Is Johnny Damon worth $10m a year?
November 27, 2005
NICK CAFARDO-A four-year, $40 million deal for Johnny Damon is perfect. Anything less would be shortchanging his ability and the intangibles he brings. Anything more would be risky. There's no doubt the Red Sox want him back, and they'll have to play the Scott Boras game for a while. But one thing they won't do is drag it out to the point where they might miss out on the few available center fielders, such as Torii Hunter or Juan Pierre. If such an offer is made, then it's up to Damon as to how much he really wants to stay in Boston. Nobody could legitimately consider it low-balling him if such an offer is made and Damon rejects it.
DAN SHAUGHNESSY-I just got through checking out Scott Boras's dossier on Johnny, and until now I had no idea Johnny was better than both Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio. What a crock. OK, we love Johnny because he plays hard and has incredible offensive skills and can hit with only one arm. He's a great offensive catalyst and he has great hair. But anything more than three and a club option is a bad idea (and I say this as a spokesman for ownership; we must protect our 17 percent, you know). Give him four or more years and you're looking at Bernie Williams at the end of the deal. Three years and a club option at 8-9 mil per sounds about right. Bet he doesn't stay for that.
BOB RYAN-It's all Monopoly money anyway, so the only thing relevant to you and me is context, and Johnny Damon is the best leadoff force in baseball. He will play all next season at 32, which means he will be 35 when the contract is over, and I can live with that. The flip side: Why would he want to take his act anywhere else? He's just one notch below Tom Brady as a Boston folk hero, and we even conveniently overlook the fact that Hazel Mae has a better arm. Who else would do that? If ever he was going to goof off and let us down, it would have been last year, when he was America's Guest in the offseason. But he was great again. We must have him. Just not for seven years. I'm not that crazy.
GORDON EDES-Johnny Damon is worth whatever it takes for the Red Sox to re-sign him, unless the market gets completely goofy and someone gives Scott Boras the seven-year deal that he believes Damon deserves. Given Damon's age, the position he plays, and the physical toll he's taken for playing as hard as he does, a three-year contract with an option would probably be optimal, but with quality leadoff men in such short supply these days, and Damon's reputation among his teammates and his manager for being such a hard worker, a four-year deal at $10m per is not unreasonable.
CHRIS SNOW-The Sox have no choice but to bring Damon back. There's no one else out there, and there's no one knocking on the door. The deal that Jason Varitek signed a year ago (four years, $40 million) should -- and must -- suffice, because the club already has $76 million committed to just seven players in 2007. Damonfouls off pitches and sets a tone with his hustle, comes close to leading the league in runs each season, and brings men, women, and children to the park. But, above all, Damon relieves pressure. In that cramped clubhouse there must be someone to steer the tape recorders clear of Jonathan Papelbon, Josh Beckett, and soon Jon Lester and Dustin Pedroia.