Johnny Damon Rumors

Will Yanks Make Any Trades?

Joel Sherman of the New York Post discusses the Yankees' trade prospects in a blog post today. The Yankees have a 3-5% chance of making the playoffs this year, according to Baseball Prospectus. Sherman suggests Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, and Carl Pavano as players with a slight chance of being dealt. No-trade clauses would present an obstacle for most of these players, however. As Sherman notes, Abreu is locked in as a Type A free agent. For the Yankees to receive draft picks for him this winter, they'd have to offer him arbitration and have him...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Elias, Izzy, Silva, Colletti

Linkage for Wednesday... Eddie Bajek over at Detroit Tigers Thoughts has successfully reverse-engineered the Elias Type A/Type B formula. Today he assigns statuses to the American League catchers. Jason Varitek clings to Type A, while Ivan Rodriguez has slipped to Type B. Read more about how free agent compensation works here. Jason Isringhausen's season, and maybe his career, is over due to a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. J.C. Bradbury puts on his GM hat for the Braves. Rather than plug in free agent signings, he'd sell off most of the infield. MetsBlog's Matthew Cerrone extinguishes a Carlos Silva...   Continue Reading

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Buster Olney Drops Uncommon Trade Thoughts

Buster Olney talks trade in his latest insider-only piece. Let's have a look at the guys he names. Ryan Howard. This is a tough one. Philly is in second place right now, and they should be in contention throughout the year. Howard has started poorly, but you can figure a rebound. While the Phillies might not be eager to pay Howard $25 to $30MM over the next two years, some other team might. I figure they could get a decent haul from, say, the Angels. Still, it's hard to justify trading away your best power hitter (at least in name)...   Continue Reading

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Damon Pondered Retirement

SI.com's Jon Heyman says Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon considered retiring a year ago in the spring. He would've been walking away from $39MM. He was coming off a fine season, too. Heyman says nobody does what Damon was considering, but Ryne Sandberg did exactly that in 1994. He walked away from over $16MM, a ton of money at the time. Of course, Sandberg came back and played the 1996-97 seasons with the Cubs.   Continue Reading

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Rios For Franklin Gutierrez and Cliff Lee?

UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 10:03am: Per Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun: no match for the Indians and Jays on Rios. I knew Gutierrez/Lee didn't sound right. FROM 12-4-07 at 9:46am: Joel Sherman has a new column up with some fresh rumors. The Indians and Blue Jays are reportedly talking about a swap that would send Alex Rios to the Tribe for Franklin Gutierrez and Cliff Lee. Seriously? That seems like a lousy deal for the Jays. How long until a debunking on this one? The Jake Peavy signing is a cause for optimism as the Indians seek to re-sign C.C...   Continue Reading

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Crede For Damon Declared Dead?

They say that if you love something, you have to set it free. MLBTR conjured up a speculative Johnny Damon for Joe Crede rumor back on October 28th, and then watched it blossom into something widespread. Now I think it's time to pronounce this one dead. As you probably know by now, Johnny Damon met for breakfast Wednesday with new Yankees manager Joe Girardi. Girardi gave Damon the impression that he'd "definitely be back," and Brian Cashman spoke highly of Damon. Cashman did admit that he wouldn't rule anything out. Ken Davidoff mentioned that the Yankees would actually prefer to..   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Lowell, Sabathia, Polanco

I'm going to start up a catch-all Odds and Ends post for smaller rumors and notes today. Refresh to see it grow. A reader emailed me to tell me that Buster Olney said on XM Radio recently that there are talks of the Twins going after Scott Rolen. These reports can be tough to confirm, but there you go. UPDATE: Joe Christensen squashes this one. Mark Feinsand doesn't think Epstein is keen on giving Mike Lowell even a three-year contract. He might get five on the open market. UPDATE: The Red Sox apparently have a three-year offer out to him,..   Continue Reading

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Heyman's Latest: A-Rod, Atkins, Gagne

SI.com's Jon Heyman has a new column up. Let's discuss. Alex Rodriguez's five possible destinations: Angels, Red Sox, Mets, Giants, Dodgers. That sounds about right. Heyman notes that the Dodgers do not have an advantage because of Joe Torre; he says star players don't consider managers as a criteria when deciding where to sign. Though not mentioned as one of A-Rod's five potential landing spots, Heyman says the buzz is growing that Mike Ilitch and the Tigers could go after him. Heyman says the Rockies will hang on to Garrett Atkins and follow through with the plan to try Ian..   Continue Reading

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Crede For Damon Picking Up Steam

This thing is gaining traction. Buster Olney comments on the idea of a Joe Crede for Johnny Damon swap this morning: Makes sense in a lot of ways: The Yankees would get the veteran third baseman they need without committing themselves to big dollars, shed Damon's salary, and the White Sox would solve their third base logjam while adding a center fielder for much less than what the free agent center fielders will get (Damon is owed about $26 million over the next two seasons, and presumably, the Yankees would eat some of that to make a deal happen). Mark..   Continue Reading

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Kenny Williams Ready To Deal

This is going to be an incredible offseason, I just know it. This is going to be a hot stove season for the ages. White Sox GM Kenny Williams seems ready to dive right in, starting with the GM meetings on Monday. Interesting notes from the above-linked Mark Gonzales article: Josh Fields' position for 2008 will be revealed shortly, which seems to indicate a trade of Joe Crede on the horizon. Fields will end up at third base or left field next year. Outfielders Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney may be shopped. Anderson is doing a nice job talking his..   Continue Reading

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Sunday A-Rod Recap

I hate to post about the same guy twice in a row, but there's been a flurry of Alex Rodriguez speculation on this fine October Sunday. To break it down, here's a brief recap: The New York Post reports the Yankees are expected to make an offer to prevent A-Rod from free agency. However, the offer will approach neither $300MM nor 12 years. I think this is both expected and a smart move by the Yanks because... Nick Cafardo likens Scott Boras' approach toward marketing A-Rod's "Iconic Value" to the exaggeratory strategy he took with Daisuke Matsuzaka. And Johnny Damon,..   Continue Reading

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Rosenthal's Latest: Damon, Glaus, Wells

Ken Rosenthal has a new column up; here are some rumor-related points of interest. As you know, it doesn't make sense for the Yankees to keep both Bobby Abreu and Johnny Damon around for 2008. It's just not an efficent way to spend $29MM. Rosenthal says Damon would be open to waiving his no-trade clause, if the Yankees struck a deal with a team that fell under his 12-team protection. Damon is apparently open to regular playing time on teams not located on the West Coast. The White Sox, Phillies, Braves, or Astros might make sense, in my opinion. The..   Continue Reading

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Do Yanks Have Room For Damon And Giambi?

I think Johnny Damon's comments yesterday have been overblown - he backed off a few hours after he made them. And when asked point blank if he wanted a trade, he said no. He did hint that a trade might make sense if he couldn't play regularly, but calmed down after talking to Joe Torre. Still, the Yankees will face a roster crunch once Jason Giambi returns to the club to act as the regular DH. Damon has lingering injuries that will keep him from starting in center field regularly. Between Giambi and Damon, that's $34MM in 2007 salary spent..   Continue Reading

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Yankees Shopping Damon?

Here's a name we haven't talked about yet: Johnny Damon. I think he hasn't come up much because his contract makes him nearly immovable. He'll make $13MM annually through 2009 and has a partial no-trade clause. Nonetheless, Dan Graziano of the Newark Star-Ledger reports that the Yankees have been calling around to see if anyone's interested in Damon. The Braves have a touch of interest, but obviously there are many obstacles. I imagine the Yankees are stuck with Damon. Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time   Continue Reading

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Time To Trade Johnny Damon?

Bob Klapisch raises a possibility I haven't seen yet: should the Yankees start shopping center fielder Johnny Damon? Damon is earning $13MM annually through 2009, and has a partial no-trade clause. His age 33 season has been a disappointment so far; he's hitting .259/.363/.364. His flyball rate is down from 40% to 32%; that might have something to do with it. Damon was supposed to enter the 2007 season in good health, with a broken foot bone healed and his shoulder 100%. However, he began the regular season with cramps in his calves. That developed into a strain, and then..   Continue Reading

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Comparing Crisp And Damon

Both Coco Crisp and Johnny Damon came at a very steep price. The Red Sox mortgaged part of their future, while the Yankees simply coughed up $52MM for four years. Tossing salaries and cost of acquisition aside, which team actually has the better player for 2006? Let's start by looking at Baseball Prospectus's WARP statistic. Wins Above Replacement Player is a measure of value that combines both offense and defense into a single number. Damon was worth 5.5 wins in 2005, while Crisp tallied 5.6. So the players had very near equal value. Baseball Prospectus projects Crisp at 4.6 wins..   Continue Reading

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Yanks Sign Damon

The Yankees snagged center fielder Johnny Damon for four years, $52MM, making the winter splash we've come to expect from them. I had Damon as the 12th best free agent on the market, but I guessed wrong that he'd re-sign with Boston. I will give myself a minor pat on the back for coming within $2MM of his contract, however. Back in mid-October, I explained why I thought Damon at four years was going to be a bad signing. His defense is slipping big-time, and his bat isn't far behind. In 2008 and 2009, the Yankees might have another Bernie..   Continue Reading

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