You won't read these words or hear them spillfrom my mug very often, but the boyhood Giants fan in me has to say it rightnow:I LOVE THE YANKEES!Why? Because it looks like the Bombers areabout to save the G's from making a big mistake.New York is said to be on the verge of signingNick Johnson, to whom the Giants are rumored to have recently increased aone-year contract offer from 5.5 million to 6 mil.I know a lot of Giants fans are frustrated bythe team's lack of actual movement this offseason, but this is good news. NickJohnson is not the answer here. I don't think he would have been part of theanswer, either. First of all, the Giants need more than onehitter. They've already parted ways with two of their top three hitters fromlast season -- Bengie Molina and Juan Uribe -- and in my opinion they were twohitters away from being legitimate championship contenders evenwith Big Money and Juan. More important is what Johnson brings to thetable. Yes, he's a great on-base guy, and he's a plus defender by mostaccounts. But he'd also be bringing a ridiculous history of injury. This is aman who has been on the disabled list at least once for each of the past 10years, and we're not talking about two weeks here and there with a slight hammypull. We're talking long stretches on the DL with major injuries. TEN YEARS! And he's going to make 6 mil as an everydayplayer? Yeah, right. And Tiger Woods is about to take a vow of celibacy.Johnson knows that he's never going to play afull year if it includes taking ground balls and stretching for throws five orsix times a week. That's why he took 500,000 less to join the Yanks -- they'resigning him to be a DH! OK, maybe the whole 27 world titles andlimitless resources and history and New York nightlife had a little somethingto do with Johnson's decision, too, but still. He knows damn well he's asreliable health-wise as a Warriors big man, so he jumped at the chance to donothing but swing the pole.Now the Giants move on, turning their attentionto Mark DeRosa and Adam LaRoche, apparently. Well, guess what? Those namesdon't exactly make my hair stand on end, either. I say re-visit a return forUribe, try to get Adrian Beltre to come down from his comically high demands,or -- better yet -- go get Miguel Tejada to play third base. That's my holidaywish for the Giants: Miggy in a Santa hat. By the way, just heard that the Yankees areinterested in DeRosa, too. I LOVE THE YANKEES!--Mychael Urban
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