Rockies skipper Tracy excited by Jason Giambi signing

A concerted effort to spell Todd Helton and the importance of power-hitting prompted the Rockies to sign slugger Jason Giambi, manager Jim Tracy said today.

Before catching a flight from New York after receiving another postseason award, Tracy explained the move, which won’t prevent the team from having Brad Hawpe take groundballs at first during spring training.

“I am tickled to death to have Jason back,” Tracy said. “It serves two purposes. You just wonder how much more of a special player you could have down the stretch if we could get Todd some sensible rest.”

“We are still talking to Todd. But we don’t want to run him into the ground again so that when we get to late September and October that all we have left

is sawdust. We got a bird’s eye view of how Jason fits and this could be a way to get him some extra at-bats.”

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Giambi, 39, hit .292 with two home runs and 11 RBIs in 19 games for the Rockies. Tracy recruited Giambi aggressively last month, telling him that he didn’t have 450 at-bats for him, but an expanded reserve role was available. Giambi returned when a DH role didn’t materialize.

“Now when you give Todd a day, you don’t have to reinvent the lineup. You have a guy who can hit in the middle of the order,” Tracy said. “You aren’t creating all kinds of

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