One offseason question has persisted since the Hot Stove and lasted until Spring Training, amazingly enough: where will Johnny Damon sign? The Yankees made it clear that they weren’t willing to overspend to keep both aging sluggers Damon and Hideki Matsui, allowing each player to become a free agent. Godzilla signed with the Angels and Damon signed with the … well, let’s just say he hasn’t been Scott Boras’ top priority. You would think the market for Johnny Damon would be suitable considering he can swing a strong stick but his asking price for the Yankees was too high and his reported insistence on a two-year deal supposedly has limited his options. The one team we’ve heard willing to offer Damon a two-year deal is Detroit. Boras even said Damon was going to sign … last week. So what’s the hold up?
It has now become apparent that Boras is trying to use the Tigers to leverage the White Sox into offering Damon a better contract. A potential bidding war seems quite reasonable considering the teams are division rivals but it appears as if the White Sox aren’t playing along. So why hasn’t Damon simply settled things by signing with the Tigers? Ken Rosenthal says the Damons, specifically Johnny’s wife, Michelle, aren’t interested in living in Detroit for two years. Rosenthal’s initial report claimed that Detroit wasn’t cosmopolitan enough for Michelle (that part has since been deleted) which makes some sense considering Johnny has played in New York the past four years. In an attempt to try and get the White Sox engaged in a bidding war or to simply defend his manhood, Damon told Jon Heyman that it’s up to him and his wife will go where he goes. I still say Boras and Damon are stupid for not taking the Yankees offer even if it means a few less millions. Isn’t that the best situation for Johnny? Or is max dollars the only goal here? Better question: if Michelle were your wife, would you let her wear the pants?
