What the Yankees Could Put on the Field for the Price of Jason Giambi

I saw an article similar to this in the Newark Star Ledger a few years ago.  The article was what the Mets could have for the price of Mo Vaughn.  So I'm taking the idea for this article in regards to Jason Giambi.

As a note for the beginning of this piece:  I don't actually believe one team could acquire all of these players at once.  I'm just speaking theoretically in terms of money, so bare with me and hold off on comments of that nature please.

As Jason Giambi continues to struggle in April (.107, 2 HR, 4 RBI, .297 OBP), New York Yankees fans can only wonder "what if?"

What if Jason Giambi was not on the roster this year?  What started off as a promising seven-year contract with Giambi in 2001, has become a horrendous deal for the New York Yankees.

His highly hyped arrival lived up to its expectations for all of one season before becoming the biggest contract bust of the 21st century.

So with Giambi not performing whatsoever, what else could the Yankees do with the $23,428,571 he's making in 2008?  Well for one thing, they could field an entire 25 man roster that would put their current team to shame.

Let's take a look, shall we?

The current Yankees roster contains nine starters, four bench players, a starting pitching rotation of five and a bullpen of seven.

The following roster has the same configuration as the current Yankee roster but for the price of Jason Giambi.  The players are listed by position, name, current team, and 2008 salary.

Catcher- Russell Martin, Los Angeles Dodgers- $500,000-  Martin's breakout 2007 campaign makes him the best catcher in the big leagues right now.  He's a five-category catcher (R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG.) and has the best chance of any catcher to go 20/20 every year.  At age 25, who wouldn't take that?

First Base- Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers- $670,000-  After a solid rookie campaign in 2006, Prince cracked 50 home runs last season and drove in over 100 runs.  The bonus?  He's only 23 years old.

Second Base- B.J. Upton, Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays- $412,100-  Probably the most promising young player in the major leagues, Upton is virtually a lock to be 20/20 with a .300+ average every year.  He's also only 23 years old and shows promise to only keep getting better.  The sky is the limit here.

Third Base- Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals- $465,000-  Also only 23 years old, Zimmerman shows signs of improvement each year.  He played in all 162 games last season, so he's definitely durable.  He's good for about .275, 20 HR, and around 100 RBI every year.

Shortstop- Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins- $439,000-

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