Damon thinks his defense ‘was a positive’ for the Yanks

By most accounts, Johnny Damon performed poorly in left field last season. A net positive in 2008, his defense seemingly fell off a cliff in 2009, as he went from a 6.7 UZR over 659.1 innings to a -9.2 UZR in 1,117.2 innings. I looked all over for evidence that UZR was wrong, but didn’t find much. Even the scouting view, courtesy of Keith Law, doesn’t favor Damon. He sees things differently, though. Speaking to Tyler Kepner of the Times, Damon thinks his defense helped the club. “I think early on last season my defense was a little bit erratic, but once I figured out the ballpark and figured a few things out, I got better and I actually was a positive for us.” While his defense probably got better as the season went along, I don’t think it was ever a positive. Then again, what else is the guy going to say?