Tagged: Johnny Damon
Wang May Be Gone But Not Forgotten
It was reported today that CMW is going to the Nationals. Good for him and good for them. I was hoping the Yankees would take a chance and see if he could recapture his magic on the mound, but it wasn’t to be. And don’t get me started on Damon. If he ends up taking what the Yanks would have paid him – or less – I’ll be really mad. Anyhow, I wish Wang well (try saying that three times fast), and I would like to give him a proper sendoff. So I made a video of the two of us figure skating. Did you know he was Olympic caliber? If not, wait till you see his double lutz. As for me, I enjoyed being twirled around but kept worrying that my wig would fall off. At least Tanya Harding didn’t break my kneecaps.
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Good News/Bad News
First, a little good news on the medical front. Michael must have heard everybody wishing him well, because his fever was down today and he felt a little bit better. The bad news is he’s still on a diet of clear liquids, which means chicken broth, tea and lots of this.
Also, his Yankee fan nurse, Rachel, wasn’t on duty today. Bummer. Maybe we’ll see her in a few days. In other bad news, it looks like Michael will have to stay in the hospital for the rest of the week at least. The doctor wouldn’t commit to when he’ll come off the DL.
Back to good news, the Yankees finally signed a left fielder. The bad news is that it wasn’t Johnny Damon. It was Randy Winn, most recently of the Giants. When I read about the deal, I was like, “Excuuuuse me?” Sure, Winn fits within Cashman’s $2 million budget, but he’s 35 years old and coming off a miserable 2009 season.
But looking at the good news, the switch-hitting Winn was terrific with the Giants in ’07 and ’08 and could have a bounce back year with the Yankees in 2010, the way Swisher did last season after his dismal stint with the White Sox. Here’s more good news: Winn’s real first name is Dwight and his middle name is Randolph. Maybe he’ll perform like these two did as Yankees.
Continuing to look on the good news side of this signing, I’m hoping Winn will follow in the tradition of Paul O’Neill, who was hitting a mere .246 with the Reds in ’92, then came over to the Yanks and hit .311. Well, it could happen, couldn’t it? Or have I been spending too much time in a hospital room to think clearly?
In Sickness And In Health…The Yankees Endure
My husband Michael went to Santa Barbara’s Cottage Hospital early this morning. (The cause was a sudden infection related to a chronic illness. He was in pain, had a fever and was feeling horrible. It was scary.) We waited in the ER for many hours during which he was poked, palpated, CT-scanned, you name it. It was 4 o’clock by the time they finally admitted him and put him in a semi-private room.
No, his roommate wasn’t Jack Nicholson or Morgan Freeman, but the guy was sound asleep when Michael arrived – a blessing. I’ll make this short, because it’s been a long, depressing day, but I just had to share a funny light at the end of the tunnel. (No, it has nothing to do with Damon. And yes, I read that Nady went to the Cubs.) As I was trying to cheer Michael up, his nurse walked in and introduced herself. When I remembered I had the She-Fan Cam in my bag, as I always do, I asked if she would let me record her. I know, I know. I was in my husband’s hospital room, not at a baseball game, but I pressed on anyway. Imagine my surprise when – without any prodding whatsoever – she turned out to be a Yankee fan. She got my husband to laugh and she reminded me that the pinstripes appear when you least expect them to. Here she is in her own words.
Thanks to everybody on Twitter who sent good wishes to Michael and me. They’re much appreciated. As of now, he’ll probably be in the hospital for another four or five days – plenty of time for him to get well….and for me to interview his nurses. 🙂
Damon, Just Read This. Would You Please?
Damon springs eternal
Monday, January 25, 2010, 07:55 PM EST [General]
Over the weekend, reports emerged that the Yankees had kept the Johnny Damon door open, though there was some question as to whether there was a deadline attached to their offer. Today, Buster Olney tweets that the A’s have interest in the ex-caveman. If Damon signs with the A’s due to more generous financial terms than the Yankees are willing to offer, then he is being pennywise and pound foolish, because if he does, his career will almost certainly end this year.
The simple reason for this is park effects. The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum, or whatever they’re calling it these days — I have stopped paying the slightest attention to these constantly changing corporate-sponsored appellations — is a far more difficult place to hit than New-Age Yankee Stadium. It eats home runs and laughs at batting average. It has huge swaths of foul territory, so none of those check-swing pop-ups ever go out of play. This should be of great concern to a fellow who just hit 17 of his 24 home runs in his home park, as should the fact that in his previous stop at Oakland, a much-younger Damon hit just .247/333/.323 in the park.
Damon’s 2009 road production was actually pretty good. He hit .284/.349/.446. However, he hit just seven home runs in 278 at-bats, and his batting average would seem to have been fueled by a .330 batting average on balls in play, a figure that is unlikely to repeat. Take away ten home runs and 20 or so points of batting average from Damon and you have a 36-year-old, .265 hitter with 14 or 15 home runs. In short, you have the version of Damon that played for the Yankees in 2007 and hit .270/.351/.396.
If Damon returns to New York and can maintain the swing that he has seemingly adjusted to fit the generous right field line, he should at the very least maintain his power production. That player gets to come back for another season, gets to spend another year chasing 3,000 hits and a spot in the Hall of Fame. That guy probably also finishes his career somewhere in the top 25 in career runs scored — he’s 208 trips around the bases away. The Green ‘n’ Gold-style Damon ends his career at 36, somewhere short of 2,600 career safeties. Maybe it’s just me, but when you’ve already got millions, a piece of history should be worth more than leaving a few dollars on the table. Damon is entitled to place a different value on things, of course, but the rest of your life is a long time to think about what might have been.
Taking a Break from the Damon Rant for Grandy
What a sweet story on MLB.com about Granderson’s final charity event in Detroit. I was planning to post yet another plea to Cashman to sign Johnny Damon, but when I read the article about Grandy I had to pause and say, “I’m so glad we signed this guy.” The Yankees used to acquire/trade for players who weren’t necessarily known for being high caliber human beings. Do these faces ring a bell?
But I’m seeing a different standard lately; we’re getting good players and good people. We don’t need any malcontents in the clubhouse. We don’t need me-me-me types. We don’t need divas. We don’t need guys with crummy work ethics. We don’t need malingerers who never come off the DL.
Which – sorry, I can’t help myself – brings me back to Damon. The guy throws his body around on the field even when he’s hurting. He talks to the media even after a bad loss. He keeps the other players loose. Oh, and did I mention that he’s won two World Series? That he drove in 100 runs last season? That he can still steal a base or two (as in Game 4 against the Phillies)? That he’s the national spokesperson for the Wounded Warriors Project? That he’s a quality guy who’s worth the extra couple of million he’s asking for?
Just do it, Yankees. Do it and then let’s pass out the cigars.
I heard TMZ was covering athletes….
..but this is ridiculous.
They took pics of Mo on a beach while in his native Panama and called them “Topless Photos.” Seriously. When was the last time someone went swimming with a shirt on? Anyhow, it must have been a slow news day for TMZ. It was certainly a slow news day for me. The only Yankees anything was the he said/he said back and forth about Damon. Is there a deadline for him to accept the Yankees’ piddling offer? Or is Cashman telling the truth that he’s all about his budget and which players fit within it? All I can say is SIGN JOHNNY ALREADY! Isn’t he worth a couple of million more than Reed Johnson, Jim Edmonds or Jermaine Dye, for God’s sake? Wake up, Yankees, do the right thing, and pledge your allegiance to Johnny!
Life in Paradise
I’d be in a better mood today if it hadn’t been raining for five days straight, with a forecast for more. At this point I think my hair is growing these.
My street is open, but there’s a creek that overflowed, and rocks have slid down the hillside. It’s not as bad as this, but it feels like it.
Here’s the radar for this afternoon.
Not a whole lot of breaks in the action. The local weather guy sounded really excited at the prospect of all the rain turning to snow tonight up in the hills where I live. Seriously. If I wanted snow, I would have moved somewhere else.
During all this rain I frittered away some time by browsing other Yankees blogs. For example:
* LoHud has a profile of the 2010 Baltimore Orioles.
* River Ave Blues dissects a stat known as wOBA.
* Zell’s Pinstripe Blog makes the case for retiring Joe Torre’s number.
I have to admit: I can’t get worked up about any of it. I don’t care about the Orioles right now. I don’t need to know what a wOBA is. Whether Torre’s number is or isn’t retired doesn’t make my pulse race. Is it the weather that’s causing my lack of interest? Or is it simply the fact that I want the Johnny Damon situation resolved? I can’t really move forward until I know if he’s coming back or, if not, where he’s going. So please, Cashman and Boras, put me out of my misery already. I’m pretty sure that if you guys announce a deal, the sun will finally come out here in California and it will feel like paradise again. Thank you.
Yankees=Best Medicine
With nothing much going on in Yankeeville and nothing but awful news going on everywhere else, I was in need of a pick-me-up. So imagine my excitement when I checked out the River Ave Blues blog tonight and found this. OMG. I’ve now seen the video six times and am about to take another look. It never gets old. In fact, it gets better with every viewing. Was the 2009 season magical or what? The only hard part is having to watch Melky, Matsui and Damon, knowing they won’t be back. Well, I’m still holding a good thought for Johnny.
P.S. Thank you, Yankees, for donating $500,000 to the Haitian relief effort. You make me proud.
A Time Out For Haiti
I was all set to write a smart-alecky post tonight about how the Yankees signed someone named Royce Ring.
Don’t we also have someone named Boone Logan now? The Yankees are accumulating pitchers with cool names if nothing else. Surely, at some point Cashman will get around to signing a left fielder (Yo! Damon!), not to mention some bodies for the currently non-existent bench.
But I’m not really interested in Royce or Boone tonight, knowing that Haiti is such a mess after the earthquake there. When do the people in that country ever catch a break? It’s one disaster after another. So I’d just like to state my hope that Haitians find a way to emerge from this latest horror and that the U.S. can provide aid. I’ll be chipping in on my end. When I hear about a 7.0 quake, I say to myself, “Please don’t let it happen here in California.”
I’ll write about baseball tomorrow, I promise.
The Yankees Sign Reid Gorecki, Not Reed Johnson
When I read this, I said, “Who?” But he sounds like a minor league outfielder and not – I repeat not! – Cashman’s solution to the left field issue. Johnny Damon and Brett Gardner will be sharing duties there. RIGHT, CASH? RIGHT, JOHNNY? HAVE YOU TWO HUGGED IT OUT YET?
The Reid Gorecki signing wasn’t the only headline maker today. Mark McGwire finally explained to the media how he went from looking like this…
…to this.
To no one’s surprise, he admitted using ‘roids.
At this point, it’s like me admitting that I took my sister’s car out for a spin when I was in high school and sideswiped a parking meter. I pretended I wasn’t responsible for the giant scratch on the driver’s side, but everyone in the family knew I was guilty.
If McGwire’s sit-down with Bob Costas really gives everybody “closure,” then I’m glad. I’d much rather talk about how Jeter’s supposed wedding to Minka Kelly is now being called a hoax. I love hoaxes. I think I’ll create one right now: The Yankees just signed Johnny Damon and they’re announcing it tomorrow!
Confessions of a She-Fan 