It’s Curtains for the Giambino by Erik Manning August 10, 2009 The Jason Giambi Reunion Tour has officially been canceled. The last-place A’s gave the aging slugger his walking papers after he was able to scratch together a rather woeful .197/.332/.364 line. His release probably means that it is curtains for a successful, albeit tainted career. This season has been chock full of disappointment for the A’s, who looked like contenders headed into the season. It appeared they might have won the Defensively Challenged Slugger Sweepstakes after they signed Giambi to a low risk, one-year, $5.25 million deal, which included a $4 million option with a $1.25 buyout. The contract essentially valued Giambi as a 1.2 win player — bargain basement stuff considering Giambi was worth nearly 6 WAR over his previous two healthy years, which included a 32 HR season with the Yankees just last year. Now that it’s all but over for Giambi, where does he rank among the all-time greats? I’m not sure anyone will confuse Giambi as a future Hall of Famer considering his checkered past and also the era he played in, but for his career he was one heck of a ballplayer, even if he was quite overpaid from that colossal contract the Yankees gave him. 407 HR, 43rd all time 1319 RBI, 89th all time .527 slugging, 52nd all time 1255 walks, 45th all time 143 Adjusted OPS+, 52nd all time 1512 runs created, 76th all time, tied with Ernie Banks and Lou Brock .405 career on base percentage, tied for 45th all time with Bobby Abreu .248 ISO, 32nd all time His 52.3 wins above replacement ranks 150th overall according to Rally’s historical WAR database. That total is better than 48 players currently in the Hall right now, for what it’s worth. Just for fun, here are some mostly meaningless historical comparisons for your enjoyment: And another lashing of a dead horse: