Media Notes on Damon's Departure
The Johnny Damon signing by the New York Yankees didn't only catch the Red Sox front office by surprise. Here was yesterday's prescient headline in the New York Times sports section, never one of the paper's strong points and an area in which they get thrashed by the tabloids:
Yankees Appear Unlikely to Make a Major Move
The Boston Metro commuter freebie tabloid had a split personality on the big trade. A page one teaser this morning declared: Yankees, Damon reach late deal. But the paper's sports section featured a subhed quoting the Red Sox general managers saying: Negotiations with Damon 'progressing well.'
Kudos to the Herald for its clever front page teaser Johnny B. Gone
Meanwhile, on WEEI, the long arduous process of diminishing Damon's talents and achievements here is underway. One caller already sagely noted that Tony Graffanino is a better on-base man than Damon. Others have predicted, of course, that Damon will break down physically in New York. We'll see if a station that has a sterling record of firmly siding with Sox management in practically every decision continues that not-so-proud tradition. (On the morning show, Steve Buckley and Jon Meterparel were basically lauding the Sox fiscal discipline while Larry Johnson seemed genuinely upset over the Damon exit.)
(As a Yankee fan, I'm happy but not ecstatic. Yes, Damon is a serious upgrade over Bubba Crosby. But I do worry about runners merrily scooting around the bases given his weak arm and the vast expanse that is center field in Yankee Stadium. )
Yankees Appear Unlikely to Make a Major Move
The Boston Metro commuter freebie tabloid had a split personality on the big trade. A page one teaser this morning declared: Yankees, Damon reach late deal. But the paper's sports section featured a subhed quoting the Red Sox general managers saying: Negotiations with Damon 'progressing well.'
Kudos to the Herald for its clever front page teaser Johnny B. Gone
Meanwhile, on WEEI, the long arduous process of diminishing Damon's talents and achievements here is underway. One caller already sagely noted that Tony Graffanino is a better on-base man than Damon. Others have predicted, of course, that Damon will break down physically in New York. We'll see if a station that has a sterling record of firmly siding with Sox management in practically every decision continues that not-so-proud tradition. (On the morning show, Steve Buckley and Jon Meterparel were basically lauding the Sox fiscal discipline while Larry Johnson seemed genuinely upset over the Damon exit.)
(As a Yankee fan, I'm happy but not ecstatic. Yes, Damon is a serious upgrade over Bubba Crosby. But I do worry about runners merrily scooting around the bases given his weak arm and the vast expanse that is center field in Yankee Stadium. )
13 Comments:
'Da Big Show's Glenn EatingAway' just had to open ihs big mouth.
I heard him yesterday putting Damon down as a weak personality, a player that we can go without and more importantly, he said Johnny is better off in Boston where he is 'big fish in a small pond' rather than in glitzy NY where he'd be a 'C-lister', aka 'small fish in a big pond' Johnny Who???
If my wife or I heard that, I'd be on the phone:
"- Scott, what's the deal with NY?
- Right now they're offering 50 Mil for four years, just like the Sox.
- Can you squeeze another couple of million from The Desperate Bronx wives??
- I'm sure I can.
- Take it then!
_ How about the Red Sox wives club?....never mind"
Which brings up a persistent question to my mind. Why do we keep disrespecting stars on the outs from our town and piling on even more on their way out? Why do we allow the media to bismirch player personel so crassly without management trying to defend their own players in the public forum? Sports ownership is very much to blame here.
Too many examples to cite here, from Clemens, Boggs, Pedro, Manny, Guerin, Cabrera, Antoine Walker and so many others???
Why can't we have more class??
I don't recall a season where we had a prodigious lead-off hitter in quite a few years, that also had a long hitting streak and played through painful injury. Why can't we respect him enough in the media, leave his wife and her looks and aspirations alone where they belong, within her privacy with a lot of respect and distance?
You can call Yawkee ownership many things, classy was never a recurring word. I can call Duquette classy but that was overshadowed by his conviction that he is smarter and more knowledgeable than anybody else.
So when a new team took over, seemingly a trio of classy successful guys, I had high hopes we wouldn't fall in the same pitfalls again. They seemed to have the flair and instinct for a lot of right moves.
But I have come to be greatly disappointed. Their approach to handling contracts and public dramas is anything but smart and classy these days.
They royally mishandled the Pedro fiasco by misjudging his Macho-Diva mindset. Nomar's departure was a PR goof. 'Almost screwed up Varitek's tenure. Theo's handling was anything but classy and forthright.
Why do they wait so long before tendering their valued personel contract extensions when performance is satisfactory, before they expire?
Why do they wait until contracts expire and work overtime to forge new ones. My feeling is that they think it is smart for them to play from a position of power, with players without a contract trying to ink a smaller, shorter deal, at the Sox terms. If the player doesn't like it, they'd tell them, 'ok, go ahead and see what's better for you out there.'
It blew in their face many times and almost did with Varitek, a player no one doubted wanted to be here or belonged here more than any other. They still dragged him through that disgraceful contract drama. And that's from the third wealthiest major league team.
It'll be hard for them to replace Johnny with as productive a hitter or as nice and uncontroversial character.
How about a little more class, Yawkey way.
How are they going to get as much revenue with ridding themsleves from stars and gifted palyers and instead promoting untested cheap minor leagers. It maybe saving them money but it is also quickly eroding bonus points they earned with the WS ring.
And for the interest of saving time and blood, let us not drag Jacobs/Sinden/O'connel or Wyc/Ainge into this.
You have to hand it to Torre and Cashman for being class acts for knowing how to handle people and relationships, inspring/imparting/earning respect just by the way they act and approach people.
As much as I despise them in competition, they are indeed a classy operation.
N.
I think that, given the fact this ownership and management group has made the playoffs three straight years and won a WS during that time, perhaps a little benefit of the doubt is due.
And we'd all be better off if the media would focus on the game itself and not the personalities of the players. Imagine a business section filled with this dreck every time a division manager at Bank America switched to Citizen's.
You are skewing the discussion.
It is all about great players; without them, there are no playoffs. The area is focused on the game, thank yo uvery much. It is a very knowledgeable and faithful fandom.
But here is a steady stream of valuable players.
This is like saying, ok the Pats have won the SB in 2001-2002, after that they can Tom Brady go and be just fine.
No, he is a major brick in the wall. and if the Sox deplete their roster from being the best in the major leagues just a couple of years ago to a lab testing experiment, then you'll inavriably have despondent fans and decreasing interest.
Going into the park to watch Pedro Ks or Manny or Papa HRs is not something you can easily replace or assign a particular value to.
It IS the experience. Once in a lifetime period.
N.
Mark, don't you think they'll move Matsui to center and put Damon in right? You're right - the Yanks (and their fans) put a much higher premium on having a center fielder who can gun runners down - that's why Bernie's losing his starting job.
I think it's good news for NY because, althought Jeter is a very effective leadoff hitter, batting him leadoff wastes some of his other strengths as a hitter. Having a bona fide leadoff guy in front of him will really allow Jeter to get his pitch and drive it.
I see it as no-lose for the Yanks - Damon is expensive but not untradeable if a better option at leadoff comes along in the next couple years. Meanwhile, they're up one quality leadoff hitter, and Boston is down one.
Sorry, meant to say, put Damon in LEFT, not right.
I don't think they'll move Matsui to center and Damon to left because a) Matsui really doesn't have the speed to play center and regressed defensively last year and b)you can't really hide a bad arm in left either because there's a lot of room out there. In Yankee stadium, right field is the short field.
Mark, when mentioning Red Sox media mouthpieces that always side with management and badmouth players who leave town, you accuratey mention WEEI, but forgot to mention their house-organ newspaper with the executives who wear championship rings. Again.
I sort of disagree withthat MJ Statement, as a general one.
WEEi distanced itself from Sox mangt in Theogate as much as I never expected them to.
Go figure!
N.
Mark (same anon. as from 1:02-1:03 p.m.)- Ok, except that a good right fielder should be able to throw all the way to third from deep right, so despite The Stadium's dimensions, I'd put Damon in left.
I thought Matsui played center in Japan? Regardless of what he did last year, I think he's a very good defensive outfielder. He's a real find.
Damon is not that good defensively, and I'm not just talking about his arm - a lot of his "spectacular" plays in Fenway would be fairly routine to a really good center fielder.
What he is, though, is a bona fide leadoff guy who can drive pitchers crazy, then get on base.
For chrissakes, N, go learn something already.
"It is all about great players; without them, there are no playoffs.
The season after A-Rod left the Mariners, the M's set an AL record for wins. The season after Damon and AL MVP Jason Giambi left the As, the A's won 103 games. Damon is just one good (not great) player.
This is like saying, ok the Pats have won the SB in 2001-2002, after that they can Tom Brady go and be just fine."
No, it's not. Johnny Damon does not equal Tom Brady. Here's a telling analysis from Baseball Prospectus:
Despite all the attention paid to him, however, Damon is not a superstar, or arguably even a star. ... As much as anything else, Damon looks like a lesser version of the center fielder the Yankees recently became so disenchanted with. ... Damon, like Nomar Garciaparra, got a big boost from Fenway Park, on the order of 50 points of batting average and OBP the last three seasons. The Yankees aren’t really getting a .310/.370/.450 guy so much as they’re getting a .285/.345/.425 guy. It’s the difference between a star and a solution, or millions of dollars and a couple of wins a year.
... Like many free-agent contracts, the problem with this one isn’t the immediate future. Damon is enough of an upgrade on the available options to help the Yankees in 2006. As he declines, however, he will present the dual problem of hurting the team in center while not hitting enough to be a viable option on an outfield corner. I don’t see where a 34-year-old Johnny Damon is going to return enough value to be worth $13 million, meaning he’ll be just another aging Yankee in decline at the back end of this deal."
Meanwhile, the Sox can now spend the money they would have allocated to Damon on procuring a viable longterm
replacement.
Haaaaa,
Isn't it ironic that in the same sentence you are telling me to "go learn something" you uise a word that doesn't even exist. A colloquial word that doesn't even have a dictionary entry.
What an idiot. I knew you were an idiot from your vacuous one-liner posts, but for you to step in it that easily, is a damn funny thing I have to admit.
I never played up Damon to be a superstar or was a must-have brick for winning the ring, but he is a valuable component and now that he is gone, a huge gap is shaping in the line up with so much turnover, a lot of new faces and possibly Manny still leaving soon.
There is a shrotage of skill in the majors now, as the baseball genius that you are already knows. There is a lack of pitchers and prodigious sluggers. A lot of players you wouldn't describe as greats are getting superstar money and contracts. See Worcester's own JP Richardi's AJ Brunett move.
Damon still hit over .300 and it is very hard to find a person to give you that kind of prduction right away, WITh his consistency -see his streak- AND with his sunny disposition and attitude, not behaving and bitching like a lot of divas out there.
I am sure you want to play him down, which in ateam sport like baseball and football you can always find a way to, but you have to give him his due.
It's only after they're gone that we realize their value.
And to the snipping kindlike yourself, I made this statement in my original post:
"Why do we keep disrespecting stars on the outs from our town and piling on even more on their way out? "
So stone him all you want on his way out, mike (no capital according to the genius himself) Your action does not surprise me. I predicted it and expected it.
Have a great Christmas, mike!
(Chris"T"mas..not chrissmas)
N.
Hey N. no more caffiene for you after 8 p.m.
P.S. Tell your mom she left her bra under my bed again.
'Just got around to check in and sure enough, you have once again successfully brought down the mood to an immature childish one yet again.
Well, if according to the omnipresent Johnny that the word "idiot" is not really an insult, then allow me to bestow that 'quality' on you sir. And a dumb one at that too.
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