WHY JOHNNY DAMON DOESN'T GET IT

George King III and Joel Sherman had a story in reference to good old Johnny Damon where Damon was quoted as saying that he and the Yankees are not working toward a deal and called it "unfortunate." Read the story HERE.

It went on the have a very telling quote from Brian Cashman which read: "He called and I told him the truth. He is not the No. 1 option if and when I turn to DH options." Look, you know I like Cashman and his approach and you know I also understand his lying ways when dealing with players. This quote is telling because it's not totally truthful. While it may be true that Damon was not the Yankees top choice, there's more to it. Johnny Damon is not a New York Yankee because he asked for too much money and the Yankees clearly want to start phasing out an out of touch Scott Boras. I believe that Boras has entered a new world of baseball negotiations and while some players are still getting big deals, many of his over the hill clients are lost in the shuffle because he's trying too hard to get top dollar for 38 year old players. It is my opinion that this snub to Damon was a warning shot to Boras from the Yanks to suggest that the Yankees aren't in the business to pay high for old guys. It happened at Johnny Damon's expense and that part of this is unfortunate, but Damon not signing with the Yankees had a lot to do with price and representation.
Couple that with the latest report of the New York Yankees in "extensive" talks with Raul Ibanez (from Ken Davidoff from Newsday HERE), and we're on our way. BYB actually did a nice break down comparing Johnny Damon and Raul Ibanez and their statistics and it's clear that Ibanez has the upper hand in home runs and would be a great addition to the Yanks with that short right field deck. We broke it down in WHY CASHMAN IS MULTI-TASKING. Here's that break down again:

2010-2011 -- Johnny Damon (2 year avg.)
147 Games Played -- Batting Avg. .266 -- HR's 8 -- RBI 62 -- BB's 60 -- OBP .340 -- 2B 32

2010-2011 -- Raul Ibanez (2 year avg)
150 Games Played -- Batting Avg. .260 -- HR's 18 -- RBI 84 -- BB's 51 -- OBP .320 -- 2B 34
That being said, mark my words, if Damon's price was low, I believe that the Yankees would have signed him over Ibanez. Remember after all, it WAS Damon's Deck. But no... it just so happens that there was a chain of events that led us to Ibanez and don't get me wrong, Ibanez is clearly a good ballplayer and at this point I'm thrilled to have him if the Yankees can make that deal, I just thought at one point this off-season, Johnny Damon II made sense, that's all. Look, this is me giving you my opinions on Damon's mess. In the end, whatever the Yankees decide, I like... and I can't wait!

Pitchers & catchers is here today Ladies and Gentlemen... who's ready?

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