Johnny Just Wants To Be Loved

After signing a ho-hum 1 year/$8 million deal with the Tigers, Mr. Damon apparently has a giant boner for the organization that saved him from complete embarrassment after his agent hilariously botched the negotiations with the Yankees. I find it really, really awesome that the Yankees were willing to say "Fuck you, we're signing Randy Winn. Ha! Take that bitch!"

Boras screwing the pooch is the Tigers' gain though. We managed to pull a solid #2 hitter (.365 OBP last year), a left-handed bat to break up the righty-dominated lineup and a reliable left-fielder who is solid defensively and should play pretty much every day. Granted he has an overcooked piece of macaroni for a left arm, but it's better than Guillen on two bum knees manning left... right? There's no way he is going to hit 24 HR again this year - I'd personally be pretty darn happy with 16-18 - and his SB total dropped pretty sharply to 12 last year after averaging 27.3 SB/year since 1996. But color me intrigued that Damon has a career .363/.550/.961 line at CoPa in a respectable sample size. Damon is no spring chicken, for sure, but provides nice value and comes with no risk since it is only a one year contract. The Tigers are just plain a better team with him in the lineup. Now I can only hope that he'll grow out his hair to pre-Yankee length...

I don't understand why he is going out of his way to act so enthused to be a part of the organization though. You want to finish your career in Detroit? Umm, you realize you signed just a one-year contract right? If you had been smart you would have signed for cheaper than the $13 million you originally wanted from the Yankees, finished your career in New York and made it into the HOF. Now you are part of a significantly weaker offense in a less hitter-friendly park, calling into question whether in these last few years you have left you can hit the statistical milestones you need to to make it into the HOF. Maybe Johnny will be able to rack up the doubles at CoPa, but it's not looking good. You need to fire that assclown Boras dude.