first place.
5. "Now that Giambi is headed for a full recovery from his undisclosed illness -- truly good news for a nice guy -- the time has come to make the harsh admission that the Yankees would be better off without him ... " Well, golly gee, thanks for your approval. Lawrence Rocca has deemed Jason Giambi an official Nice Guy and undisclosed illnesses officially Bad. I'm sure Giambi can now sleep at night because he knows that Lawrence Rocca thinks he's a nice guy and that his recovery from illness is good news. Barry Bonds is very surly with the press, and Eddie Murray wouldn't even talk to the press during his baseball career. I'm not saying that Rocca would specifically wish cancer upon them, but just maybe wish for a slow recovery.