Yesterday, Johnny Damon made quite a stir when he decided to exercise his no-trade clause and block any potential waiver wire deal that would have sent him to Boston for the stretch run.

So, how would his presence have helped the Red Sox?  The answer: probably not as much as you think.

Damon’s days as a competent center fielder are long behind him, and he is strictly a LF/DH now.  While he is a left-handed batter, he would ironically serve as a left-handed platoon role while here, since David Ortiz and Daniel Nava both crush right-handed pitching and would be occupying DH/LF against RHPs.  Here is how he compares to Darnell McDonald against left-handed pitching:

Johnny has had difficulty hitting for power against lefties, which would haunt the pull-hitter in a place like Fenway Park, where straight-away RF is very deep.  McDonald is also a better defensive player than Damon at this point in their careers.

Damon would be an improvement over David Ortiz as a DH against left-handed pitching, however, the Sox do have the option of playing Jed Lowrie or Jarrod Saltalamacchia at first base while DH’ing Mike Lowell, who can hit left-handers well when he’s healthy.

There is no question that Damon would improve depth on a team that has been incredibly snake-bitten in the injury department.  However, the euphoria over his possible return to the Red Sox was largely based on emotion and nostalgia.

Elitist Rant Warning:

Now that I’ve analyzed the on-field aspect of the Damon issue, it’s time for me to address “Red Sox Nation” (most of it, anyway).

We really need to stop treating professional athletes like they owe us something.  Johnny Damon was raised in Florida, and spent the majority of his pro career in the Kansas City Royals organization.  He came to the Red Sox in 2002 as a free agent in a lucrative deal (at the time) worth over $30 million dollars, ripped away from the small market Moneyball-era Oakland A’s in Dan Duquette’s final coup before his criminally underrated front-office career came to a close.  Before this contract was signed, Damon had absolutely no ties to the Red Sox organization.

While on the Red Sox, Damon provided the franchise and its fans with some of it’s finest moments.  Actually, as I write this, I can say that his grand slam in Game 7 of the ALCS might have been the happiest moment of my life (yes, I am a loser).  He almost single-handedly caused a riot of euphoria on the streets of Boston that night.

In return for his efforts, Damon was treated like a child molester when he returned to Fenway Park in another team’s uniform two years later.  His crime? Accepting a mega-contract valued at $12 million more than the next highest bidder.  $12 million dollars.  The Yankees overpaid a slightly past-his-prime Damon, a tactic they’ve been using somewhat successfully for quite some time now.  Let me be clear.  If you claim that you would turn down an extra 12 million dollars just to pacify a group of people with whom you have no familial connection, you are the fraud.  Not Damon.  You are.

And now, we fast-forward another four years.  Damon is a shell of the player he once was.  Now, his priority is the same as most aging athletes with multiple championship rings; to play in as many games as possible before his career ends.  For the reasons I outlined above, that would not happen in Boston.  So, he vetoed the deal, and now the reactionary idiots are again coming out of the woodwork with chants of “fraud” and “Judas”.   This is an ugly black-eye for Red Sox fandom.  This type of hysteria directly contradicts the “smartest fans in baseball” tag.

Take off the cheerleader’s outfit and try putting yourself in Damon’s shoes.  He has no reason to come here.

Side note:  does the Boston Globe seriously pay this guy?  This drivel sounds like it’s coming from some drunken frat boy outside of the Cask N’ Flagon, puking all of his plaid shorts and Birkenstocks in between Sweet Caroline chorus line chants.  Yes, bloggers are killing the newspaper industry, but this clown is doing it Trojan Horse style.

2 Responses to “Johnny Not Walking Through That Door: What it Means”

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