Preface

In no way do I believe the Yankees will do this, nor do I think they should. Johnny Damon had an excellent pinstriped tenure that ended with a World Series title. Retaining him seemed like an option, but only if his contract demands fell into the Yankees’ desired range. That didn’t happen, and the Yankees moved on. While I’d love to see Johnny back in the lineup this year, it’s so unlikely at this point that I had to concoct this crazy scenario. As the price for acquiring one year of Damon, it hardly seems worth the trouble.

The set-up

In the MLB Rumors and Rumblings section of his Weekend Update on Baseball Prospectus, John Perrotto mentioned Damon’s desire to play for the Rays, citing his nearby residence in Orlando. In the next sentence, Perrotto drops the bomb. “He has not completely ruled out a return to the Yankees, even though they have signed Randy Winn to presumably take his place on the roster.” Ignoring the one-for-one replacement of Damon with Winn — and further ignoring the flawed idea of “replacing” production — this is an interesting statement. How could he not rule out a return to the Yankees when it seems everyone else has?

Last week, just after the Winn signing, SI’s Jon Heyman wrote a column about the situation between the Yankees and Damon, quoting both Brian Cashman and Damon at length. Both sides expressed the desire for a reunion, but both recognized the obstacles that stood, and continue to stand, in the way. Both also conceded that they could get back together at some point in the future. “You never know,” said Cashman. Not the most specific of endorsements, but like any good GM, he wouldn’t rule out the possibility if a favorable situation arose.

The scenario

The Yankees have three outfielders who have guaranteed 2010 contracts: Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, and Randy Winn. Beyond that they have Brett Gardner, who will make the league minimum and who has two options remaining, and Jamie Hoffmann, whom the Yankees must offer back to the Dodgers if he doesn’t make the team out of spring training. By all appearances, the Yankees will use Gardner and Winn in left, doling out their playing time as their performances warrant. Hoffmann, if he makes the roster, would serve as the fifth outfielder and late-inning defensive replacement — perhaps as a pinch runner with Gardner already in the game.

For now, we can discount Hoffmann. I doubt the Yankees will make roster moves to accommodate him. If he plays well enough to earn a spot, he’ll get it. If they have another player who can fill his role better, they’ll go with that player. That leaves four outfielders, which sounds about right. Winn and Swisher can play both corners, while Granderson and Gardner profile best in left or center. That seems to cover the outfield. So where in the world would Damon fit?

In any return scenario, Gardner would be the odd man out. He not only has an option or two remaining, but he has drawn interest from other teams this off-season, namely the Reds, Padres, White Sox, and Royals. Because any Damon contract would cover just one year, the Yankees wouldn’t necessarily have to trade Gardner to open a spot. They could simply start him in the minors and use him to fill in when needed. This makes the Yankees situation a bit more flexible.

The main obstacle in a Damon-Yankees reunion is the same as it ever was. Before acquiring Winn the Yankees had just $2 million left in their Opening Day payroll budget. All of that went to Winn, so unless Damon is willing to play for the league minimum the Yankees would have to free up some salary. Of their players currently under contract, only Chad Gaudin makes sense from a salary standpoint. He’ll make $2.95 million to start 2010.

In his column, Heyman notes that Cashman floated “a contract of $6 million with $3 million deferred at no interest.” The idea, apparently, is that while the entire $6 million would count against the official Opening Day payroll, Hal Steinbrenner might be open to a deal with deferred money. With around $3 million in savings from dealing Gaudin, presumably for a low-level or low-ceiling minor leaguer, the Yankees could put this offer back on the table. They could go even lower, too, because we haven’t seen much interest in Damon since the Winn signing.

Why it makes sense

If Damon hits as well as he did last season, he’ll be more valuable than Winn at the plate in 2010. If his defense, as Damon himself says, “was only the first two months, and it involved probably five plays,” then perhaps he can play a capable left field. We know that his bat plays well at the Stadium, and that he’s a good guy to have in the clubhouse. His speed, while not what it was when he first signed, is still an asset.

Why it doesn’t make sense

To list them:

• Trading away pitching depth to sign another outfielder doesn’t seem like a great idea.
• The Yankees seem to like Brett Gardner, probably enough to give him at least a half-season’s worth of at-bats in left field.
• The chances of Damon replicating his 2009 season remain low. He’ll be a useful offensive player, but it’s doubtful that he replicates a career year — one in which he slipped considerably toward the end.
• Stats and scouts agreed that Damon played poorly in left field last season, so his return to league average doesn’t appear likely.

Why it won’t happen

Judging from his track record, I don’t think Brian Cashman will alter his roster, trading away valuable pitching depth, just to accommodate Damon. They’re likely mindful that 2010 Damon isn’t 2009 Damon, and that the latter outperformed most reasonable expectations. True, for $6 million, with $3 million deferred, he wouldn’t have to replicate his production to justify the contract. But, again, the Yankees would have to make a further sacrifice in order to even think about bringing back Damon. I just don’t see them doing that.

Really, this is just a crazy thought based on Johnny not yet ruling out a return to New York. The door might remain unlocked, but it’s definitely shut. I doubt the Yankees would go through the trouble at this point. They should be too busy preparing for another championship season in 2010.

Photo credit: Eric Gay/AP

It seems like everyone caught Johnny Damon Fever over the weekend. It started on Friday, when we heard that the Yankees and Damon had been talking, and grew more intense when Jon Heyman reported that the Yankees made an offer with a deadline attached. Brian Cashman denied such an offer, but things stayed heated when Marc Carig heard from Damon that he’d have a team in a week. That was only the beginning of the latest Damon saga.

Bill Madden weighed in on the matter on Saturday, giving his version of the exchange between team and player.

Still, as recently as a couple of days ago, there was renewed dialogue between Damon, Boras and the Yankees in which the Yankees made one last attempt to have a good Yankee remain a Yankee.

“Tell us your bottom line for what you’re willing to play for,” they said, “and if it’s in the realm of where our budget needs to be we can go to ownership (Hal Steinbrenner) and see if something can be worked out.” But instead of giving them a number, Boras came back with more of his patented “mystery team” hogwash, claiming he had a couple of other offers they were still considering.

That mystery team, it appears, is the Oakland A’s. Buster Olney tweeted about that this morning, noting that the A’s could see Damon as their Plan B, should they miss out on Ben Sheets. Still, I don’t see why the A’s, with their spacious ballpark and roster full of outfielders and a DH, would bring in Damon should they fail to sign a pitcher. Again, it sounds like that could just be a leverage play by Boras in order to extract the most possible dollars out of the Yankees.

I really hope that Damon isn’t just being overly optimistic when he says that he’ll have a team this week. I caught Damon Fever a few weeks ago, and really I’d just like to get it out of my system and move on. But, like a nagging cold that you seemingly can’t shake all winter, the Damon saga continues in waves. It’s almost flu-like now. The sooner it’s over, the more I can enjoy the rest of the winter.

As the Hot Stove League has worn on, Johnny Damon rumors have become the meme of the day. He sent a text message about playing for any team! He spoke to the Tigers! He didn’t speak to the Tigers! He had eggs for breakfast! If anything, the constant attention to Johnny Damon has highlighted the problems baseball coverage faces in a 24-hour online environment. At some point, the filter disappeared, and everything mundane Damon did became a major story.

Yet, as December became January, as Spring Training drew every closer, Damon remained both unemployed and seemingly off the Yankees’ radar. Brian Cashman had built his team as he saw fit, and if Johnny Damon didn’t feel he could meet the Yanks’ price, Cashman was prepared to move on. In fact, according to most reports, the Yanks hadn’t spoken to Damon for weeks.

Earlier this week, though, we saw the first signs of a thaw. Jerry Hairston, Jr. speculated that the Yanks weren’t moving on anyone else yet because they were waiting for Damon’s price to come down. While Cashman denied saying so directly, Hairston’s words rang if not true at least plausible. Even with shoddy defense, Damon can be a useful player in a power packed lineup for the Yanks.

And so, it is of little surprise that Damon and the Yanks are, according to Jon Heyman, back on speaking terms. Over at MLB Trade Rumors tonight, our very own Mike Axisa had the transcription from the MLB Network:

“He did meet or talk to the Yankees in the last couple of days. Still doesn’t look like a great chance of happening though believe it or not. They are talking, but the Yankees have these budgetary constraints. They’ve been telling other teams they have about $2 million to spend. I think for Damon they would probably go over that. I mean this is a guy who’s had 100 runs scored nine times and 24 home runs. Terrific player, but I would still say more likely Braves or Tigers, at this point.”

Who knows what that means? Heyman has long been a press mouthpiece, in a sense, for Scott Boras, and it’s quite reasonable to see Boras behind this quote. He’s trying to publicly engage the Yanks and push them to come up with the money for Damon. They could go a few million dollars over budget for Damon, and Boras wants that to happen soon.

Heyman mentions two possible destinations for Damon, but neither seem likely at this juncture. The Braves say they’re through spending. They’re not going to wipe out the cost savings from sending Javier Vazquez away by upping with Damon for few million. The Tigers too are believed to be at or near their budget limits. I wonder if Mariners, still in the hunt for a bat, could get involved, but so far, they’ve been quiet.

Right now, this rumor is still a low level one, but it’s one we’ve been expecting. If Damon is a Yankee come mid-February, no one will be that surprised. And if he’s not a Yankee, no one will be that surprised either.

Fans who want to see Johnny Damon back in pinstripes got a bit of good news last night. In a radio interview, new Padre Jerry Hairston Jr. said that the Yankees didn’t make him an offer because they’re “waiting on Damon’s price to come down.” Brian Cashman quickly refuted the report, but that’s to be expected. After hearing the interview a number of reporters surely placed phone calls, and Cashman is under no obligation to divulge the team’s strategies. While Cashman went into deny mode, I don’t think Hairston’s comment was inaccurate.

As we’ve heard ever since the Javy Vazquez trade, the Yankees plan to wait out the market and find the best value in another outfielder. As one Yankee official said in late December, “We’ll sign an outfielder between now and spring training.” The market for the Yankees’ target players hasn’t moved much since then, hence the lull in activity. Had teams started to make serious plays for guys like Reed Johnson and Xavier Nady, perhaps the Yankees would have made a move by now. But as the market lies dormant, so should the Yankees.

The advantage of waiting in this situation is that they can continue to monitor their presumed top target, Johnny Damon. He’s the best player left on the market, and surely the Yankees would rather bring him back than sign one of the other remaining outfielders. But, as Hairston’s quote suggests, Damon is still asking too much. My question to that: what, exactly, does Johnny think he can get in this market? And, furthermore, what team will pay it?

The teams interested in Damon’s services have dwindled in the past month. The Giants signed Mark DeRosa, Aubrey Huff, and Bengie Molina, and are likely tapped out. The Braves might be interested, but they might not, depending on who you ask. The Tigers have denied interest, and with good cause. They already have DHs at their corner outfield spots — Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen — and so with Damon would have three corner outfielders who play poor defense, surrounding a rookie center fielder. The Mariners have $10 million, but also have two set-in-stone outfielders, plus Milton Bradley and Ken Griffey, Jr.

As Dave Pinto noted yesterday, “a team with a hole in leftfield or designated hitter could do a lot worse than offering Damon $7 to 9 million for a year of his services.” True, they could do worse than Damon as a player, but at that price he’s not nearly as appealing. With so few teams actively interested in his services, $7 to $9 million, in a pure market environment, appears too steep. But, since Damon doesn’t want to take a pay cut, he’ll continue to wait. It might be a while before he gets anything close to what he thinks he’s worth.

So where does that leave Damon? Tyler Kepner wrote an excellent article comparing Damon to two players who found themselves in similar situations: Kenny Lofton and Kenny Rogers. Funny, too, because they’re both former, reviled Yankees. Lofton abruptly retired after the 2007 season when he didn’t receive an offer he deemed worthy. Rogers turned down a two-year, $10 million offer from the Rangers, eventually signing on for $2 million with the Twins after another former Yankee, Eric Milton, got hurt.

Reports circulated yesterday that Damon was contemplating retirement, but that’s bull. In fact, there was no direct quote attributed to it, never mind the dubious source, a “friend” of Damon. Plus, as Kepner notes, Damon himself said that he wants to play. So that leaves him with Rogers’s situation, waiting until something pops up in spring training. That might cause a team to overpay a bit, but I doubt it would land him a multiyear contract. That ship, it appears, sailed when he turned down the Yankees’ two-year, $14 million offer.

As the last big-name free agent left on the market, Damon will garner much attention in the weeks between now and spring training. We’re bound to hear conflicting reports, and much of that will be pure noise. What we do know, however, is that the Yankees feel no urgency to act, and that puts them in a position to bring back Damon on their terms. Whether they will remains to be seen. But I do think that the more time passes, the better chance Damon re-signs with the Yanks.

Credit: AP Photo/Peter Morgan