I think there was more involved. I heard on The Score 670 in Chicago, that he also wanted a no trade clause in his contract (he got it). No team with a GM that wants to keep his job would sign this guy for that money with that stipulation. That is why he is in Detroit. There is not much risk in signing him for 1 year with that clause in the contract.
Why would he want a no trade clause at this point in his career... no team is going to trade for him unless they are in a playoff race and the Tigers are out... Unless this is Boras way of being able to fuck the Yankees over for not giving the 2 years and the money if the Yankees need a LF and wanted to trade for him later in the year...
My only guess would be he is looking for a year with no distractions to audition for his last contract. If he has to worry about trade rumors and such it may take away from his performance. I can only speculate.
Damon got screwed big time. It also makes me wonder if the Tigers have even had a strategy this offseason (because if they did, it sucked.)
That's my thought too, they essentially gave up a guy who has MVP potential and filled that spot with Johnny Damon. Granted they got Austin Jackson and Maz Scherzer but those guy really haven't proven anything yet (although if Scherzer and Porcello live up to it The Tigers will have an awesome staff) Too many gambles for a team that has the potential to win the AL Central.
I wanted the Mets to sign Damon and have it in his contract that he had to grow his hair out like he had in Boston.
I guess you didn't watch Damon play in the field last year... It was outright scary... He needs to DH...
I'm actually shocked he got that much this late in the offseason. Boras actually did a good job just getting him 8 mil, which was more than the Yankees offered per year.
What's worse, they offset the rest of the money that the Granderson deal saved them by signing Jose Valverde. Very strange offseason for Dombrowski. I guess he doesn't see his team as good enough to compete for a title, but he does think that they can win the AL Central.
Not so much dumb as an asshole: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/MLB-spring-training-buzz-021510 Scroll down to the 21st (yesterday). Boras fucked him over so he could get more money for Holliday.
Wouldn't surprise me if it were true. If I were a baseball player I wouldn't want to be represented by Boras, and it's not because he's "bad for the game" or any other such nonsense. It's because he's always looking out for #1, and time after time (see Damon, A-Rod, and JD Drew among others) he's shown that he'll put a player in a bad situation if it serves his own purposes.
Not sure why peole think this is dumb, 1 at 8 vs 2 at 14? He does what Abreu did, take a 1 year deal and audition for your next deal. Abreu signed for 1 and 6 which he parlayed into 2 and 19 guaranteed. Why take a 2nd year at basically 6 million? He can get 8 this year and at least 8 next of he doesnt fall off a cliff, one extra year at $6 mil is no incentive at all.
Except outside of Yankee Stadium there's no way he duplicates his numbers, and next year he'll be another year older with less of a chance of reaching the same salary. He had a perfect situation in NY and messed it up. Good riddance.
What? Boras earned his money big time in the end. They were looking for 13M/year initially from the Yankees which was ridiculous, the market was saying that he was worth about $2M-$5M. In the end Boras managed to play the Tigers off the Braves & White Sox and got $8M for him. He pulled a miracle out of thin air
That's left to be seen. If he gets more than 6 mil next year you are right but if he gets less Boras would have been better with him in NYC
It's a great trade. Jackson, Scherzer, Schlereth, and Damon for one year at 8 million might be better than Granderson, who is bordering on being a platoon outfielder at this point in his career, primarily because he hasn't decided what kind of hitter he is yet. Granderson is great for the Yankees because they don't need his patience, they need his power and his defense. For a team like Detroit that isn't as loaded, he's an overpriced, declining item who strikes out too much. -X-
Boras did a great job here. Johnny Damon was largely a product of Yankee Stadium, and is by all metrics a bad defensive outfielder even in the corners. Boras got 8 million for a leadoff DH. Damon should be thanking him. -X-
