The market for outfielder Johnny Damon was reportedly dead. No one wanted him at his demands of $10 million at three years, the Yankees refused to go any higher then $5 million and when you walk away from their money your wallet can only get smaller.
Since that time it’s been said, reported, quoted, speculated, analyzed, put under a microscope for 4th graders and even written on toilet paper that Johnny Damon likely would get no more then $2-3 million on a one year deal with any club.
Even Kansas City. And the Nationals were out of the question because well Johnny Damon simply wouldn’t entertain the idea of going to an offensive death sentence, and if that’s Washington you can only imagine what Pittsburgh is.
But now we hear different. Everyone is saying it now. Everyone! Maybe it’s all the snow and well people can’t get out and their cars are stuck and they are inhaling dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Maybe life on Mars has discovered us and decided to play a cruel joke on everyone, making them believe Johnny Damon is again worth $5 million or worse… a two year deal.
Johnny Damon had a great 2009 season, but he was also playing in a sandbox had the best offensive team in the league around him and well let’s face it my lack of depth perception makes me as good of an option to play left field as Damon is.
It’s easy to look at the Braves current roster and see that Damon is an upgrade. Frankly he’s an upgrade over everyone in the outfield. McLouth, Diaz, former Yankee teammates Melky Cabrera and Eric Hinske, Jordan Schafer and well the knees and hips of Garret Anderson which for some reason remain sitting two feet from the warning track.
But at $5 million? Two years?
Ok call me confused, late for dinner, or whatever. The Braves have not been honest about their payroll for 2010 at all. They said that Damon wasn’t in their budget when it appeared he could and probably would have signed with them at $5 million nearly two plus weeks ago. Now all of a sudden because the Detroit Tigers are interested they suddenly have the money to spend?
Even worse. Agent Scott Boras is angling for a two year deal! While both teams are now said to be checking in at $5 million on one year deals, it’s becoming clear that the team that caves into giving a second guaranteed year or additional money will be the eventual suitor for Damon. Well unless the Yankees get involved again which you never really know.
It’s to the point where it’s annoying hearing anything about the Braves. Everything starts and ends with Johnny Damon and playing left field.
If Johnny Damon really had this type of interest from teams all along it wouldn’t have been a secret. Am I the only one who noticed that Boras never really talked about the teams that he said were “interested” in Damon and now he’s freely flying off at the mouth with the words Tigers and Braves like a dog with rabies?
So what now we are going to give Damon $5 million to act a fool and Melky Cabrera $3.1 million to stare at him? Someone hit me in the head.