I would start by saying let's ditch the personal catcher thing that the Yankees have set up with Mike Mussina and Wil Nieves, but he's gotta spell Jorge Posada once in a while, so I can live with that.
Moose was adequate, if nothing else, but the offense. C'mon. I know, it's bound to happen, but you just don't expect it at the launching pad for baseball offense.
The more-important debate, I think, is whether losing Giambi is actually a good thing for the Yankees.
The argument for is not simply a "feeling," or a team chemistry thing, as some have said and critics enjoy bringing up. Rather, it's that despite his power potential and very solid OBP even as he declines, he was always a question mark in the lineup with that foot injury. It caused the team to carry three 1st basemen (although that was alleviated by Doug M.'s injury) and most importantly, kept Melky Cabrera's much-better defense out of the lineup because there was no place for Johnny Damon to go.
Really, his going down coincided with Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez going on a run, a streak of strong starting pitching and the continued success of Posada and Derek Jeter.
What Giambi's absence does help with, if anything, is getting a better center fielder out there with regularity and a little more speed on the basepaths, even if his replacement gets on base less often. Also, to be fair, Giambi was awful with his injury, hitting .177/.350/.323 in May.
A healthy Giambi should be welcomed back (should he return in 2007), but Melky Cabrera should be the casualty as long as he is hitting league average. Instead, contract and status be damned, Damon should either learn first or spend some time on the bench.
While the broader view on Giambi suggests he's always an asset, the May 2007 version needed to be on the DL.
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