5:35pm: While the activity on Damon has heated up in the past week, it doesn't appear as though he will sign with a team until next week, writes Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com.
2:12pm: Jon Heyman of SI.com says via Twitter that it looks like the Damon sweepstakes will come down to the White Sox and Tigers. He says the Braves don't appear to have the money to bid.
2:00pm: Don't hold your breath for a Damon signing. Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets that nothing is imminent with the Tigers.
9:44am: The White Sox "threw [a] bone" at Johnny Damon, but weren't seriously involved, a source tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). That matches up with yesterday's reports from Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times and MLB.com's Scott Merkin.
Rosenthal and others reported yesterday that the Tigers are prepared to offer Damon $14MM over two years. That makes them the favorite to acquire the outfielder, though we haven't completely ruled out the Braves.
Well, that wasn’t obvious (sarcasm). Anyway, looks like Damon is going to the Tigers unless for some reason he wants to move to Chigaco or Atlanta instead.
We kind of already knew this, when it was found out last night about them only have $4 million for Damon.
Kenny rarely just throws bones, this may not be over.
last time kenny threw a bone we landed jake peavy i agree this may not be done but at the same time he might have been doing what he always does and tests everything…Kenny is just like AA in toronto if he is not testing everything he is not doing his job
Isnt that what the Yankees offered him three months ago? Yikes….
I think the Tigers should pull the deal. They have no competition and if they offer 14 million over 2 years they are bidding against themselves.
It is almost as silly a contract as Manny or Matt Holliday have received over the past few years.
I think he should sign with the Rays or Whitesox for 4 million and try to win. I would think playing in the AL east would be worth more then a few million extra dollars just to stick it to the Yanks.
But I am sure him and Boras will go the greed route and play for a team that might win 78 games with him and 75 without.
Why not try to win again Johnny?
No, it’s probably 99% over. Damon has 2 rings, so I doubt he really cares about winning another one, especially since the Braves Chi Sox are not sure things by any means. 2yr at $14+ million… why wouldn’t he take it?
Professional baseball players should want to win a ring every year they play. If they don’t feel like they want to win another one, they should retire, plain and simple. Long story short: I don’t believe Damon shares your view that he’s ‘won enough rings’.
I completely agree that ALL prof. baseball players SHOULD want to win a ring every year, but I do not think it’s the reality. And I think Damon is one of those exceptions at this point of his career.
Sometimes winning one (or two, or three) make a player want to win MORE. Because they’re tasted how sweet a championship season is, and they want to replicate that.
I agree with you. With that said, Damon will sign with whoever offers the most $$$$.
The reason he has been holding out this long in not because he is looking for his best chance for a 3rd ring. He, and Boras are looking for the biggest paycheck available.
Exactly, they are baiting teams to drive up the offers. I am betting the best he has isn’t higher than 4MM. The speculation about 2yr 14MM is ludacris, anyone in Johnny’s position would take it in a heartbeat.
i dont think either Detroit or Whitesox have a chance to win this year…logically speakin, yes- every team has a “chance”. If he really wanted to win, he woulda stuck with the Yankees at whatever price they threw at him. Johnny’s purely looking to get as much cash as possible, and unfortunately Illitch seems prepared to top the highest bidder.
i like Damon, and Tigers desperately need a leadoff/lefty…but $14 mil is a lot to add for yet another platooning outfielder/DH. Although I keep forgetting $50mil are coming off their books next year, so maybe this isnt too bad of a deal in the life of the contract.
The White Sox have a chance to win because of their pitching staff. While there are questions up and down the lineup, only a couple things need to fall their way to have a capable offense. For instance if Quentin’s injuries are in the past and he returns to 2008 form their chances increase dramatically. People forget how he carried that 2008 offense.
I think you’re reaching, but I understand your optimism. There are just a lot of question marks for both our teams. My post was in response to the guy who said “Why not try to win, Johnny”. Joining the sox, or Rays wouldnt be any different than Detroit in that sense..they all have flaws, and they all have potential hopes if those question marks are filled..but its not like the Tigers are going to be out of the race any more than the Sox. The whole division sucks.
lets not forget that in 08 carlos missed the last 30 games, hit 30+ hrs and finished second in MVP votes and it was a close second…if carlos comes to 08 form by splitting time at DH with jones or kotsay or even nix the sox are in great shape…if rios comes back to his 20 hrs, 20 sbs and .290 avg while playing amazing D in CF we are fine…there are holw up and down every single lineup for every team
Chance? Of course. If they do win, it’ll be due to their rotation performing as hoped.
However, my hunch is the Vegas odds-makers are likely to peg ChiSox at 3rd again. You’re not “prohibitive underdogs”, but underdogs nonetheless.
are you saying that the twins are the favorite? I would say that the twin have just as good of a chance to win the central as the whitesox…being a whitesox fan i would say the whitesox have about a 1% chance better than anyone else in the division. For your twins you have to hope(like we do with carlos) that justin can bounce back from multiple surgeries. You have to hope that kubal and cuddyer can repeat. just like we have to hope that AJ and gordon can repeat. I will say this there is no worry about mauer other than injury. But please dont say that the twin are the favorite you have no pitching staff…other than a beast of a closer. yes leriano(SP?) has had a good dominican league so far but how many times have we seen pitchers and hitters kill it in non mlb leagues and not translate to the mlb…there is just as much worry, if not more, about your rotation as there is about the sox offence…
I’m not arguing the Twins as the odds-maker favorite, the analysts and Vegas gamblers have done that.
There isn’t a team in the Central without question marks. There’s no “far and away” favorite. I’m just saying the odds-makers seem to think the Twins need fewer things to break their way (or the likelihood is greater of them happening), because you just need to look at the preseason gambling websites to see the Twins are indeed the favorite. Detroit pulls in second, Chicago third.
Editorializing for a moment (i.e., not just stating the facts of the sports betters), I’d point out that Morneau did not have “multiple” surgeries. In fact, he did not go under the knife at all. I have no faith in Liriano to perform as a legit MLB starter – I have confidence in Baker and Slowey to continue to progress and be legit #2-3 starters. If people are banking on poor pitching from the Twins, I believe the Twinks will once again surprise people.
“The White Sox “threw [a] bone” at Johnny Damon”
But Damon’s arm wasn’t strong enough to throw it back.
LOL! Nice one!
I’d say there are about 7-8 different white sox fans in the previous “JD Rumors” post that spent the night agreeing with each other and ganging up on people (me) all starting with Damons possibilities with the ChiSox…kinda ironic…especially if he signs with the Braves
Any sox fan who thought there was that clear/good of a chance that the chisox would get damon is a dreamer and is lying to themselves. With that said, I think both the braves and sox have similar teams in that a lot can and will go right or wrong this season. But I’ll wish the best to the braves solely because I like chipper/bobby cox and would really like to see what jason heyward can bring to the table.
thanks and I think alot of people want to see how Gordon Beckham turns out during his sophomore year
Dead God,
Please make sure the Tigers see this, realize they’re not bidding against anyone, and DO NOT make an offer for $14m.
Thank you.
Thank you… someone who agrees with me
The more I think about the Braves signing Damon the more I realize how unnecessary he is. Diaz had an OPS of 1.104 vs. lefties and Melky is a plus defender in LF with an average bat. My only concern is that if Heyward is not ready for the everyday RF job, relying on Diaz and Cabrera to be everyday players could be trouble. A little insurance would be nice but not at the price it will take to bring Damon to Atlanta. I think the best thing to do will be to go into Spring Training with who the Braves have now. If J-Ward is ready for an everyday non-platoon role great. If not let the Diaz/Cabrera in the corners experiment begin. If it flops bring J-Ward up from AAA avoiding giving him super 2 status and let the season unfold from there. Also, that extra couple million dollars that the Braves still have can be saved for making a mid-season/trade deadline deal in case of an injury or to make a playoff run.
RestoreTheRoar,
Why don’t you think the White Sox have a chance this year? They have one of the best rotations in baseball, if not the best, Damon gives them another bat, and is better than any DH option they have on the team already. They may not compete, but with that rotation and any offense, at least on paper, they should be around until the end, especially in a weak AL Cental division.
I don’t think they should go nuts for Damon though, I think 4 mil is a good max bid, and if the Tigers really are offering 2 at $14 mil, then they can have him.
they had the 2nd best pitching staff in the AL last year and finished <.500.
They also faced the weakest division full of teams that have no offense. Its a bit easier to inflate those numbers when the opposing team is helping you out by sucking to the Nth degree.
The Twins didn’t have offense?
They were the exception of the division..I think 8th best in the league? But even then, that goes back to my point..the majority of their games were against anemic teams like Cleveland, Kansas, Detroit…and Chicago. All of them were 70-80+ win teams..and thats not because they were all GOOD. Its cause they were all average, in a poor division no less.
Since we’re talking about offense, you’re wrong. Cleveland, Detroit and Minn. all posted above average OPS as teams. 2010 CHONE projections have the WSox as the the 2nd best pitching staff in either league.
Again, because the majority of their games are against 4 of the weaker teams in the league. You play the Indians and Royals 22 times a year, thats different than the Yanks or Red Sox. Why is it so hard for you guys to grasp that concept?
You don’t have a grasp of basic concepts like small sample size (11 games against one team negates the usefulness of WAR?, hilarious) or simple averages: If you play Minnesota (an above average offense) 11 times and KC (a below average offense), and Detroit and Cleveland 22 times (both average offenses) = 44 games against average MLB offenses.
and that doesnt make a difference compared to a team playing the BoSox, Rays, Yanks 33 times a season?
The studies show the adjustment for any individual pitcher going from the NL to the AL in terms of ERA+ (park adjusted) is about +0.4. Off the top of my head, I’d guesstimate an adjustment between the AL cent. and the AL east might be somewhere around +0.2. I’d also speculate that half of that is due to park effects (i.e. NY launch pad, and the Green ‘Monster’). So over the course of a season, and considering the WSox did face the BSox/NYY/Rays 23 times last year I’d say unbalanced schedules have a relatively small effect on team ERA+.
Yeah, but .2 would have dropped them from the #2 position to the #6 spot (and the Tigers even further down the list) for Team ERA, wouldnt it..? And at the same time, that could push other teams down the list a few spots up…
I never argued they werent great..I just dont feel they were (or are) the best in the league.
That said, you have made some good points. I will cede to you, FireAlYellon.
The Twins were 4th in runs scored, the Indians we’re 8th. I’m not saying the division is good but you are wrong when you say that the White Sox staff was only good because they were pitching against bad teams. In fact, they pitched quite well against the ALE in head to head competition. I would put them slightly behind the Red Sox and ahead of the Yankees in terms of the top 3 staffs in the AL. Olney puts them 3rd behind the Yankees and if you buy the Javy myth then I can see that. But White Sox fans will not buy the Javy myth. On paper, the Sox don’t have the offense, but like I said, a bounce back year from Quentin and an average year from Rios and I like their chances.
Ok, Ill buy it…I do think if everything works out like you said they are better than Yanks or Sox. I just dont believe they are the best, but I probably got too worked up for that suggestion.
To clarify Im not trying to say they are poor, or that the numbers are solely based on beating poor teams…just that it inflates the numbers. Stats and projections are only good for feeding the fan’s hopes during the offseason & speculation. If they all came true Detroit would have scored 1000 runs in 2008, and the Indians would have been division champs 2 of the last 4 years.
Did you seriously just say “one of, if not THE best” rotations? you need to stop drinking so early in the morning. Beyond Danks, and Mark- you have a lot of questions marks. IF Peavy returns to form. IF Garcia returns to form. IF Floyd can become consistent. Shoot- Detroit rotation with Verlander, Porcello are the best 1-2 in the division, and Scherzer(sp?), Bonderman aint a bad backup IF they hold up their end of the bargain.
But “THE” best? Have you seen the Mariners, Redsox, Yankees, Angels rotations?
Im not saying they dont have a chance in our division, even a Church League Softball team would have a chance in the central…but they would get mowed down like the twins in playoffs round one, IF they actually won the div title.
Obviously you do not remember the White Sox acquisition of Peavy, who pitched lights out in September at about 90%. Floyd is not only consistent – he’s good. You might want to go back and check that. Garcia also pitched well at the end of the year and has a new shoulder – basically he’s as good as any other 5th starter. Plus, Daniel Hudson is waiting in the wings. Also, the Sox had the second best pitching staff in the AL last year without Peavy.
But you have to keep in mind they mostly faced other weak central foes…dont you think that inflated their numbers? The Tigers rotation wasnt too far behind either (like .14 more than the SOx in ERA i think?). The M’s were the best, and only ERA under 4 (I mean seriously, the Sox were #2 and were ABOVE 4.00) and yet they still were far off from being competitive down the stretch, not unlike Detroit or Chicago.
If the Sox (or Det) was in the East or West division, their numbers would be different. And you think thats not the case, then we’ll just have to disagree.
WSox pitching raked up the 4th highest WAR in baseball. That was without Peavy for a full season, with Contreras, and with Linebrink instead of Putz. Note that ERA is neither park adjusted or fielding independent and thus not as useful in your argument.
WAR doesnt account for the league’s unbalanced schedules, so I think you’re missing my argument completely.
PS-if you think Putz is going to vastly improve the team, then we’re done debating.
First you use ERA as the crux of your argument and then you wanna lecture me about the nuances of WAR? I think I’m done with this too…
I thought YOU guys were basing your #2 pitching staff arguments on ERA (because thats what they were rated #2 on). The “Crux” of my argument is unbalanced schedules..and Im not the only one that thinks that makes a difference.
Youre the guy bent on stats and projections….I guess numbers are all you need to see the future and analyze the past ?
I wouldn’t count much from Putz, but they also had Colon for an extended period, and for a month and a half of the season they had Buehrle, Danks and Floyd and that was it.
Peavy pitched pretty well last season in his last 3 starts with being at what he said only 80%. I wouldn’t count on much from Garcia in the 5 spot, but I would put the White Sox top 4 up against any other top 4 in the league.
I also don’t see the big deal with the NYY’s rotation, outside of CC they don’t have any other dominant pitchers. Pettite is old, Burnett is an injury risk and isn’t consistant, Look at Vazquez and his line of work, you will see 1 big glaring difference that was last season. He struggles when there is pressure. Then they have a lot of questionable depth for the 5th spot. If I’m wrong that’s great for them, but to me they have more questions than the Sox do. I do like Seattle’s and Boston’s rotations in the AL though, but with Seattle, outside of Lee and King Felix, I don’t see depth, they have Bedard but he’s a big injury risk.
Youre right the Yanks have questions, just like both of our teams. And youre also right that Seattle has some issues…I think they NEED Bedard to rebound, and even then- will they rely on Washburn coming back?
Stupid. Just stupid.
am i the only one who feels like I am taking a break from work when i see posts about Jermaine Dye or Felipe Lopez? JUST SIGN ALREADY!!!! I DON’T CARE WITH WHO!!! IT COULD BE THE BRAVES, TIGERS, WHITE SOX, RAYS, BLUE JAYS OR THE FREAKIN’ YOKOHAMA BAY STARS OR NIPPON HAM FIGHTERS JUST SIGN WITH SOMEONE ALREADY!!
Breathing deeply and slowly is your friend.
I agree, sign already. The problem is you are dealing with Boras and he will take his sweet time getting it done. He is holding out hope that the Braves or White Sox, or one of his famous “mystery” teams will come along at the final hour and give $5 more.
oh gee thanks for that ground breaking new bit of information Mr. Heyman, because none of us knew that already
“the Braves don’t appear to have the money to bid”
Oh yeah, this is the best news I have heard all day. One time I’m glad Liberty won’t increase payroll to get a guy. Damon might play like an All-star in Detroit, but I will still be glad he is not in Atlanta.
I’m glad as well, we don’t really need Damonand his bad defense IMO
Diaz Mclouth Heyward will be just fine 🙂
And throw Cabrera in there as backup and we should be set in the outfield. First base is suspect, but I sure hope Glaus can show some of his old form. If we can get 20 HRs and 75 RBIs out of him, I’ll be a happy man.
Heyward seems to have a better make-up than Schaffer, so hopefully we won’t see another melt-down.
Either way, I’m ready for some Braves baseball
Schafer mainly had a melt down due to the wrist injury
I would like to know how much of these rumors are just complete bs, with these writers just trying to keep people interested. Also, with the amount of money Boras has made, is it considered collusion (sp?) if he starts paying writers to write rumors? That’s got to be illegal some how…
I think Boras is giving Wren a percentage of what he makes…payment for getting the ball rolling.
so the white sox have $4 mil and the Braves have $6 mil, but it appears the Braves cant get in the bidding? these guys are all clowns and Boras is just using them
I would bet the sox have more than 4 million to spend. Kenny will press reinsdorf to spend more
We don’t really need him anyways.He’d be a good lead off hitter for us but I’m fine with McLouth being the leadoff hitter for a full season .Overall I like our team the way it is.
lol I love how Brave’s fans say this when they realize they are most-likely out of the running.
Don’t know if you just are ignorant or haven’t seen what Braves fans have been saying, but Braves fans and Tigers fans alike both hate and love the idea. Some think it’ll make the line-up far more dynamic for the price and others seem set on having our OF the way it is and not having to trade or drop a good player.
Johnny Damon is not worth 2 years and $14m. Anyone that pays him that kind of money will regret it. It’s called the “Loser’s Curse” in Finance.
OVER 2 YEARS?? LOL!!! MOST FUNNIEST COMEDY SHOWS I EVER SEEN…
I highly doubt Damon goes to the White Sox. Kenny W. does not have the money, roster spot or interest in Damon to make it happen.
However, Boras is still driving Damon’s price up for Detroit by pretending the White Sox are right there. Kenny might be playing along as well, as it’s also in his interest to see Detroit overpay.
Projections have Damon having a decent year but not worth $7mil and certainly not worth $14mil.
fan-exchange.com/mlb/predictionshitter.asp?playeri…