Bye, bye Johnny. It's been fun
The headline says it all, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports reports that a deal is in place. Jon Heyman adds by Twitter that the deal has a no trade clause, so if the Tigers fall out of it, they’ll need his permission to deal him at the trade deadline.
From Scott Boras’ perspective, he gets to save some face with a client by getting Johnny more for 2010 than the Yanks top offer of 2/14 mil. But make no mistake, he overplayed his hand with Johnny and everyone knows it. Player contracts are looked at in the industry in terms of the total guaranteed dollars, not the AAV. Johnny would much rather know he has 14 mil coming than 8 mil and another uncertain off season in 2011. Especially a player who’s been breaking down in recent years as much as Johnny.
I must admit this signing leaves me a bit confused. The Tigers traded the younger, cheaper, better defensive player in Curtis Granderson in what was said at the time to be for salary relief, and now they turn around and sign Johnny for more money than Curtis is due (5 mil) this year. Either there’s something going on with Granderson that nobody knows about (unlikely) or Tigers owner Mike Illitch is a bit of a loose cannon who can’t stick to a plan for very long. My money’s on the latter.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
13 Responses to Johnny Damon signs with Tigers for 1 year/8 mil
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
“The Tigers traded the younger, cheaper, better defensive player” – you forgot “more popular.
Good job, Johnny. You followed your wallet and got screwed by Boras.
As for the Tigers, it may be that they recognize Grandy was a bit of a bargain this season, but don’t see him living up to the inflated salaries of 2011-2013, and recognized this was the best time to move him.
Yeah, the best explanation is that they were rebuilding with an eye towards 2011. Just don’t tell Leyland that. Magglio, Bonderman, Willis and Nate Robertson all come off the books after 2010.
BTW-Damn, that’s a LOT of bad contracts for Pitchers.
I’ll admit that at first I thought this made no sense for Detroit. However, if you factor into the equation that the Tigers will pay 3 mil more this year but have a cost controlled players in Scherzer and Ajax that will be cheap for years to come – it seems smart.
Also, this deal proves to us that Damon, did the right thing for himself by waiting (considering money is obviously his top priority). I would have been more sour on this thing had he ended up signing for less than the Yanks final offer.
I keep hearing people say the Tiger’s messed up, they dumped the final two years of granderson’s deal which were over 10 per. They only signed on to one of Johnny. That def still qualifies as salary dump. Except where usually salary dump involves losing considerable player ability they maintain a star player in their outfield. Good move if you ask me. I’d take Damon over Granderson if it was only for 2010 without hesitating.
So Damon is clearly now PRAYING the Yankees need him come July and the Tigers absolutely suck, lol
yes your right, boras probably told him that also..
Lucky for Damon/Boras that one of Boras’ favorite suckers was the man at the table. Were there other competitive offers out there? Maybe…but the ChiSox made it a point to pull their offer and announce that the demands were too rich. I too am confused. Often the simplest explanation is the right one, and the simplest explanation is that Illitch did a 180 mid-stove.
There can’t possibly be a real attraction to Detroit for Damon. So it’s either all about the money, or about Damon’s interests and preferences being secondary. My opinion is that Boras was prioritizing Holliday, needed to keep the Yankees and their left field opening around, and Damon paid the price in terms of his landing spot.
So I guess this is a “bridge” year for Detroit?
Chicago is crazy, end of story.
The Tigers sign or trade for people every year. They are just trying to put asses in the seats. Even JD will generate enough buzz in detroit to sell season tickets.
do you really think damon will put people in the park..? winning does that.. if that was the motive bring back al kaline,
Remember back in the old days Damn was interviewed saying how he loved the Yankees and he’ll love ot come back despite having little chance of coming back when AJax was wrecking?
Yeah that was probably all BS. I hope that extra million was worth it.
damon lives up to the idiot rep he created in boston once again…it is a 1 year deal..do you think anyone will give him that next year? 8mil? if boras told him well maybe not 8 probably 6mil. next year ,damon fell for it again…would you rather have 2 years at 14 or 1 year at 8 in his position? boras demands from yanks were 4 years 52mil…yanks counter ,as rumor has it, 2 years 20 mil…then 2 years 14 mil… so boras can never save face or live up to a terrible position he took on a declining player..it was not about pride even arod crawled back, and came back humble..yes he got big dollars but saved face,, in their plan 52 mil to 8mil.. i would say that was the biggest blunder yet, outside of sheets not taking that 100mil then getting hurt with no contract.. the tigers move is another question..he will not hit more than 15 HRs playing 81 games in that park..no more than 5 in that place.. as we know looking for a LFer , the camerons and winns et. al. were and are out their..for a whole lot less . Oh also Thames that tigers did not want and we now own.. strange.. i hope nothing is up with grandy.. he did have issues judging balls last year.. i’m super happy we did not drink boras made cool aid for 52mil.. maybe he can drink it him self and forget the 44mil he did not get for the self touted idiot..
Damon lost a lot of money in the meltdown and fell pray to an agent that oversold.
80% of the time Boras gets a great deal for his clients but this is a buyers market and Boras acted like he was in control. Cashman exposed him.
All in all, I am glad that Damon got something. Baseball is better with guys like him in it. As Yankees fans, we have to appreciate his contributions while he was here and wish him well. Unfortunately, Detroit is going to have to push him hard to get the value out of him and that does not bode well for him. He is older than his years and will break down with overuse. The Yankees could baby him; Detroit cannot.