Baseball Gm Salaries
Author: Baseball Bob
Winn Spells The End For Damon In The Bronx
It is all but certain that we have seen the last of Johnny Damon in pinstripes. Late Wednesday night, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman and veteran outfielder Randy Winn agreed in principle on a one year deal. The former San Francisco Giant’s slugger has reportedly reached an agreement to join the Yanks for an estimated two million dollars. Pending Friday’s physical, Randy Winn will officially be a New York Yankee.
The acquisition of Winn spells the end of Johnny Damon’s run in the Bronx. Damon, who made thirteen million dollars last year, the final year of his four year fifty-two million dollar contract, asked for a two year deal worth a reported twenty million dollars. The Yankees countered that offer with a two year deal worth fourteen million dollars, a deal that Damon and high profile agent Scott Boras immediately turned down. From that point on, negotiations were at a stand still. Apparently, both Cashman and Damon’s stubbornness ultimately put an end to any hopes of a compromise between the two. A divorce was seemingly inevitable.
The Yankees will surely miss Damon’s bat. Johnny was the ideal candidate to bat second in the powerful Yankee lineup next year. Throughout his career in New York, Damon was a spark plug for this Yankee offense. Last year in the number two spot, Damon performed brilliantly batting directly behind Derek Jeter and in front of Mark Texiera. Damon helped both Jeter and Texiera have outstanding offensive years.
More importantly, both the Yankees and the fans are going to miss Johnny Damon as a person. Johnny had a great personality and was very popular with his fellow teammates. Damon brought a winning attitude to the field on a daily basis. Not many people can handle playing professional sports in New York, Damon did this with ease. Johnny had the perfect personality and seemed to enjoy playing on baseball’s biggest stage.
Despite the fact that the Damon will be greatly missed, there is some good that can come out of all this. The Yanks plan to platoon the left field position. Damon’s absence brings some flexibility for this team in the outfield. Left fielding duties will be split up between the newly acquired Winn and youngster Brett Gardner. This duo is a tremendous upgrade defensively in left field. As good as Damon was offensively, it was no secret that at the age of 37 his defensive skills were declining rapidly. Damon, once a great centerfielder in Boston, often took bad routes to the ball, was losing his quickness, and had a below average throwing arm.
In the end, it was Damon’s time to move on. As a die-hard Yankees fan, I am not used to seeing the Yankees let a player go due to a few extra dollars. However, in these tough economical times, Yankees management opted to not exceed the salary cap limitations they recently set for themselves.
Johnny Damon was a great Yankee. Damon will surely be missed. As tough as it is to see Damon go, you can not forget about all the great additions the Yanks made this off-season. The Yankees made some great signings this year while not exceeding their allotted salary cap of $206 million dollars.
Besides the acquisition of Randy Winn, the Yanks also made another big free agent signing. New York went out and signed former farm hand, Nick Johnson, to a multi year deal. Johnson will be a perfect compliment to an already dangerous lineup. Nick will be the teams primary DH and will hopefully continue his trend of being near the top of the league statistically in on base percentage.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman didn’t stop their. Cashman went out and made a couple of big time trades. The Yankees acquired veteran starting pitcher Javier Vasquez from Atlanta. The ultra talented Vasquez will be the Yankees number four or five starter! Clearly, this shows you how deep and talented the Yanks pitching rotation will be in 2010. More importantly, Vasquez has shown he is able to pitch in the bright lights of New York City. Vasquez was a member of the Yankees in 2004 and allowed less than a hit per inning despite an inflated E.R.A.
And you can’t forget about Cashman’s biggest move this winter. Cashman went out and acquired All-Star center-fielder Curtis Granderson from Detroit in exchange for a couple average players and a prospect. What a steal that was for the Yanks. Undoubtedly, Granderson will help the Yanks make up for what they lost offensively with the departure of Damon. Granderson is one of the leagues most underrated outfielders and is expected to fit in perfectly with Major League Baseball’s most feared lineup.
The loss of Johnny Damon is tough to swallow, but you have to look at the big picture. Overall, the Yanks have had a solid off-season and Brian Cashman deserves a ton of credit.
You have to realize that the Yankees are coming off a great season in which they won their league leading twenty-eight World Series championship. When a franchise has the most championships in all of professional sports, like the Yankees do, you have to continue trusting the decisions they make. Why? Because they tend to pan out more often than not.
Surely, Damon will be missed. However, the Yankees have to do what is best for the team, not the player. Over the years, New York has proven that this is truly a winning formula.
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