Except for the fact that Johnny Damon (and his agent Scotty Boras) appear to be living quite well in an alternate universe, one in which a 36 year old with suspect defensive skills, a well-below-average arm and creaky legs believes that he’s due the exact same deal he signed at age 33: a four-year, $52m deal.“Players out there are getting multi-year deals,” Damon said. “(Andy) Pettitte got a raise at 37, even though it was only one year. Cameron is 37 (he turns 37 in January) and he got two years. We’re not going to know much until we start negotiating with teams, but that should happen soon.”
Yet, Damon has been guzzling his agent’s koolaid about him being the bastian of health, the same agent who had the stones to compare Oliver Perez to Sandy Koufax. [Maybe Boras could trick Minaya into overpaying for Damon, too.]
Damon, who turned 36 last month, has played in at least 140 games in 14 consecutive seasons, a stat Boras is thrusting at teams concerned with Damon’s age. Damon is 575 hits away from 3,000, a milestone he has talked about wanting to reach.
“I hope I can play for another five years,” Damon said. “That offer’s not going to be there, but Scott has already told everybody about the shape I’m in.“
According to Fangraphs.com, Damon’s closely delivered on his 4 year/$52 million contract with the Yanks ($49.6m of “total value” versus $52m of “actual pay”. However, contracts are supposed to pay for future performance, not the past.
| Season | Team | Batting | Fielding | Replacement | Positional | RAR | WAR | Dollars | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Red Sox | 14.6 | 4.4 | 23.4 | 2.3 | 44.7 | 4.5 | $11.6 | $7.3 |
| 2003 | Red Sox | 2.1 | -2.5 | 23.0 | 2.2 | 24.8 | 2.4 | $6.8 | $7.5 |
| 2004 | Red Sox | 23.5 | -7.6 | 23.4 | 2.2 | 41.5 | 4.0 | $12.5 | $8.0 |
| 2005 | Red Sox | 13.9 | -17.4 | 22.9 | 2.2 | 21.6 | 2.2 | $7.4 | $8.3 |
| 2006 | Yankees | 17.9 | -11.6 | 22.4 | 0.2 | 28.9 | 2.8 | $10.3 | $13.0 |
| 2007 | Yankees | 5.0 | 4.8 | 20.2 | -6.7 | 23.3 | 2.3 | $9.3 | $13.0 |
| 2008 | Yankees | 23.1 | -1.1 | 20.8 | -6.2 | 36.6 | 3.6 | $16.4 | $13.0 |
| 2009 | Yankees | 25.3 | -9.2 | 20.9 | -6.9 | 30.1 | 3.0 | $13.6 | $13.0 |
| 2010 | Fans (60) | 15.8 | -7.6 | 20.3 | -6.5 | 22.0 | 2.2 | $9.9 |
Damon’s defense, as you can see from the table above, has continued to be sub-par and any thoughts of it improving in the spacious left field of Yankee Stadium is foolish. Not to mention, the improvement in Damon’s offense, notably his HR power, was mostly due to the new dynamics of Yankee Stadium. I’m quite sure most other teams know and recognize this, too.
So how many other teams want a limp-armed, defensively-challenged, lefty pull hitter who no longer steals many bases for $13m a year for more than two years? Just so long as it’s not the Yanks at that price.
Now, if he wants an Abreu-like deal, I’m on board with that.
Damon’s first choice is to return to the Yankees, but the Bombers seem set on giving him no more than a two-year, $19 million deal, the same contract the Angels gave Bobby Abreu last month.
