12 December 2005

Johnny Damon: The Seven Year Itch

Here we are, in mid-December already, and the best free agent hitter available this winter is, well, still available. Admittedly, this is a pretty weak free agent class, but being the best of a mediocre lot is still better than being mediocre in a good lot, at least for the player. Johnny Damon, centerfielder, leadoff hitter, idiot, and spokesman for shaving products, can fill all those holes for any team who's willing to pony up a seven year deal in the neighborhood of $84 million, according to Damon's agent, Scott Boras.

Boras has been quoted making comparisons of Johnny Damon (at this point in his career) to Bernie Williams in the winter of 1998-99, when he signed a 7-year deal with the Yankees for $87.5 million, an average of $12.5 million per year, and that was before former Braves' leadoff hitter Rafael Furcal signed for $13 million per season with the Dodgers. Boras has argued that Damon '05 and Bernie '98 are very similar, and therefore worthy of similar deals, that the Yankees certainly could have been a successful team without him, but not as successful as they have been with him.

This assertion begs two questions, and no, one of them isn't "Is Scott Boras nuts??!?":

Read the rest at All-Baseball.com...

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1 comment:

Yankees Chick said...

boras is always trying to pull stunts like this. if he can pull off anything even CLOSE to 7/84 then he should be called a miracle worker.

damon will be lucky to get a 4yr deal. and how much do you want to bet he ends up back on the sox?