Big Lead Sports Bar

3/11/2010

BRIAN GILES CALLS IT A CAREER



Today officially ended the career of former Pirate OF Brian Giles, who leaves the majors with a .291 career average, 287 home runs and 1,078 RBI in 1,847 games. The official cause of retirement is being cited as an arthritic right knee, which limited him to just 61 games last year as a San Diego Padre. He ended up with a lowly .191 average and two homers in 225 at-bats in 2009.

Giles accepted an invitation to the LA Dodgers' camp this season, but had appeared in just two games this spring. His job will now be up for grabs between veterans Garrett Anderson and Doug Mientkiewicz, another former Bucco.

Giles was at one time considered a cornerstone of the Pirate organization as the team migrated into PNC Park, hitting anywhere from 35-39 home runs every year he was in a Pirate uniform. But the Pirates stunk with him and would prove that they could stink without him, trading Giles to San Diego for Jason Bay, Oliver Perez, and minor leaguer Corey Stewart in 2003.

Giles' career was never the same in San Diego, as he quickly lost whatever power he had in the Padres' cavernous Petco Park. A solid bet to hit 35 dingers in Pittsburgh, Giles power numbers looked like this during his time with the Padres: 23, 15, 14, 13, 12, and 2 in 2009.

Giles ends his MLB run with two All-Star appearances, a trip to the World Series in 1997 with Cleveland, five postseason appearances, and $81 million in career earnings. Not bad for a 17th-round pick who never finished higher than 9th in MVP balloting.

Giles retires after 15 seasons [ESPN]

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6 comments:

Terry_Kelly said...

And if I had to be on one former Pirate to be a steroid-user, it would have been him. (Or possible Oliver Perez for one year.) Still, sad to see him retire.

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

I hate to rain on a parade, but didn't he get in trouble for beating up his wife at a resturaunt, and it got caught on the security camera?

It was either him or his brother.

And yes, I was stunned he didn't show up in the Mitchell Report. That guy was juicing like a mofo in the early 2000s.

Joe said...

Haha, exactly what came to my mind. Giles was most definitely on the juice. Numbers dropped, but the money is still in the bank account.
The incident in the restaurant...roid rage.

All that said, I did love watching hit play while he was here.

Unknown said...

You guys beat me to it. I go to the gym everyday and it's easy to see the difference between guys who don't use anything (myself) and guys that do (about 10-20%).

Looking at that picture of Giles, he is definitely using performance ehancement drugs. No doubt in my mind.

Unknown said...

Regardless of the juice, etc, one of my favorite interactions with a pro ball player happened with BG...
Sitting in LF at PNC with several buddies having many cold beverages. Kids were around us so we were keeping it clean. During mid inning warm ups, I started yelling at BG- "Hey Brian, we've got a kid here who needs a ball" End of warmups, he turns, looks at me, throws one right at me (caught it with my left hand as my right hand was occupied with a $4 beer from Vincent's). I gave the ball to the kid right next to me as BG watched.
Gotta love it...

NuttingHostage said...

Yes, Giles was caught on video physically abusing his girlfriend.

See attached link if interested.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28297262/

And he practically admitted to having used steroids while with the Padres when he attempted to excuse his lack of production by saying something along the lines of....."They move the fences back, they take steroids away, what do you expect?".

Giles was one of the most classless punks to have ever played the game. Baseball is better off without scum like him.