For the Yankee fans still urging the Yankees’ FO to sign Johnny Damon, it’s time to move on. The Yankees in-house options are fine.
First, by all reports, the Yankees are at the edge of their budget right now, and unless Damon is willing to take a enormous pay cut, he’s not coming back. And considering Jerry Hairston signed for $2.12 million, we don’t think Damon will settle for that type of cash. Come on, you all know he has X-Men genetics and the body of Lee Haney. He’s the new Cal Ripken and better than Rickey Henderson.
Second, is his overall production going to be significantly better than any of the potential starting OFs on the Yankee roster? Will it even be better at all? The man will be 36 and one could make a serious argument that 2009 was his best offensive season ever. Is it reasonable to assume some dropoff in 2010? We think so. And we all know about his defense last season.
And for whatever it’s worth, the virgin fans who make their own projections at Fangraphs have Damon being outperformed on an overall basis (defense included) by Brett Gardner (in 170 less PAs, mind you).
So whether you put faith in those projections or not, we think most people would agree that logically, once you take out the CLUBHOUSE CHEMISTRY!! rationale, we don’t see how the re-signing of Johnny Damon would make the Yankees that much better, if at all.
Looks like Scotty and Johnny priced themselves out of the market.
*Props to Mick Shrimpton, Vizzini, Marshall Seymour, & Michael Knight for also contributing to this post*
103 Comments
Phieleblunt January 24, 2010 11:29
So let’s see, The Yankees pay a lot of money for guys like Kevin Brown and Jason Giambi, yet somehow they cant reach a little deeper for the player who was as responsible for the Yankees winning it all as any one else on this team? I know how much everyone loves Nick Johnson’s OBP but the Yanks will miss Damon sorely. He was in the middle of most of the Yankees major offensive rallies last year.
olddog January 25, 2010 17:29
The Red Sox missed Damon so much they won another championship with JD Drew. Damon is replaceable as seen by the team who perennially wins the wild card in the AL. Gardner should be the starting CF which elevates his D and than we can expect less offense and move Granderson to LF elevating his D and his offense. Either way the Yanks have a much stronger defensive team in the OF this year despite Nick Swhish still playing RF.
Gardy11 January 27, 2010 23:26
I got the best arm in our OF, cool.