Tigers Sign Johnny Damon
The Tigers officially signed outfielder Johnny Damon to a one-year, $8MM deal today. The contract contains a no-trade clause and no deferred money.
Damon reportedly turned down two offers to return to the Yankees this offseason, the first of which was worth $14MM over two years. The White Sox, Braves, Rays, and Blue Jays were also in the mix for the Scott Boras client.
The 36-year-old Damon hit .282/.365/.489 with a career high tying 24 homers in 2009, which was the best offensive output of his career in terms of OPS+ (126). UZR wasn't kind to his play in the field, saying he was worth -9.2 runs defensively during the course of the season. The Tigers seemed to be headed toward a rebuilding year when they traded Curtis Granderson, but they subsequently added Damon and Jose Valverde.
Yahoo's Tim Brown first reported the agreement on Saturday.
Odds & Ends: Damon, A’s, Beckett, Reynolds, Dye
Sunday links….
- Joe Cowley at the Chicago Sun-Times has Kenny Williams' final take on missing out on Johnny Damon to the Tigers. Cowley's piece also expands a bit on the Dye note we've linked to below.
- The A's received cash to complete the trades for both Adam Rosales and Dana Eveland, writes Susan Slusser.
- Regarding his current contract situation, Josh Beckett says he and the Red Sox "talked about talking," according to WEEI.com's Alex Speier. Beckett says he won't have anything to say about the situation during Spring Training or even after. Speier's piece also contains video highlights of Beckett's press conference, including his take on Mike Lowell's situation.
- MLB.com's Steve Gilbert has a series of tweets regarding Mark Reynolds, who hopes to have his contract situation resolved within the next couple weeks. Reynolds says that the deadline for talks is still Opening Day. Gilbert adds that the current discussion is whether to buy out two or three arbitration years.
- White Sox GM Ken Williams considered pursuing Jermaine Dye, but felt that the Sox' need for a left-handed bat was more pressing, according to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter).
- MLB.com's Scott Merkin tweets that John Danks and the White Sox did not discuss a multi-year deal this offseason.
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports, via Twitter, that the Rays were in the mix for Johnny Damon until the end, bidding more than every team but the Tigers.
- Jim Leyland says that Damon's arrival in Detroit won't mean any less at-bats for Carlos Guillen, according to John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press.
- MLB.com's Jordan Bastian breaks down (via Twitter) the early-round draft picks the Blue Jays will now hold this summer, following the Mets' agreement with Rod Barajas.
- Former Brave Greg Norton will head into 2010 as a coach instead of a player for the first time. He'll serve as the hitting coach for the New Orleans Zephyrs, the Marlins' Triple-A affiliate.
- WEEI's Alex Speier takes a look at the first impression made in Red Sox camp by slick-fielding shortstop Jose Iglesias. Many felt the Sox overpaid for the Cuban prospect last summer, but according to Speier, the Cubs were willing to pay even more.
Johnny Damon Rumors: Saturday
After the White Sox pulled their offer to Johnny Damon yesterday, Braves' GM Frank Wren indicated to MLB.com's Mark Bowman that "Nothing has changed on our end," perhaps meaning that they weren't preparing a last minute offer. At the moment, it appears the only offer Damon and his camp have is from the Tigers, who reportedly offered a deal worth up to $7.5MM with some money deferred.
ESPN's Buster Olney reported yesterday that Scott Boras wanted one of two things from Tigers' owner Mike Ilitch: a one-year deal that doesn't include any deferred money, or a legitimate two-year deal.
Johnny Damon Rumors: Friday
7:15pm: Morosi and Ken Rosenthal at FOX Sports provide another Damon update, writing that the Tigers' offer to the outfielder could be worth up to about $7.5MM, with some of it deferred. They acknowledge that it's anyone's guess where the 36-year-old lands, suggesting that the Rays and Braves could still be under-the-radar players for Damon.
5:36pm: Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports (via Twitter) that, according to Dombrowski, Williams' comments will not affect the Tigers' approach to Damon.
5:00pm: Let's not rule the White Sox out completely. Williams told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times that Damon has until Sunday morning to take the team's last offer.
4:27pm: Williams told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune that Damon and Boras were willing to be creative (Twitter link). Ultimately, Williams says "the total dollars and cents didn't make sense" for the White Sox.
3:41pm: ESPN.com's Buster Olney hears that Scott Boras wants two things from the Tigers. First, he's asking them to remove all deferred money from the one-year $7MM deal they have offered. Second, he wants the Tigers to add a second year (Twitter links).
3:26pm: The White Sox have pulled their offer to Damon, reports Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com. White Sox GM Kenny Williams said he had to withdraw it.
"It became clear to us in our recent negotiations that the money that we were offering was not going to be good enough for Johnny at this time," Williams said.
Williams said the White Sox are "very much interested in" Damon. Levine hears that the White Sox offered him $6MM. Levine's sources tell him that the Tigers never offered a two-year deal; they have only offered a one-year $7MM contract.
9:29am: Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski went public with his interest in Johnny Damon yesterday, confirming to Patrick Zier of the Lakeland Ledger that he's offered Damon a contract. Dombrowski would not discuss the particulars of the offer, though a source of Zier's "would be very surprised if it's for more than one year."
As you know, Scot Gregor of the Daily Herald finds the White Sox an unlikely landing spot for Damon given GM Kenny Williams' plan to "talk about this on Sunday."
ESPN's Buster Olney spoke to one executive involved in Damon talks in recent months who said, "There is so much BS out there, and [I] don't want to contribute to it."
Odds & Ends: Tigers, Branyan, Indians, Beckett
Links for Friday…
- The Tigers have offered longtime slugger Andres Galarraga the chance to come to camp as an instructor and mentor, according to MLB.com's Jason Beck.
- The Rays pushed hard for Russell Branyan, but didn't have the at bats he was looking for, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter).
- Indians GM Mark Shapiro tells Rosenthal that he has "a lot to learn" about the business side of running a team. Shapiro will become team president after the season.
- Former Indian Juan Gonzalez is playing right field in the Puerto Rican Baseball Federation, according to Alex Figueroa Cancel of Primera Hora. Thanks to Nick Collias for the translation.
- Alex Figueroa Cancel reports that Jose Vidro signed a similar deal to play in the same league.
- Jon Lester tells Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com that the Red Sox will miss Josh Beckett if he signs elsewhere as a free agent. Beckett will hit the open market after this season if the Red Sox don't extend him first.
- And ESPN.com's Keith Law offers a preliminary look at the top 50 prospects in this year's draft. Bryce Harper leads the way.
Odds & Ends: Cardinals, Burnett, Chapman, Reyes
Links for Thursday…
- GM John Mozeliak and manager Tony LaRussa both mentioned to MLB.com's Matthew Leach that the Cardinals are not in a rush to add an infielder despite Brendan Ryan's recent wrist surgery.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels knows that it's far from a foregone conclusion that his team will win 87 games again, according to ESPNDallas.com reporter Richard Durrett.
- Reds GM Walt Jocketty tells MLB.com's Mark Sheldon that Aroldis Chapman has looked "very impressive" so far.
- Jose Reyes tells Kevin Kernan of the New York Post that he wants to finish his career with the Mets. Reyes says he's not thinking about the $11MM option the Mets have for his services in 2011.
- The Nats outrighted Doug Slaten to Triple A, according to the team's Twitter. They designated him for assignment two days ago.
- The Rockies and Mariners offered Mark McGwire hitting coach positions, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Mariners made their offer in 2003; the Rockies made theirs a few years ago.
- Victor Martinez tells Alex Speier of WEEI.com that he'd "obviously" like to stay in Boston. The catcher says the negotiations are now under the team's control.
- Carlos Zambrano tells Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald that he would have vetoed a trade had the Cubs approached him about one this offseason.
- Andrew Friedman says he and his front office have assembled "the most talented team in Rays history," according to the Tampa Tribune (via Twitter).
- USA Today's Peter Barzilai looks back at some historically good free agent signings.
- Greg Burke cleared waivers, tweets Dan Hayes of the North County Times. The club placed Burke on unconditional waivers ten days ago.
- Dodgers GM Ned Colletti tells ESPN.com's Buster Olney that the club find its fifth starter outside of the organization. "We'd love to have a bona fide No. 5 starter," Colletti said.
- Mariano Rivera tells MLB.com's Brian Hoch that he doesn't know how long he's going to continue playing (Twitter link).
- Rockies manager Jim Tracy told Denver Post readers that he helps Dan O'Dowd make personnel decisions when the GM is looking for input.
- In anticipation of the club's scheduled arbitration hearing with Ryan Theriot, Cubs GM Jim Hendry tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times that the arbitration process is sometimes unavoidable.
- The Braves signed 17-year-old infield prospect Alejandro Sanchez Martinez to a seven-year contract out of Spain earlier in the winter, according to David Menayo of Marca.com. Thanks to Nick Collias for the translation.
Johnny Damon Rumors: Thursday
Johnny Damon Rumors: Wednesday
11:06pm: Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune hears from a team source who says he can imagine Damon signing with the White Sox. "I think we have a good shot to get him now," the source said.
Another person discounted the importance of Damon's recent golf outing with Pierzynski and Harrelson.
6:26pm: Joe Cowley talks to Pierzynski about the Damon negotiations, and Cowley quotes an unnamed member of the White Sox who says "I would be surprised if [Damon] didn't sign with us.''
4:13pm: Rosenthal tweets that the present-day value of Chicago's offer to Damon is in the $4.5MM range, considering deferrals. He's hearing that Damon doesn't want to go to the Tigers. As for Damon's wife's preferences, the player texted to SI's Jon Heyman that "It's up to me. She's going wherever I go." Cowley tweets that the Sox "are going from long shots to frontrunners in the Damon sweepstakes the last few hours."
12:02pm: Rosenthal wrote yesterday that "some with the White Sox are confident that a deal with Damon could happen, and believe it might even be close." Similarly, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes today that "the White Sox front office is feeling like they may have 'significantly' closed the gap between themselves and Detroit for the free agent's services." However, Cowley has one source that still considers the Tigers the frontrunner. Also, Scot Gregor of The Daily Herald believes the Braves are still in the mix.
8:50am: Yesterday we heard from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that free agent Johnny Damon played golf Monday with White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski and broadcaster Hawk Harrelson. The Sox remain firm on their initial offer, one that could be slightly above $4MM according to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. SI's Jon Heyman tweeted this morning that White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf recently got involved in the Damon talks. Gonzales notes that the White Sox-Scott Boras relationship appears to be thawing, given the Damon talks, the Andruw Jones signing, and the Sox drafting a Boras client in the 16th round of last year's draft.
Meanwhile, Lynn Henning of the Detroit News says the Tigers and Damon "appear to be moving, at less than full speed, toward a deal." It seems that one of these two clubs will sign Damon, but it's difficult to peg a frontrunner.
Odds & Ends: Cubs, Lowell, Mauer, Adrian
Links for Wednesday…
- I recently did an Orioles-centric phone interview with Tom Sedlacek of the Bowie Baysox website.
- The Cubs signed 18-year-old Korean righty Kim Jin-yeong for $1.2MM, reports Matt DeWoskin of True Stories Of Korean Baseball. I have heard that this is not official yet, however.
- Ted Lilly would like to remain with the Cubs beyond 2010, writes Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, but the lefty doesn't want to be a distraction.
- WEEI's Rob Bradford chatted with Mike Lowell about his near-trade to the Rangers and his future with the Red Sox.
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today examines the Joe Mauer extension situation, drawing a parallel to Cal Ripken in 1992.
- This time, Padres CEO Jeff Moorad talked about hope and optimism regarding an extension for Adrian Gonzalez (Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune reporting).
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets that the Nationals, Reds, and Indians made big league offers to Chien-Ming Wang, while the Dodgers and Rays showed interest but did not make offers.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wonders if the Tigers traded Curtis Granderson because they soured on him as a player.
- Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball has the numbers on the five remaining arbitration cases.
Odds & Ends: Maya, Sheffield, Rays, Yankees
Monday night linkage..
- Jon Heyman of SI writes that the Dodgers and Rockies have watched Eric Gagne throw and both teams have shown the willingness to take a chance. A few weeks ago we learned that Colorado was thinking about extending a non-roster invite to the 34-year-old.
- The Red Sox might not be close to signing Cuban pitcher Yuniesky Maya, a source familiar with the negotiations tells Rob Bradford of WEEI. There's a good chance that Maya will instead choose a team that offers a better opportunity to immediately enter its starting rotation.
- MLB.com's Bill Ladson writes that Gary Sheffield would not be a good fit for the Nationals as he wants to play every day. Ladson spoke to a major league source who believes that Sheffield will not accept a role as a backup.
- Jason Beck of MLB.com fielded a question from a reader, asking why the Tigers dealt Curtis Granderson, only to pursue Johnny Damon instead. Beck says that the Granderson trade brought Detroit financial flexibility and prospects. He also credits agent Scott Boras for helping to create an opportunity for Damon.
- Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg told 620-AM WDAE that the club's payroll will drop below $60MM in 2011, despite having a payroll north of $70MM this season. Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times points out that while the club didn't plan to make any big additions this year, they found room for Rafael Soriano after dealing Scott Kazmir and Akinori Iwamura.
- If Mike Jacobs doesn't make the Mets major league roster, Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News doesn't expect him to play for the club's Triple-A affiliate. Even though his minor league deal doesn't have an out-clause, Rubin is "virtually positive" that the Mets would accommodate him with a trade or release.
- In his latest mailbag, MLB.com's Bryan Hoch supports Yankees GM Brian Cashman's decision to wait to negotiate with upcoming free agents Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. Hoch believes that both players should be confident that they'll both be taken care of eventually.