Johnny Damon to the Yankees?

The Assassin · Post by **The Assassin** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:09 am

Yankees steal Damon from Red Sox
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RONALD BLUM / Associated Press
Posted: 2 minutes ago

The New York Yankees grabbed center fielder Johnny Damon away from the rival Boston Red Sox, reaching a preliminary agreement Tuesday night on a $52 million, four-year contract.

Details of the deal were still being negotiated and Damon must pass a physical, a baseball official said on condition of anonymity because negotiations were not yet final.
MORE TO COME

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5185202

Say goodbye to the longhair and the beard.

chowd103 · Post by **chowd103** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:15 am

Muthafukka!

Frank Rizzo · Post by **Frank Rizzo** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:33 am

chowd103 wrote:Muthafukka!

BLOW MY FUCKING DIUCK YOU PIECE OF SHIT

YOU LIKE TATHA??? YOIU LIKE THAT??|
|

HOLY SHIT WE HAVE GOT JETEAH AT hIS NATURAL #2 SPOT PLUS DAMON AT THE TOP OF THE ORDER HOWWA HOW THE FUCK AWILLL YOU CONTEDN???/ BWHAHH WE FUCKIGN JUST STUCK OUR DICKS UP YOUR ASSSES YOU SUCKS!!!! YANKEE GLORY RISESSS AGAIN WIE WILL WIN IT ALL THIS YEAR YOU SHIT FACEK

YANKEESS ALL THE WYA in 2006 YANKEES FUCK YEAH

SunCoastSooner · Post by **SunCoastSooner** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:43 am

What a waiste of money.

Frank Rizzo · Post by **Frank Rizzo** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:46 am

WATE AOF M ONEY MY ASS

THE IS CRIPLES THE RED COX AND YOU a KNIOW IT YEAHHHHH!!!! YEANKEEAAAS HAVE DONE I@T WORLD SCHAMPISN

W E WILL WIN IT AALLLL IN 2006

Bizzarofelice · Post by **Bizzarofelice** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:00 am

SunCoastSooner wrote:What a waste of money.

What he said. 4/52 for a guy that is old, can't hit for power, a liability in the outfield and appears on queer eye.

His hair alone was worth 3 million/year according to Boras.

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 1:14 pm

Toddowen wrote:that, and groom himself to look as if he'd been born sometime in the last couple of hundred thousand years.

You can count on that.

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 2:09 pm

A picture before he grew out his hair in Boston...

Makes you sick to your stomach thinking about what resources the Yankees have and their new lineup is flat out wrong. They now have the best outfield in the league. Not from a defensive standpoint but that's the most lethal outfield with the bats.

Damon, CF
Jeter, SS
Sheffield, RF
Rodriguez, 3B
Matsui, LF
Giambi, 1B
Posada, C
Crosby, DH
Cano, 2B

I still favor the Sox as far as starting pitching is concerned with the addition of Beckett. The Yankees bullpen is improved with the additions of Farnsworth, Dotel, Myers and Villone to go with Rivera and Gordon. Can't help but say the Yankees are the favorites in the AL. The White Sox are a close second. The Indians are third with Boston and Anaheim not far behind.

Does this mean the Sox are going to make that Jeremy Reed-for-Clement/Arroyo trade now?

Rack Fu · Post by **Rack Fu** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 2:17 pm

Gordon just signed with the Phillies.

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 2:18 pm

Rack Fu wrote:Gordon just signed with the Phillies.

You're right...forgot about that.

Mustang · Post by **Mustang** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 3:12 pm

Every year we see it.....Yankees sign big time, big $$$ talent, get to playoffs and come up short. I want production when it counts the most....in October! Sure, it all looks good right now...I hope maybe Damon can light a fire under A-Rod and Sheffield in the playoffs.

Cueball · Post by **Cueball** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 3:25 pm

As long as the Red Sox can fill the center field/lead off spot with some that can do an adequet job, I don't have a problem with letting Damon go. Does it suck that he went Anikan Skywalker? Yes. Does it suck I just went Star Wars? Yes. Free agency is making it more and more difficult to hate the uniform and the player wearing it.

Cueball · Post by **Cueball** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 3:28 pm

Seeing this makes me hate that prick a little more, guess it's not until you can visualize it :D

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:16 pm

He's seem like the ultimate anti-Yankee. He seems like too much of a free spirit to play for that stuffy organization. He didn't seem to become the guy he is now until he joins the Sox. He was still fairly conservative in nature when he was with Oakland and that was with Giambi in the clubhouse. He'll fit in offensively. Scary to think of him and Jeter in front of those RBI machines behind them. The top 7 in the lineup are flat out nasty. The interesting thing will be to see who makes their rotation...they've got 8 or 9 starters through all of the injuries and trades. Initially, I'd think it would be Johnson, Pavano, Chacon, Wang, and Wright.

I think the rivalry is still great for baseball but seeing something like this further brings home the fact that it is all about the money and agents don't give a crap about loyalty. Boras wanted Damon to get the best price no matter where it came from. 4 years/$40 million from the Sox seemed reasonable but Boras wanted top dollar and he ends up with the enemy. You couldn't imagine Teddy Ballgame, Yaz or Jim Rice leave the Red Sox for the Yankees because of money. It's a completely different game than what it used to be.

Cicero · Post by **Cicero** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:26 pm

Just one more reason to hate the Yankees.

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:37 pm

Johnny, post-haircut...sort of...

Laxplayer · Post by **Laxplayer** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 6:02 pm

I'm not sure I like this either. The Sox and Yanks are supposed to hate each other. Damon is a Red Sox so it's going to be hard to root for him. Could you imagine Nettles, Munson etc....ever playing for the Sox. I'm not a fan of this move but it will probably help with his speed, average and ability to set the table for the guys behind him. Yanks need pitching though....lots of it.

Bizzarofelice · Post by **Bizzarofelice** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:13 pm

Shoalzie wrote: Damon, CF
Jeter, SS
Sheffield, RF
Rodriguez, 3B
Matsui, LF
Giambi, 1B
Posada, C
Crosby, DH
Cano, 2B

That lineup is so potent that it didn't get to the World Series last year.

Laxplayer · Post by **Laxplayer** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:50 pm

I also think the lack of starting pitching had something to do with them not making it to the WS.

chowd103 · Post by **chowd103** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 12:15 am

Laxplayer wrote:I'm not sure I like this either. The Sox and Yanks are supposed to hate each other. Damon is a Red Sox so it's going to be hard to root for him. Could you imagine Nettles, Munson etc....ever playing for the Sox. I'm not a fan of this move but it will probably help with his speed, average and ability to set the table for the guys behind him. Yanks need pitching though....lots of it.

Nettles.. back in the day? A Red Sox? Fuck that! He was a prick. Never liked that guy.

Munson?

Yeah. Every day of the week.

I can't speak for all Sox fans, but if they somehow landed Derek Jeter with like, maybe 5 good years left, I would be ecstatic. Dude plays every day like it's game 7. Team guy, ultimate warrior. This guy just competes.

I would welcome him in a heartbeat. Yankeefan would be devistated.

Rack Fu · Post by **Rack Fu** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 2:06 am

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/w ... index.html

This dude thinks the Sox pooched their season.

Adelpiero · Post by **Adelpiero** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 2:13 am

Johnson, Pavano, Chacon, Wang, and Wright.

Buwahahahahahahahahaha

c'mon, that is probably one of the worst pitching staffs of any competitive team in MLB

They don't have a #1 or #2 or a #3 pitcher on that staff! oh yeah, they are hooked to the cripple Johnson for 2 years at 16+per! buwahahahaha!

But hey, a CF was definately their #1 priority

PrimeX · Post by **PrimeX** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 2:35 am

They should've gone after Ponson.

Oh wait, the Cards devoured that bird.

Adelpiero · Post by **Adelpiero** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 2:41 am

PrimeX wrote:They should've gone after Ponson.

Oh wait, the Cards devoured that bird.

he would be Yankees Ace

cards staff is:

carps
sooooop
marquis
reyes
wainright/ponson/ #4-5 spot will be a battle in spring training!

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:13 am

Jack: Imagine.. the first team to spend A HALF OF A BILLION DOLLARS on a baseball team and they STILL can't win a World Series!!

YankeeFan: Hey Jack, they haven't spent a half a billion, yet. Payroll for 2006 will only be one third of a billion!! So shut your pie hole!

Jack: I don't type with my piehole!!

Yankeefan: We got Damon.. We got Damon!!

Jack: Remember what happened to Samson, when they cut his hair!!

Finally Samson caved in just to have peace. "If you cut off all of my hair I shall be as weak as any other man."

When Samson slept with his head in Delilah's lap she beckoned the men to shave off his hair. Once again she shook him and shouted, Samson! Wake up! The Philistines are upon you.!"

Samson shook himself to fight the Philistines, but his hair was gone. His strength was gone. The Philistine soldiers jumped upon Samson and beat him badly. Samson was overcome. Delilah, in the name of love, had betrayed him completely.

The Philistines took him prisoner, burned out his eyes with a hot poker and chained him to the huge stone wheel pulled along a trough to grind grain into flour, around and around, all day long, every day. Samson was destined to spend the rest of his days doing the job that an ox would do, grinding at the mill. He frequently was put on display for the Philistine people to mock him and to heap scorn upon him as their former mighty enemy whom the Philistines had reduced to a life worse than death.

*******************************

took him prisoner, burned out his eyes with a hot poker and chained him to the huge stone wheel
- Johnny has NO IDEA what he has done. The dude is a self proclaimed idiot. (Talk about a FOOL and his Money....)

The Yankees become a much better team on paper by this deal and the Red Sox look a team in disarray.

The reality is (AGAIN)... the Red Sox could not afford or were not willing to pay the amount of money that the Yankees offered.

How many other teams would pay Johnny Damon $13 Million a year ??

He is a nice hitter, he plays with heart, he can catch balls but can't throw. He has decent speed. but is he worth more than Torii Hunter?? or a decent pitcher? I don't think so. The Red Sox do have the second highest team salary in baseball but they can't afford to overpay like the Yankees do.

The Yankees just paid $34 million in Luxury tax for 2005 and they brush it off like dropping a penny. The Red Sox just paid $4 million in luxury tax and they are pinching every penny they have..

Check out Average salaries...

The Yankees average salary in 2005 was $7,391,168 .

The Red Sox average salary was $4,178,466.
The Marlins average salary was $1,870,086.
The Angels average salary was $3,119,308.
The Diamondbacks average salary was $2,291,093.

and the White Sox average salary was $2,973,341.

Other teams cannot compete with the $$$ that the Yankees have and it forces them to be more frugal and less able to keep the talent that they have.

On the bright side.... The Yankees STILL have not won the World Series in this millenium!!

Laxplayer · Post by **Laxplayer** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 3:57 pm

Jack, didn't the Yanks beat the Mets in 2000?

Mustang · Post by **Mustang** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 8:17 pm

Every year, we hear the same thing.....zzzzzzzzzzzzz...... Yankees payroll this...Yankees payroll that...........here it comes again. I didn't realize it was a competition to have the lowest payroll. I thought the World Series trophy was the big prize. Think about it geniuses....if you had Steinbrenner's monetary resources, wouldn't you also spend a bundle of it on big time talent? If he DIDN'T, everybody would call him a cheap ass J--. Dude can't win. I don't like all his whining, but I like how he pays top dollar for talent and demads excellence. He sets the bar high for his team.....and he should! While they may not win it every year, the Yankees sure as hell are in the mix. I too am tired of post season underacheiving, but Steinbrenner is always trying to improve the team.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 8:26 pm

Laxplayer wrote:Jack, didn't the Yanks beat the Mets in 2000?

Come on Lax, we've been over this before. When you start counting, you begin with 1 and end with a base 10.

count your fingers and toes.

Start with your fingers.

You should have 10.

Note, you start with 1 and end with 10.

Now, continue counting your your toes.

You should have 10 of those also.

11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 ,19, 20.

Note, you end with 20.

That is also how you count centuries and milleniums.

2000 was the last year of the last millenium.

Try this link for a more technical explanation...

****************
Mustang, Yes it is a tired story..
Every year, we hear the same thing.....zzzzzzzzzzzzz...... Yankees payroll this...Yankees payroll that...........here it comes again.

But tell me that it is not true...

Think about it..

Yes, Steinbrenner is doing what he should given the current inept fiscal rules of baseball and YES, the Yankees are always in the mix.. Hell, if they don't make the Post Season after out spending their nearest competitor by $100 MILLION..that would be ludicrous.

The only thing that keeps me watching baseball these days is the JOKE that the Yankees have become in the Post Season.

GOD must be a Baseball fan!!

BUT, this issue of top teams constantly losing their best players to the Yankees will never end until something is done about it to even the playing field.

as in Life.. The Rich get richer and the poor keep having babies!!

Bizzarofelice · Post by **Bizzarofelice** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 9:21 pm

Laxplayer wrote:I also think the lack of starting pitching had something to do with them not making it to the WS.

Good thing they addressed that weakness.

Alkie... did you forget Mulder?

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 9:47 pm

Interesting article on the Damon pickup

Dude must read this site... mentioning Delilah and the Phillistines as I had...
Kevin Hench / FOXSports.com
Posted: 3 hours ago

It's something unpredictable
But in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life

—Green Day, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Good riddance, Johnny Damon, self-proclaimed American idiot.

Though I suppose it was hardly unpredictable that the New York Yankees would overpay a star player as he heads into the decline phase of his career, I guess I thought Damon might be the one guy who could resist the siren call of Delilah.

But no, just as Samson was seduced and betrayed by that treacherous woman, so, too, has Damon capitulated to the overtures of the dark side. Delilah had to coax Samson to sleep in her lap before she had a Philistine shave off his strength-inducing locks. Damon, presumably, will willingly submit to George Steinbrenner's shears as he joins Goliath — after helping slay that particular Philistine in 2004.

Samson's hair had been a symbol of his covenant with God. Damon's hair had been a symbol of his covenant with good in its unending opposition to the Evil Empire. After being shorn, Samson awoke to find that both God and his strength had left him. Will Damon suffer the same fate? (For the sake of Red Sox Nation, he must.)

Damon's authority-defying freak flag will be shorn, its iconic beauty scattered on the barbershop floor. It could always grow back, one presumes, unlike the permanently broken hearts of tens of thousands of New England women who dared to love him.

Okay, before the Old Testament-cum-Star Wars metaphors get any more mixed, strained or tortured, let's subject this free-agent signing to some cold, hard, dispassionate analysis.

Ignoring for a moment Boras' comically ridiculous proclamation that Damon is a better leadoff hitter than Rickey Henderson, just what will the Yankees get for their $52 million?

A centerfielder against whom even 36-year-old backup catchers will go from first to third at will. Have you ever thrown a baseball or football with your opposite hand? This is precisely what it looks like Damon is doing when he uncorks one of his weak, high-arcing parabolas that leave the cutoff man contemplating a fair catch as everybody moves up an extra base. Yes, Damon will match his predecessor Bernie Williams lollipop for lollipop, so Yankees fans will not have to adjust their expectations when it comes to the arm of their centerfielder.

A leadoff man who has posted a .342 on-base percentage away from Fenway Park the past four seasons in Damon's athletic prime. He'll still get to play nine or 10 games a season at Fenway as a visitor with the Evil Empire, but Yankees fans can expect his OBP to be closer to that .342 mark than the .383 he enjoyed at the friendly confines. A sampling of hitters who exceeded a .342 OBP last year includes free-swinging Juan Encarnacion, possible Damon replacement Coco Crisp and legendary hacker Shea Hillenbrand, who had a .343 OBP despite walking only 26 times.

While Damon has shown flashes of power — 20 home runs in 2004 — he dipped to 10 home runs last year. He finished the season with an .805 OPS, which put the one-time Royals outfielder just above current Royals outfielders David DeJesus and Emil Brown (both at .804) as the trio finished 64th, 65th and 66th in the majors in OPS. So I'm assuming Boras believes that DeJesus and Brown are each worth $12.99 million a year.

To be fair, part of Damon's power dip was attributed to the nagging shoulder injury he battled for much of 2005. Yankees fans should be sympathetic to this since they watched their beloved Bernie struggle over the years with various power-sapping shoulder maladies. I don't know if Boras let the Yankees kick the tires on Damon, but there sure are a lot of miles on those treads. A big part of why Johnny D. was so worshipped in Boston is also why any prospective buyer should have been wary of just what kind of violent collisions their high-priced acquisition had endured.

You see, Damon never met an obstacle into which he wouldn't happily crash. Boston fans loved him for this, but it took a toll. It may not be as easy as CarFax, but had Brian Cashman looked beyond Boras' propaganda and had a staffer put together a Damon crash reel, he would have seen: Damon being carried off on a stretcher in the 2003 playoffs after going noggin-to-noggin at full speed with Damian Jackson; Damon slicing his arm open on the Toronto scoreboard in April 2005, forcing the Blue Jays to redesign that neon monstrosity in left-center; and countless showdowns between Damon and the Green Monster's metallic scoreboard.

Damon has put himself through a one-man demolition derby during his four years in Boston. Caveat emptor. But of course the Yankees don't have to be wary. Because even if the Damon signing turns out to be a huge mistake, they'll just swallow the money and overpay for someone else. Luxury tax be damned. As long as the Boss is around and the Empire has its ludicrous TV revenue, the Yankees will buy their way into the playoffs every year, even if it means doubling the payroll of their pursuers.

Even though his power dipped in '05, Damon enjoyed the highest stolen-base percentage of his career, a gaudy .947 success rate. The downside is that his 18 stolen bases were his lowest total in eight years. In Boras' exotic calculus, the guy who tied for 30th in stolen bases in the majors and ranked 43rd in on-base percentage is a Hall-of-Fame-bound second-coming of Rickey Henderson. In truth, Damon is not the equal of the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. In fact, Damon is not the best leadoff hitter on his new team. Derek Jeter had a .389 OBP last year, good for 16th in the majors. For their careers, Jeter's OBP (.386) is superior to Damon's (.353).
All of Boras' suppositions, of course, are based on the fact that unlike the vast majority of major league baseball players throughout history, Damon is not, in fact, entering his decline phase. To merit four years, $52 million, one has to assume that Damon, 32, will be just as productive as he was in his prime and avoid injury despite his hellbent style.

Suppose Damon suffers some nagging injury or is hitting .220 at the end of April next year. Whereas a Boston fan base, so enamored with their long-haired cover boy, might be patient and forgiving, Yankees fans will unleash their usual venom on an overpriced free agent, for whom they have only ill will. After all, it was Damon's two home runs in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS that sealed the Greatest Choke in Sports History.

And Damon will look in the mirror at his close-cropped visage and ask, "What have I done?"

Judges 16:17 will hold the answer:

That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, there hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

Good riddance, Johnny Damon. You had the time of your life.

Kevin Hench is the head writer for the Too Late with Adam Carolla show on Comedy Central.

Laxplayer · Post by **Laxplayer** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 1:31 am

Jack, 2000 was the first year in the millenium. Why? Because when we celebrated the end of 1999 we started a new millenium. So I don't care what some stupid article says, I consider their win in 2000 as the new millenium. Granted I can say that because......well just because.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:12 am

Laxplayer wrote:Jack, 2000 was the first year in the millenium. Why? Because when we celebrated the end of 1999 we started a new millenium. So I don't care what some stupid article says, I consider their win in 2000 as the new millenium. Granted I can say that because......well just because.

Damn, Boy!! You are PIGHEADED!!

Now go back and count those toes again!!!

Cueball · Post by **Cueball** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:27 am

This finger and toe counting thing takes a lot of time.
- Antonio Alfonseca

chowd103 · Post by **chowd103** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:51 am

Cueball wrote:This finger and toe counting thing takes a lot of time.
- Antonio Alfonseca

Fuck off mang! Queet busting my balls. I have three.

an' no strikes.

Mississippi Neck · Post by **Mississippi Neck** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:51 am

This move assures the Yankmes the AL East..and another disappointing postseason.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 4:11 pm

Johnny gets his hair cut by Delilah..

Laxplayer · Post by **Laxplayer** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:09 pm

Damn, Boy!! You are PIGHEADED!!

Now go back and count those toes again!!!

Laughing Laughing

No, I won't. naner naner naner......... :P

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 2:22 pm

If he gets the winning hit in the World Series, you'll embrace him...I can't imagine it will take too long for YankeeFan to pull for him. It took a little time for Giambi to adjust...Damon is a laid back guy, can't imagine he'll get to offended by any boos. I'm sure his first trip to Fenway will be interesting. I'd be disappointed in SoxFan if they didn't boo him...you just don't leave the Sox to play for the Evil Empire.