7:03pm: Damon said on Friday that Tampa Bay remains a possible destination, writes Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. However, Topkin characterizes this as a "long shot", as Damon is likely to sign with Detroit.
11:47am: Pitchers are catchers are less than two weeks away, however Johnny Damon is still looking for a job and there doesn't appear to be many teams willing to bring him on board. FoxSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi says the Braves and Tigers are definitely among the clubs interested in Damon, though Atlanta has taken a more passive approach. They'd be happy to take him if he "fell into their lap" according to the Fox scribe, which translates to "if his price comes way down."
Meanwhile, Lynn Henning of The Detroit News says the Tigers need to add a hitter after the Twins added Orlando Hudson, but he cautions that Damon isn't "a perfect answer or player." This certainly isn't the first time we've seen these two teams connected to the former Yankee left fielder.
Bobby Abreu didn't sign until February 12th last year, so Damon still has some time before meeting his former teammate's mark.
“Pitchers are catchers are less than two weeks away, however Johnny Damon is still looking for a job and doesn’t appear to have many teams willing to bring him aboard.”
Subliminal messaging, Mike?
since when have pitchers been catchers mike??
This whole damon situation is just hilarious to me. Maybe you should consider retirement Johnny?? This is one of the worst cases of a player and an agent thinking they are worth far more than everyone in baseball knows they are. Humble yourself like Abreu and take the non-yankee discount.
Prediction: Damon signs with a team that just got worse defensively for 3 Mill MAX guaranteed, incentives could add 2 Mill. Incentives are based on the least amount of times he looks like a bumbling idiot in the outfield. Incentives aren’t reached.
Turn down 14m and settle for 2-4m, smooth Johnny.
It’s more like smooth Scotty, its Borus pushing his luck and it back firing on some of his clients. But I’m sure Johnny’s ego helped buy into Borus’s BS. From here on out Damon should just go year to year on contracts. He’ll get the most money that way.
It is Damon who calls the shots, not Boras. Boras does his best for his clients but at the end of the day the clients say yes or no. Damon has always been about the most money From Oakland, Boston, New york and now. The problem he seems to be having is being realistic as to what his true market value is. He is on the down side of his career, and in his late 30`s . I am sure he will have to sign for less money, or retire. It used to be players tried to hold on as long as they can. Now even Pitchers out for a year with major arm problems and washed up positon players are demanding big money.The dynamics involved in Baseball has changed.
I really think that Damon ends up a Brave.
Ouch. Tough room Johnny.
I see him ending up in Detroit. They need a lead hitter. I really don’t see Atlanta as a fit with Jason Heyward on the way.
heyward has only had 11 ABs above AA. I think the braves could sign damon for 1 yr and give heyward a chance to develop more rather than rushing him, ala schafer(and yes i know heyward is a greater talent than schafer). damon’s D is adequate, but runners will be scoring from 2B constantly on him.
Heyward and Damon’s situations are unrelated. If Damon is signed, it will not slow down Heywards progress what-so-ever. Heyward will play RF opening day for the Braves no matter if Damon is signed or not. Damon would play LF for the Braves.
True. But I don’t think you can really say that (once you factor in defense) that Damon would be any real upgrade over a diaz-melky platoon. diaz is better against lefties than damon is and while damon’s numbers last years were better than melky’s you have to remember that A) melky is still growing as a player, while damon is declining, and B) melky’s d will be really good in left (assuming heyward’s on the team), while damon will without a doubt cost the team runs.
Seriously?
Damon is such a better player than Melky.
Melky has 4 FULL seasons under his belt. His first season in 2006 was almost exactly the same (OPS+/OPS) as his most recent season. Sandwiched in-between were two worse seasons. The man has a career OPS of 716 and an OPS+ of 88. And that’s with a lot of his games coming at CF. He has shown no improvement from when he came up to the bigs. Where is the growth? Yankee fans have been telling us for FOUR years that Melky was still growing. Guess they finally got tired waiting around for that to happen.
Melky isn’t anything special with the glove. He doesn’t hit worth a lick. His overall value is pegged between 1 and 1.5 wins. AND he could cost more than Damon. He very well could be the worst starting LF’er in baseball in ’10.
Meanwhile Damon is coming off a 3 WAR season. That was the heels of a 3.6 WAR year. Damon can still play. Despite his defensive deficiencies he would be a HUGE upgrade over Cabrera. Some GM is going to look like a genius when they sign him. Want a good comparable – the Angels last year with Abreu. How many teams were kicking themselves that they passed on Abreu and his $5m deal. Sure his defense sucked but he was easily one of the very best signings of the 08 off-season.
sure, if it was a case of melky vs. damon then i´d see your argument. but its not. the production diaz would bring from his side of the plate, plus the average production melky brings still outweighs what damon would bring to the table outside of ny. factor in defense, and i dont see the reason to bring him on board.
and melky´s 25. he still has room to grow. hard to say a guy´s reached his peak when he´s just barely reached his mid 20´s
Could have been a hall of famer if he swallowed his pride, stayed with the Yanks, and kept moving towards 3000 hits.
Right now, all else being equal, Twins are the clear favorites to take the AL Central. The Tigers really need to add a bat if they want to challenge the division.
I’ll give them the favorite status if they get another arm to get them from their starter to
Joe Nathan. The Tigers (Verlander, Porcello, Scherzer, Bonderman, Robertson, plus a lot of potential depth) and White Sox (Peavy, Danks, Floyd, Buerhle, Garcia) both have potentially dominant rotations, particularly the Sox.
The Blue Jays seem like a good fit for him. I agree that Damon and his agent really blew it this offseason, but he’s still a guy that can OPS .800 and be a threat on the bases.
Alright, I give up, just lower your price and sign with the Braves already. We need a leadoff hitter as well as a guy with speed and can get on base and that’s you Mr. Damon.
As Tim is fond of saying, there are few really bad one year contracts.
The Tigers will have to wait Boras out. The Twins did last year and got Joe Crede for one year, low dollars. When Crede broke down the Twins were not stuck with him for a second year.
There’s no rush for the Tigers. Damon has no obvious place to go instead, and if he does, good luck to him.
One year, $5M, signed Feb 19. Damon will be the DH in Detroit for more than 100 of the Tiger games. Pretty bad when you start Magglio in the outfield because he’s the better defender!
Damon is the better defender, but he was still HORRIBLE last year. Both of them were.
Seems pretty clear to me that Damon ends up with the Tigers or another A.L. team because the Braves just aren’t going to have enough cash in the end and an A.L. team has the DH. As a Braves fan I’d definitely like to see him hitting leadoff for us, but it ain’t happening.
I’ve always had doubt about whether or not we (braves) should sign Damon, but the more I think about it is he would make our lineup dynamic!! Put him and his .375 OBP at the top of the lineup and slide Mclouth into the 7th spot in the lineup and we just got a lot better!! With Diaz and Melky we could give Damon, Mclouth and Heyward plenty of days off to make sure they all stay healthy!! Or we could trade one of our extra OF’s for some other asset. I say bring him on in Wren!!
My guess: Damon ends up a Tiger for a contract of 2 yrs @ $10 mil total.
If that happens the Tigers GM should be fired on the spot.
If that happens don’t be surprised that it was because Boras went straight to Mr. Illich, he’s done it twice before with Pudge and Maggs.
Personally, I think Tigers need to focus on getting some backup for the infield.
Damon wouldn’t take a 2 year deal and no team will offer him two years. He probably doesn’t want to locked into a team he might not really want to be on. Teams don’t want to liable for an aging player on a deal of more than a year.
I think the Braves should just sign him, they have a real shot at winning the division, but right now their offense might not be good enough. Do they really think Glaus and Melky Cabrera will fix their offense?
If they get Damon, they could have a very nice rotation with him, Diaz, and Cabrera. Diaz isn’t a bad option, but he struggles vs righties and mashes lefties. He and Cabrera aren’t everyday players so they can all split time and they’d also pick up a good hitting veteran outfielder in Damon, who’s defense isn’t as bad as everyone thinks it is. It’s better than Abreu’s.
Diaz had a .349 OBP agaisnt RHP lat year which happened to be exactly Damon’s OBP away from Yankee Stadium last year. So considering Diaz’s OBP against LHP, Damon is an OBP downgrade.
Thank you. And since Diaz’s splits vs RHP is very similar to Melky’s numbers vs RHP, Diaz should be playing in LF everyday for the Braves.
I agree about Damons defense. Its not bad, more or less average in left…its his arm that could really cause problems but we’d have melky as a late game defensive sub.
I can’t think of ANY team that doesn’t have a need for a guy like Damon at $2.5m. My team already has 4 OF/DH’s but I would still bring him on at $2.5m. Cheapest and best insurance
The only thing about signing Damon is that the Braves would then have to trade an outfielder to make room for him. Right now they have Diaz-McLouth-Heyward as their starting outfield with Cabrera serving as as the fourth OF and platoon partner for Diaz. Carrying five outfielders and just one back-up middle infielder just isn’t an option, especially with how injury-prone Chipper is.
I kinda agree but…Infante can fill in at 3rd, SS and 2B. Glaus can fill in at 3rd, Hinske, Prado, Diaz and Melky can all fill in at 1st. If we do get an injury thats going to cause someone to be out for a while, we can call up Conrad who can play all over the field as well. A lot of versatility this year.
Since when has Melky ever been an option at 1B? And color me unimpressed with the other back-up options for the infield. There’s no way the Braves go with five outfielders on the 25-man.
Im sure that Melky could fill in at 1st if we’re in a pinch but I named 3 guys before Melky so the chances of it happening are fairly slim. My point was that we do have some versatility this year and we should carry the best players…
So you can’t see the issue with carrying five outfielders and only one back-up middle infielder?
I don’t see Heyward starting the season in the majors, as good as he is, they probably won’t rush him, especially with Cabrera making 3M. If they bring in Damon, Diaz and Cabrera can each get days off, but neither of them will be on a strict platoon so they can all play. If they feel the need to, they can trade Melky mid-season and bring up Heyward if he’s really tearing things up. I just don’t see how bringing in a good bat, and a guy who’s good for 2 wins at worst on a cheap contract is a bad thing for a team with a less than stellar offense.
Weak Arm, OK Feilding, Hits like no tomorrow, getting Slow(er)…DH for sure!!!
Diaz had a .349 OBP agaisnt RHP lat year which happened to be exactly Damon’s OBP away from Yankee Stadium last year. So considering Diaz’s OBP against LHP, Damon is an OBP downgrade.
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I don’t completely agree w/ your logic comparison.
Using Diaz’ OBP vs RHP vs Damon’s road OBP? Seems like a more apples to apples comparison would be Diaz’s OBP vs RHP (.349) vs Damon’s OBP vs RHP which is .380.
For the record though, as much as I value Damon’s ability, the Braves have a pretty good hitter in Diaz and the only obvious attribute that Damon brings to the table over Diaz is his ability to be a strong leadoff hitter. Damon would be a waste as a platoon player w/ Diaz and Diaz probably deserves to play everday IMO.
It would be good to have Damon as a veteran outfielder to mentor or younger outfielders
If damon signs with the braves, his ass will be on the bench being the back up outfielder for pretty much the whole year.
How do you figure?
Didn’t Damon say he was going to have a team 2 weeks ago? If Braves sign Damon they’d have to trade Diaz before Heyward comes up. It’s all who they think is better, Damon or Diaz. Also, Diaz and Melky will be gone before the start of next year.
I’m surprised he hasn’t fired Scott BorASS yet like Rogers did a few years back.
Braves need to stop being so cheap and just go after a proven veteran and solid hitter so they can at least look like a pretty good team on paper. Melky, Glaus, and Hinske will not get the job done in Atlanta.
Come on Reds! Jump all over him. Now that you dumped Tavaras, 2.5 million is adding up to him.
they also added aaron miles and his 3mill..so techinally they lost 500k.
i totally forgot about him. Thanks for reminding me.
The Braves have a lead-off hitter in McLouth or Diaz. Damon would just be a worry in Left Field. I would give the leadoff position to Diaz, because he has the speed and in the lead-off position he had a .439 BA. Even if that is only in 50 or so at-bats, it does still prove that Diaz is comfortable hitting in that position.
Small sample-size. Neither Diaz nor McLouth are true lead-off hitters. Damon is. Damon has good speed on basepaths, decent range, veteran presence, yet has a horrid arm, is older, and may cost us trading Diaz.
he(damon) probably will get swapped out in the late innings with melky cabrera to minimize the damage.
Still don’t want him around. Praying to wake up one morning soon and see he signed elsewhere
why would u not want him on your team. the guy is a good player and excelent hitter. i the red sox had 5 more mm 2 spent, i wouldnt be against them spending it on him. 2 bad they have herminda becuase i wouldnt mind having him on my team.( few sox fans that are not mad at him for leaving.)
I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want him, since there’s really no alternative out there. There’s no opportunity cost in signing him, except maybe losing some guy on waivers…
I don’t understand why you guys think he’s THAT good. We just aren’t in a position to meet his demands and overpay for him… we have enough players already between Guillen/Jackson/Mags/Raburn to rotate the outfield and DH spots
Braves need to sign Johnny Damon. We need a productive left fielder. Offer $5 million annual salary and if he takes it, fine. If he doesn’t, let him go. Sure, we could really use Damon, but don’t break the bank for him. Considering Damon signs w/ the Braves, here’s what the opening day outfield layout looks like :
LF – Damon, CF – Mclouth, RF – Heyward/Melky/Diaz (whoever Bobby wants)
I suspect several teams have offered him a figure with a “if he takes it, fine, if he doesn’t, let him go” approach. We know the Yankees did. My hunch is there’s just not that many teams left with $5m in payroll, or too many owners who could be convinced that J.D. is the “missing piece” to convince them to expand payroll.
Getting a player that good for 4 to 5 million would be a stealHe wanted 2 year/ 26 million… (not that he deserves that)but, he could have gotten 2 year/14m or maybe 1 year/8m, from the Yanks if he acted quick, before they signed Johnson that is…
Braves fans– stop! Damon ain’t coming to Atlanta. Unless Wren can come up with some creative way to get him here on a big incentive type deal for probably two years, he’s heading to the Tigers or somewhere else. I don’t think the Braves have any urgency for Damon because Wren and Cox seem to love what Melky brings and of course that prospect Heyward.
If it’s only costing 3mil or so, Yanks could resign Damon, bounce rule 5 Hoffman back to the Dodgers, trade Mitre to free up $ and put Gardner at AAA as insurance. Then sign Gomes or Baldelli cheaply for a bat off the bench. Given their payroll, a small stretch is within reason… Done.
Kenny Williams: Sign this man
LF Pierre
2B Beckham
RF Quentin
1B Konerko
DH Damon
CF Rios
C Pierzynski
SS Ramirez
3B Teahen
bench: Jones/Kotsay/Vizquel
Damon isn’t a horrible fit on the Sox, but perhaps Rocco Baldelli would be a cheaper option. Alex Rios should not be starting for any team right now.