While the Yankees continue to wait and wait and wait for the market for second and third tier free agent outfielders to develop, Johnny Damon toils in limbo, and he indicated to Nick Cafardo that he’s hasn’t completely closed the door on a return to the Bronx. “I knew I’d probably have to take a pay cut, just based on the way the economy is in this country and baseball,” said Damon. “But I thought I had a productive season and I think I showed people I can play and still do something at a high level.’’
Cafardo says Scott Boras came to the Yanks and proposed a $10M salary, however the Yanks are thinking more along the lines of $6-7M, a paycut Damon isn’t willing to take. He did say he’d be more than willing to play for Atlanta, who has a little bit of money to spend and a perpetual need for offense. Buster Olney says that executives from other clubs are convinced that he’ll end up back in New York.
It’s looking more and more like Johnny Damon is the Bobby Abreu of this offseason. In fact, we can say with certainty that he is. Abreu ended up taking close to a 70% paycut when he finally signed in mid-February, and while I’m not sure Johnny will have to take that big of a cut, it’s not going to be pretty.