Damon back to Sox?

Saw in the Star Lefter this morning that the Red Sox picked up Damon off of waivers from Detroit. Interesting angle being played here in Yankee land about his feelings about the Sox. I happened to see the other day his return to Yankee Stadium and the NY fans gave him a standing ovation. Paul O'Neill a Yankee announcer tried to paint it in juxtaposition to Damons return to Boston. Much to my surprise Yankee sickophant Micheal Kay called him on it. Out of 30 teams he could of gone to 29 of them and gotten the same reception in Boston. The paper indicated that Damons feeling were really hurt. He's a nice bat for the Sox line up. Gotta say that despite the injuries the Sox are still there.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

damon went where the money was. boston should have kept him along with the rocket. cheap bastards

did he waive his no trade clause to boston?

2knees said:

did he waive his no trade clause to boston?

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Not yet and I doubt he will. He has $2MM coming to him from the existing contract.

Why would he leave Detroit for Boston? The Sox would have to be crazy to add another million for <40 games.

Black Phantom said:

Not yet and I doubt he will. He has $2MM coming to him from the existing contract.

Why would he leave Detroit for Boston? The Sox would have to be crazy to add another million for <40 games.

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So Black Phantom is not Eric. Eric never writes about baseball.

The Sox in a pennant race in September is worth millions in extra TV advertising revenue. NECN is way off. 35% according to this:
http://www.necn.com/07/28/10/Red-So...anding_sports.html?blockID=278688&feedID=6097

Without all those eyeballs watching NECN, the $160+ million payroll that keeps the Sox in the playoffs most years starts shrinking. Damon in left field is a dramatic improvement over some AAA player in left field and a low OBP .275 shortstop hitting leadoff.

Geoff said:

So Black Phantom is not Eric. Eric never writes about baseball.

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Or coherently. So, clearly BP != BB

Geoff said:

So Black Phantom is not Eric. Eric never writes about baseball.

The Sox in a pennant race in September is worth millions in extra TV advertising revenue. NECN is way off. 35% according to this:
http://www.necn.com/07/28/10/Red-So...anding_sports.html?blockID=278688&feedID=6097

Without all those eyeballs watching NECN, the $160+ million payroll that keeps the Sox in the playoffs most years starts shrinking. Damon in left field is a dramatic improvement over some AAA player in left field and a low OBP .275 shortstop hitting leadoff.

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Don't tell little glenn:dunce:....

NESN's ratings are in the toilet. No one is watching. This is the move needed for the Sox to get some eyes on them going into football season. Advertisers are pulling the strings.

Geoff said:

So Black Phantom is not Eric. Eric never writes about baseball.

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no......but photographic evidence hasn't been provided yet to rule out separated at birth........

Geoff said:

Damon in left field is a dramatic improvement over some AAA player in left field and a low OBP .275 shortstop hitting leadoff.

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Trying to decide if we should place the over/under at 2 or 3? That would be the number of hops a Damon throw from the warning tracking infront of the MONSTER needs to reach the cutoff man

funny thing is, all the injuries to the offense havent been the reason they've been hanging 5-7 games back. Its blowing leads after leading for 7 innings. They trail only Florida and Washington in that category. Papelbon leads the majors (for closers that actually matter) in blown saves and outside of Bard, their bullpen absolutely sucks.

Its easy to blame the loss of Pedroia, Youk, Ellsbury, and the others who've missed time and it may still end up being the main reason but as of now, its been the bullpen.

And Josh Becketts uncanny impersonation of a batting practice pitcher.

2knees said:

funny thing is, all the injuries to the offense havent been the reason they've been hanging 5-7 games back. Its blowing leads after leading for 7 innings. They trail only Florida and Washington in that category. Papelbon leads the majors (for closers that actually matter) in blown saves and outside of Bard, their bullpen absolutely sucks.

Its easy to blame the loss of Pedroia, Youk, Ellsbury, and the others who've missed time and it may still end up being the main reason but as of now, its been the bullpen.

And Josh Becketts uncanny impersonation of a batting practice pitcher.

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If you look at "runs scored" and "runs against" in the standings, it's pretty clear that the Red Sox problem is pitching rather than offense. They score plenty of runs. You forgot all the DiceK adventures. You forgot to mention that Wakefield, when he starts, gets shelled in half his games. Lackey has underperformed. The wheels seem to have fallen off for Lester. Out of the bullpen, Bard is the only pitcher who gets the job done.

Some of this is also the AAA catchers they've had in the lineup. Martinez is a good offensive player but he is no Tek calling pitches behind the plate.

They're 5 1/2 games back. it's still possible but the pitching has to improve.

Posted by Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff August 24, 2010 04:38 PM

Johnny Damon has just told the Detroit media he is staying in Detroit.

Damon must have received assurance that he will continue to be a regular player in the Detroit lineup. Damon said earlier this afternoon that he didn't want to leave his Detroit teammates and still felt the Tigers could get back into the AL Central race.

He said he was going to have "conversations" this afternoon with Detroit officials about whether he would continue to be a regular in the Tiger lineup or whether the Tigers had plans to go with younger players.

"I love playing with these guys and I want to finish with them," Damon said earlier. "We always talk about winning as a team and losing as a team. I've enjoyed my time here and I want to finish it out."

Some would question Damon's wisdom in this matter. He would appear to get more attention playing for the Red Sox and therefore increase his chance of signing with another team next season. But Damon didn't seem to be interested in that.

Earlier today he was impressed that a Boston.com poll asking whether fans want him back were more than 60-40 in his favor, but emphasized that he would only leave if the Tigers had different plans for him.

Damon is very close to manager Jim Leyland and the younger players like Austin Jackson, who he's mentored. The Tigers have never been a team that's cared about saving money as owner Mike Ilitch has spent lots of it to get the best team possible in Detroit. The Tigers could have told Damon he would be relegated to spot duty so they could save about $1.8 million, but they didn't.

Damon had said earlier that both Tampa Bay and the Yankees had interest in him according to his sources. The Rays seemed to be the most intriguing to him since he lives in Orlando. Damon said he had not had any contact from the Red Sox on whether they wanted him or whether they were merely trying to block him to Tampa Bay.

Now that Damon has rejected the deal, he can not be placed in waivers the remainder of the year.

The Red Sox were then successful in trying to block him from going to Tampa Bay.