Rumor: Jays Talking to Damon
by Sir Real Ism on Jan 28, 2010 8:06 PM EST
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PrintHere's a copy/paste job from MLB rumors:
6:40pm: The Jays have talked to Damon's agent, according to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com (via Twitter). In a follow up tweet, he quotes GM Alex Anthopoulos who told fans at a Q&A session, "I don't want to get your hopes up." However, Bastian writes that the club has had internal discussions about the veteran slugger, as they have a need at the leadoff spot.
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It could be true. The Yankees just snagged Randy Winn for $2M so Damon is out.
Winn would have made an awesome platoon with Joba so his departure from FA status is tough for the Jays, IMHO,
awesome is a pretty strong word for that
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Well timed discussion then. I think Damon’s worth offering a couple of years between $3m-$5m. I’d rather see him DHing and Lind in the field for it, but still, solidifies the leadoff spot in a big way. Even if he doesn’t hit that many homers outside of the new Yankees HR Derby park, his OBP alone is worth it, and he’s still got some speed.
you were ahead of the curve on this one....
and now I can’t find where we were discussing it. I’d guess we’d be offering a one year contract but maybe one and an option. I like the idea of him more than Delgado who Cito apparently was campaigning for tonight.
what do you mean by
who Cito apparently was campaigning for tonight
by aagoodfella on Jan 28, 2010 10:55 PM EST up reply actions
twits by Bastian
MLBastian
Cito was pretty much lobbying for a Delgado return to Toronto all night. AA has said in the past Delgado wasn’t a fit. Kept neutral tonight.
yea, I read all those post at mlbastian
was there some sort of press conference or something? I cannot really find anything.
by aagoodfella on Jan 28, 2010 11:30 PM EST up reply actions
no a fan thing...but the press gets a shot at those guys at the end of the night.
be in the papers tomorrow.
To be honest, I could take either, just so long as we’re sure Overbay is tradable and Lind is going into the field. I can take Damon as the dominant partner in RF with Bautista, or Delgado as a DH, so long as we give Ruiz a long look as an everyday player. That’s about my only concern is I really want to see what Randy is capable of, and if he’s a bust, give a good look at Dopirak.
I admit, I’d be excited to watch King Carlos go for 500 at the ‘dome. I like the idea of Damon reverting to his Captain Caveman hirsute ways. I like the idea of bringing in a player, even past his prime, to provide a little veteran leadership and a bit of fanservice so long as it doesn’t block a real piece of the puzzle for 2011-2012.
If we put Damon in RF, Bengie Molina will be able to go 1st to 3rd on a single to RF on us.
Damon has perhaps the worst arm in baseball.
shrug If the Jays aren’t willing to put Lind into the field, and do pick up Damon, it kind of limits the options.
Yeah. I mean, honestly, I’d far far rather have Lind in the field and a Damon or Delgado in the DH spot. I hate to get into ‘intangibles’, but this team really could use some veteran leadership, and Wells isn’t the kind of personality to provide that. Not a dig against Vernon at all. Some guys are natural leaders in a team settting, some guys aren’t. A guy like Delgado or Damon, who have been around, would help boost the collection of rookies we have and provide a stabilizing and experienced presence. Might not help them on the field, but developmentally, could have a very positive impact on a Snider, Wallace, or Dopirak down the road.
and I don't think it's just "intangibles" a la Millar last year
Just being a good guy isn’t worth much, but Delgado is known as a student of hitting and I really think he could help some of our young hitters, guys like Snider and Wallace, in very real ways. Look at how our young pitchers have profited from having Doc around, but there’s not been anyone like that on the hitting side.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Absolutely
So much about baseball is the mental aspect of the game, and especially on a team dominated by rookies, ‘bad luck’ is contagious. A guy who’s been around the block and is already a fringe Hall of Famer? He’s going to be listened to. It gives them someone outside of the coaching staff to talk to when they are in an 0-10 slump and can’t remember the last time they got the ball out of the infield.
Plus, from a fan perspective, you can’t tell me that if Delgado starts hitting dingers, that at least a couple of thousand extra people won’t show up just for the countdown to 500. When you realistically can’t expect to make the playoffs, those individual player goals become something to cheer for in a season.
I'm all for it.
I’ve always like Damon. Except when he played for the stinkin’ Sox and Yanks. So, I liked him in like 1996
Ohhh Brett...One more year! One more year! One more year!
Superbowl Prediction - Colts 41 Saints 23
by craig in calgary on Jan 28, 2010 9:32 PM EST reply actions
Do not want
Noodle-arm Damon can go back to the Yankees, or Red Sox or Royals.
Even if he does do well as our lead-off hitter, 2010 is a rebuilding/development year for us. And I doubt Damon will sign for anything around 2-5mil.
HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THEM, I PRESS DOWN MAH GUNS!
He's a type A but the Yankees didn't offer arb
so if he has a decent year he’ll still be a type A, and then when we offer arb he’ll net us 2 picks. He’s the closest thing to buying draft picks on the market.
They're not just hitting home runs. They're doing the little things, like hitting doubles.
exactly
the picks alone are likely to be worth the money
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Unless Damon goes into the tank, we can also almost certainly flip him at the deadline to a team making a run. Target someone with a great shortstop prospect in the minors, deal him and some relief pitching, and boom, Jays go into 2011 with a possible big hole filled for a half year of salary.
that's true too
at the deadline, you evaluate what you can get back for him and compare it to the possibility of getting the picks.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
i would agree that you would probably be able to deal him at the deadline for something but i’m skeptical that the jays would be getting picks for him next off season.
this year he doesn’t cost anyone a draft pick (no arbitration offer) and still doesn’t seem to be able to find a team to offer him the playing time and money he wants. it’s a pretty big leap to go from that to expecting that a year from now someone is going to be so desperate that they decide to give him what he wants and on top of that give the jays their first round pick.
true, but it doesn't
have to be a first round pick. If he plays well, a team who has already signed a big name might want him, or a team with a protected first-rounder. Or, if he doesn’t play so great, he could end up a Type B and then no one would have to surrender a pick.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Interesting theory
If so, I’d be willing to go to 5-7 for him. And like dex said, there’s a good chance we could flip him if we like that better than the picks.
Love Damon.
Sure Defense is not the best, but I think he is a very good leadoff hitter or even can be a No.2 for us since we don’t really have one.
But if the deal is more than 3 yr 20 mil, i’d pass.
I'm for it
Damon’s arm won’t cost us what JB’s bat will when a righty is on the mound.
Plus, he could net a nice return on July 31 (though damn if I know who leads off after that)
I feel REALLY bad for Carlos and in the abstract I’d love to have him here but unless we can pawn Overbay off on someone (Mets?) how the hell do we make it work?
Still, it sucks for him that there are no DH jobs out there that he fits into. I can’t believe the White Sox are going with ozzie’s goofy rotation plan instead of snapping him up cheap.
I like it
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
I'm ambivalent about it
I’d rather just see the Jays focus on the young players if that’s what we’re about this year. So to my mind that’s Snider/Lind in the outfield and Lind/Ruiz at DH. Granted Ruiz isn’t a youngster in the developmental sense, but I like his story and would rather watch him get a shot there then bring in Damon.
but none of those people will bat leadoff
it looks like we either acquire someone or its Bautista leading off and playing RF every day. I suppose maybe Reed or Gathright could make the team and play some outfield against righties, but it’s not like either one of them is much of a leadoff hitter either.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
I like it...
it hurts our OF defence putting Snider in RF and either Lind or Damon in LF but I think that Damon would more then make up for it in his OBP, presence and having an actual leadoff hitter (AND NOT BAUTISTA).
I’d be all for offering Damon about $4.5M for one year with a mutual $5M option for 2011.
Damon
looks like Jesus throw like Mary
got that comment from MLBTR.
craaaaaaaaack
lightning strike. Careful ;-)by aagoodfella on Jan 29, 2010 10:35 AM EST up reply actions
even though ...
Even though, this is a “rebuilding” year, a term we have so quickly adopted, the Jays can still be competitive.
Sports is not binary, IMHO. It is not so much that a team cannot contend in any given season, it is more just a question of probabilities. Sure, right now it seems less probable that the Jays will contend in 2010, but they are far from a write-off.
Pitching visibility is low but potential is high. In terms of starting pitching, we have a couple of guys coming off injury and bunch of young guys without established track records. But if our injured guys come back at full stride and Cecil and Zrep make as much progress as Romero did last year, bingo, we have a strong starting rotation. Meanwhile, the Jays relief crew is still largely populated with the group that was one of the strongest two years ago. In short, although there are lots of questions, the ability of the Jays to field a competitive pitching crew is very realistic.
On hitting, turnarounds could vault Jays competitively. Last year the Jays were one of the stronger offenses in baseball. It is largely the same team in 2010. What have we lost? Rios — this is not real painful. Barajas — the difference in replacement catcher will be negligible. Scutaro — ok, this hurts a bit. But, we have plenty of places where the team can improve. Hopefully, contract year Overbay improves a bit, but even if not, at least Millar will not be diluting 1B output. We have the potential of Ruiz (I scoff at Pecota .245 for him next year). We have EE and Wells without injury, both potential sources of improvement. If you add Damon in, who can address the team’s most gaping whole of a productive outfield/DH (maybe leadoff) bat, and the Overbay, Wells, EE and Ruiz pieces come together, the Jays have a competitive hitting order.
Bottom line, Damon could be the missing piece in a team that is competitive in 2010 despite all expectations to the contrary. It is not such a reach. The O’s are weak, Rays can be inconsistent and Yanks are long in the tooth (a couple of injuries and they plummet competitively, remember early 2009?). So it not am impossiblity that the Jays finish strong in AL East.
In the end it is a management decision. Does the team want to fork out the bucks to try to land Damon on the outside chance that they are competitive in 2010? As such, Damon could be an insurance policy to ensure Jays have the pieces necessary should the team become competitive. The upside includes more current fan interest and lower customer (re-)acqusition costs when the org plan to be highly competitive with its core group comes to realization in a couple of years. Alternatively, the team might forego the Damon opportunity to constrain financial resources for future days. It is a tough decision, but I would go for it.
"Damon Turned Down $6M"
According Heyman (link below) Yanks offered Damon $3M in salary + $3M in deferred comp (without interest). Yikes, when the Yankees start using player salaries as a source of free credit, you know things are tough. Sniff, sniff. I smell blood in the water.
http://riveraveblues.com/2010/01/report-damon-turned-down-6m-offer-last-week-23152/
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