Since everyone else has a take on the Johnny Damon drama, here's mine.
Now that he's left the Bronx, the first image that comes to mind when I think of Damon is his grand slam in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees. I still say that Ortiz' home run in the first inning was a bigger moment. Damon had just been thrown out at home prior to that home run and Yankee Stadium and Tim McCarver were going nuts. Mental images of Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown were still bouncing in my head when Ortiz connected. My thoughts immediately went from "Not again. Not again. I still haven't recovered from 2003. Oh, please, not again." to "Holy crap! We might actually win this." I remember screaming triumphantly when Damon went deep. Don't believe any Red Sox fan who *knew* at that moment they were going to win. Damon's grand slam helped us all breathe easier but like in any horror movie, we knew the villain wasn't completely dead and that ghosts of Grady Little precented overly premature celebrations.
My point is that images of Damon in pinstripes don't come to mind first since he left the pinstripes behind. Sure, I think of him crashing into the left field wall in Yankee Stadium and lying prone while Melky Cabrera scurries over to get to the ball and chuckle at the image, but I still think of his moments with the Red Sox first.
Would Damon have helped the Red Sox over the final few weeks? Sure. He likely would have been a marginal upgrade over Nava or McDonald in left field, and an insurance policy to help keep Bill Hall out of the outfield. He could bat at or near the top of the lineup, allowing Francona to move JD Drew back down in the lineup. He wears down pitchers and is still a threat to go deep now and then. But we're not talking about Albert Pujols here.
Personally, I'm not disappointed to see Damon invoke his no trade clause and stay in Detroit. I'm amused by how he did it.
His first priority was to make sure he'd have significant playing time wherever he spent the rest of the season, and that he wanted to play the outfield. Chalk that up to his competitive behavior? Sure. But he'll also be a free agent at the end of the year, so getting as much playing time as possible down the stretch is important in terms of getting a contract for next year. I love that playing time was the biggest factor. He publicly said that if the Tigers weren't going to play him, then he'd accept the trade to Boston. Only when the Tigers said that he'd see significant time did the fact that it was the Red Sox who had claimed him become a factor in the decision making process.
Damon felt slighted because he didn't think the Red Sox pursued him hard enough after the 2005 season ended. The Yankees offered him 30% more than the Red Sox and he took the money. That's a significant chunk of change and an obvious factor in his decision. But the Red Sox were the only other major offer he received, so obviously they felt he was pretty valuable. Plus, keep in mind that the Yankees offer was a "sign now or it's off the table" offer. The Red Sox probably wouldn't have countered the offer, but it's not like the Red Sox made no attempt to sign him. They figured what he was worth to the ballclub and were ready to go in another direction if he wanted more. At the time of the discussions, I cringed at the thought of a four year offer for Damon since I didn't think he'd be an effective center fielder by the end of that contract. The Red Sox, at the time, were already set in left field and designated hitter. I just envisioned that the last two years would be a challenge to find him playing time without being detrimental to the ballclub. I would have been happy to see the Red Sox offer a shorter contract for more money per year, but four years was too much. At the same time, I really felt that if the Red Sox didn't sign Damon that the Yankees would and I didn't want to see Damon in pinstripes.
Earlier in the 2005 season, Damon talked publicly about his impending free agency and said that he could never imagine himself in pinstripes, even though the Yankees might make it tough for him to say no. He'd been in Boston for four years. He understood the fan base well enough to know that if he left the Red Sox, he would get a standing ovation upon returning to Fenway in any uniform other than that of the Yankees. But I don't think he understood that all of his public discussion of his contract negotiations, all of his complaints about the Red Sox disrespect by offering him only forty million dollars, and all of his immediate sucking up to the Yankees fan base would result in the level of venom he received when he returned to Fenway as a Yankee.
I would have loved to see Damon get the warm welcome he deserved. The kind of reaction that Dave Roberts, Kevin Millar, Orlando Cabrera or Derek Lowe received as a visitor. But those reactions are reserved for non-Yankees.
What made the outrage that much stronger in the Red Sox fan base was that this was possibly the player who most typified the Red Sox from 2002-2005, the changing of the guard from Dirt Dogs to Idiots. I'm not sure if people remember how many Sox fans had Damon jerseys and t-shirts, but to fans who saw Damon as they're favorite player talking about how much he loved the Yankees organization and how he was happy to ditch the Idiot look and go for the clean cut Steinbrenner look, this was a betrayal. The t-shirts saying "Looks like Jesus, acts like Judas, throws like Mary" shirts made me chuckle. But the one that really laugh was one fan finding another use for his road Damon jersey, replacing the A in his name with a Sharpied E, removing the 1 and altering the 8 until it looked like a dollar sign.
Had Damon played in Fenway when the Tigers were in town, he would have gotten a warmer reception than he did in 2006. New York didn't initially embrace him, still seeing him as one of the Idiots. He was booed at a Rangers hockey game in New York shortly after signing his contract there. (Tip of the cap to Eric Wilbur on that.) But by handling the waiver wire situation the way he did, that reception will not be as warm in 2011 if he's still playing then. It won't be as bad as it was in 2006, but his statements and actions over the past couple days haven't exactly endeared him to Red Sox fans who booed him when he left.
Damon also loses some credit, in my eyes, for being a suck up. (Again thanks to Eric Wilbur's blog for this tidbit, link below.) As of this morning, his web site talked about his time with Boston and Detroit, but not his time in New York. Then, magically, it was updated later in the day to include his time in New York. He uses the media to try to endear himself to one fan base then another but doesn't seem to get that handling himself that way and then complaining about how one fan base sees him makes him look like a phony. Maybe he picked up tips on managing his image from A-Rod. Who knows.
http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/wilbur/2010/08/last_rites.html
I wish Damon well, hope that he gets a contract somewhere other than with the Yankees, stops whining about how the Red Sox fan base and management hurt and disrespected him and enjoys the rest of his career. If I ever get the chance to meet him, I'll thank him for 2004 and would love to have him autograph a picture of his grand slam. In the meantime, I'm hoping guys like Nava and Kalish can help the Red Sox get to the postseason.
Go, Sox!
