OT: Tigers officially offer Damon contract
Tigers offer Damon contract, per Dave Dombrowski himself.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4929220
I've been on the fence about this since it was speculated initially. The dude can't throw that well, and he's not as fast as he used to be. He can't play center at Comerica, I believe, but would be a great lead off hitter. I'm going to miss Grandy, but that cat couldn't hit a lefty for his life.
February 19th, 2010 at 10:19 PM ^
As long as its not the reported 2 yr 14 million contract offer. Keep it cheap and I am all for it.
February 19th, 2010 at 10:39 PM ^
This is not a good move. The guy is 36 years old. I am not going to say he is washed up, but he isn't a big name player anymore. If he is a better defensive left fielder than Raburn or Guillen, then I would like it, but Damon has a very weak arm and doesn't play great defense. It should be a red flag that no other team has offered him a contract (other than the Braves), and spring training has already started.
February 19th, 2010 at 10:44 PM ^
I am not a Tigers fan but Damon is past his best before date. Better to develop a younger option and spend those monies at the trade deadline.
February 19th, 2010 at 10:44 PM ^
He is coming off arguably the best offensive season of his career. Will he repeat it? Probably not, but he doesn't need to for this to be a good move for the Tigers. This was already discussed a week ago and I expended a ton of energy talking about it so I'm going to keep it short this time.
February 19th, 2010 at 10:55 PM ^
It's the cost/benefit I'm speaking to there. This won't be a good move for the Tigers if/when you need to add bullpen in July and Dombrowski identifies that he's not spending and you're sitting on a millstone contract. Just sayin.
February 20th, 2010 at 2:10 PM ^
I will agree on a lot of other positives about Johnny Damon, but the new Yankee Stadium and insane Yankee lineup had a lot to do with it as well.
February 19th, 2010 at 11:03 PM ^
Even though his BA may not be a league-leading tally anymore, he knows how to make a pitcher work and he is one of the smartest baseball players I've ever seen. Despite some guys getting long in the tooth, there are a lot of young guys who will benefit from Damon on this team.
He works his ass off and he takes pitches and makes contact with the ball. Quite frankly, CG was my favorite Tiger since Alan Trammell, but he had a rough year and was swinging for the fences too much. He doesn't make enough contact for a No. 1 or No. 2 and, despite his 30 dingers, his strikeout to homerun ratio was terrible.
I'll take an old Johnny for two years, and it may even be an upgrade.
February 20th, 2010 at 2:00 AM ^
I'll take him, and I'll welcome him. Yes, we all know he's a defensive liability. However, I think he is a very solid option for a true leadoff hitter, and one with similar pop when compared to Curtis.
February 20th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^
I agree with your final judgment on the possibility of adding Damon. He could be a very good addition to the Tigers even if his best days are behind him. That said, he does not have similar pop to Grandy. Last years HR stats were an absolute fluke. Check out his home/away splits...it was a joke. The average was good both home and away, but balls fly out to right in the wind-tunnel-bandbox that is Yankee Stadium. I think Damon as our everyday left fielder, if he starts 140 games or so, whould be lucky to hit 17 HR for the Tigers. That just isn't his game.
FWIW, Grandy might hit 35 this year for NYY when he gets to play half his games in that very same wind-tunnel-bandbox
February 20th, 2010 at 2:58 AM ^
We all seem to agree that he is a defensive liability. I would also contend that his offensive numbers last season were a bit inflated, due to playing in the new Yankee Stadium. If the Tigers expect him to put up similar numbers, they will be disappointed. Not to mention the amount of money they are rumored to have offered him.
February 20th, 2010 at 4:02 AM ^
when it's actually official.
February 20th, 2010 at 8:50 AM ^
If Damon comes to Detroit I would hope for him to grow his hair back out. Maybe Damon and Maggs could have a contest...
February 20th, 2010 at 10:45 AM ^
but then we're talking about Dumbrowski here.
February 20th, 2010 at 11:45 AM ^
While I don't understand the Tig's offseason moves, bringing Damon in and playing him in LF would be a defensive upgrade over Guillen. I am not sold on giving him a 2 year deal, but whatever. While his power numbers will go down as a Tiger, he does hit really well there.
He would be the stop gap at lead off until Jackson can develop or we discover another option. FTR, I actually like Raburn leading off last year as opposed to Grandy.
February 20th, 2010 at 12:56 PM ^
Damon is better offensively than Granderson save for one year. Hopefully he will help our hitters to be more patient. The Tigers plate discipline in recent years has been like watching a toddler hack and miss when the ball is on a tee. Dombrowski has made some mistakes, but it isn't all bad. Locking up Verlander was a great move.
February 20th, 2010 at 1:22 PM ^
I'm not a Dombrowski apologist, but I think we need to lay off the "Dombrowski's an idiot" talk. There have been a couple of terrible contracts (Nate, Bondo, Willis - although you cannot predict the injuries to Nate and Bondo that really made the contracts even worse), but overall I think he's done a good job as GM. Just the fact that we're talking about the Tigers should say something.
CG was my favorite Tiger, but the trade is growing on me. His drafting of arms has been above average, the Placido deal was a steal, they've rebuilt the farm system into an asset again, the Cabrera deal is still great (even factoring out Willis - still a great trade). I think he's done more good than bad.
This team was the worst in AL history 6 years ago. A lot of that turn around has come from management.
February 20th, 2010 at 3:15 PM ^
You forgot Gary Sheffield. That was easily Dombrowski's worst contract.
February 20th, 2010 at 3:25 PM ^
They were able to get a pretty productive year from Sheff the first year (133GP, 107R, 25HR, 75RBI, 22SB, .265BA) The only way Sheff was accepting that trade was to get the extra (third) year that they eventually bought out.
February 20th, 2010 at 1:34 PM ^
For those under the age of 40 or so, Evans was the Tigers' big free agent signing before the 1984 season. Evans wasn't much of a factor, but the Tigers did win the World Series that year--largely thanks to Guillermo Hernandez, who IIRC the Tigers got in a trade from Philly.
So yes, this is snark. But here's hoping somebody else comes out of nowhere to have a phenomenal year like Hernandez did.
February 20th, 2010 at 1:37 PM ^
Although I am worried we will pay him too much, I think Damon will be a good addition. He will be an excellent leadoff hitter for the Tigers, because he will get on base, hit for average, and WORK COUNTS. Not many Tigers work counts, yet when players are good at it, it helps the whole lineup.
I'd like to see him in rotate between LF and CF, and give Guillen the possibility of playing DH quite a bit. It gives us quite a bit of flexibility, and we have to do something in order to make a push this season. I may be in the minority here, but I truly think the Tigers have a decent chance of making a push for the division. The Twins or White Sox (even with Peavy) aren't going to be much better if at all, and if the Tigers pitching does what it definitely is capable of, they could make a push.
February 20th, 2010 at 4:03 PM ^
Wherever he goes he'll privately regret that he played chicken with the Yankees. He'll sign for basically the same amount that they offered (2yr, $14 mil). Boras never considers where guys are happy. It's always about getting a couple bucks more.
February 20th, 2010 at 4:11 PM ^
Word is that Detroit never offered a two year contract and that Boras is trying to get a second year or one for seven million with no deferred money. Chicago doesn't seem interested anymore and Atlanta hasn't offered anything close to what we have, so it looks like he'll end up in Detroit.
February 20th, 2010 at 4:42 PM ^
I really hate this move, unless they get him for less than the $7 million figure that is being tossed around. Sure, Damon had a great offensive season last year. But, he hit 17 of his 24 home runs, and 42 of his 82 RBI at that launching pad in New York. Not to mention the fact that I've seen 12 year old softball players with better arms than him.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:09 PM ^
There's been a lot of hand-wringing in the Detroit media over the "loss" of the top two guys in the batting order, but the truth is that those two guys played a significant role in last year's offensive problems. Polanco slumped pretty seriously in the first half of the season, and seemed not to be able to turn on the inside pitches quite as well. Granderson, with his lousy OBP and brutal performance against lefties, was a liability in the leadoff slot. How many times last year did we see Grandy get neutralized late in games by some generic situational lefty reliever? For all that I liked in the guy, he didn't develop on the field the way lots of people hoped he would.
If it's a choice between Damon and CG as your 2010 leadoff hitter, IMO it's a no-brainer. Not only does Damon have a decent OBP and an ability to hit lefties, but he also brings a certain confidence and swagger borne of years of success in high-pressure situations. And he's still a threat on the bases at times, a part of the game Grandy never developed much.
If his defense is not ideal because of the arm, it's still better overall than the butchery I'd expect from some Guillen/Raburn combo.