Johnny Needs Some Perspective
Sean McAdam has an interesting article in the ProJo on Johnny Damon and his impending free agency. Damon expresses some, um, misguided opinions in the piece that suggest he has a bit of an inflated opinion of his value to a baseball team.
Damon already has thought some about player comparables and done some homework. He mentioned J.D. Drew’s deal with Los Angeles this offseason (five years, $55 million), while noting that Drew has yet to make an All-Star team or play center field regularly.
Three Year Splits
JD Drew: .283/.393/.508
Johnny Damon: .288/.361/.442
“And I had more RBI than he did, hitting from the leadoff spot,” Damon said. “There are definitely some numbers that land in my favor. Since Ichiro [Suzuki] came into the league, I have two more runs scored [452 to 450] and [31] more RBI [273 to 242].”
Yup and Ichiro played at Safeco in a bad lineup while you played at Fenway in the game’s best lineup. Context Johnny, context.
Three-Year Splits (Remember, these aren’t park-adjust and thus not even really indicative of just how much better Ichiro! is):
Ichiro!: .336/.385/.439
Damon: .281/.361/.442
Johnny Damon is a nice player that the Sox should seriously consider re-signing, even at a lucrative price. He is not, however, JD Drew or Ichiro Suzuki.
March 24th, 2005 at 4:28 pm
No I know - it’s a good point. I was dealing with the particulars of Johnny’s statements. No matter how you
cut it, Johnny is not the players either of those two are. Offering him a 6-year contract
would be lunacy. We as Sox fans can only hope the Yankees do just that.
March 24th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
We’ll see about the JD Drew thing too, since the Dodgers seem to have their heart’s set on playing him in center this year.
March 25th, 2005 at 7:14 am
I’ve always thought that Damon had to be one of the most overrated position players in the AL, actually. He’s got a nice combo of speed and power without having an OBP low enough to hurt, but that same OBP is not one you want in the leadoff spot 3 of the last 4 years. Is Damon an asset? Oh, yes, certainly, absolutely. But he’s hardly irreplaceable.
March 25th, 2005 at 4:39 pm
There’s been ongoing talk within the Sox front office of moving Hanley to CF, especially since Dustin Pedroia emerged as a potential longterm option.
March 27th, 2005 at 11:09 am
Oh, yes, certainly, I could live with the Yanks replacing their old aged CF with a new aging CF, paying too much, again, for a player who’s skillset might not age all that well. Who needs Beltran at 28 this year when you can have another year of The Bernie Defensive Experience and then get Damon at 32?
As far as who do you replace him with for the Sox, frankly, I think that’s an overrated consideration. Players come out of nowhere every season (who knew that Carl Pavano and Jared Wright would be two of the big post-2004 free agent pitchers when 2004 started?), and Epstien is already one of the best bargian bin shoppers in MLB. Given the chance, I’m sure we can get 75% of Damon’s production at 10% or less of his price tag. The Sox will need a replacement for Manny Ramirez someday, possibly sooner rather than later, and I know which player’s skill set I consider more important and harder to replace.