Mike Ehrmann - Getty Images
this picture
This is basically a throwaway post on a nothing rumor that isn't even a rumor at all, but I'm in kind of a throwaway mood and I'm hungry to the point of being delirious, which has oddly given me a second wind. Jon Heyman!
#orioles, #mariners, #a's among potential players for damon. if balt or sea get him, thatll make it 7 diff. AL teams for jd
This is not Heyman saying the Mariners are interested in free agent Johnny Damon. This is Heyman saying the Mariners could be a fit for Johnny Damon. Different. So, anyway.
The Mariners might still be in the mix for Prince Fielder. I don't know anything about the current state of the sweepstakes, but I don't think the Mariners have dropped out. The Mariners might sign Prince Fielder. Or they might not. In the event that the Mariners don't sign Prince Fielder, some people have wondered where that money might go instead.
Maybe that money doesn't go anywhere. Maybe it goes to one player. Maybe it goes to a few players. Johnny Damon would be a possibility.
I know it sounds weird. Damon is 38 years old. Last year he posted a .743 OPS. The year before that, he posted a .756 OPS. He's no longer much of anything in the field. On the surface, Damon seems like a bad fit.
But he'd really...well he wouldn't be a horrible fit. Damon has spent the last two seasons in home parks that are tough on left-handed hitters. He could split time with Casper Wells, or he could allow Mike Carp to split time with Casper Wells. Damon would take what's currently Trayvon Robinson's roster spot, and while either Damon wouldn't get a full season, Carp wouldn't get a full season, or neither of them would get full seasons, that would be an improvement. Robinson isn't much.
Dave is really big on Will Venable, and I like the Will Venable idea. Venable has a lot more to offer in the field than Damon does, and he's been solid away from Petco's draining grasp. But I don't know what Venable's price might be, and Damon could be rather affordable. He made $5.25 million a year ago, and then he hit .261 while getting a year older. The market's thin. I'm just saying.
I'm not all about Johnny Damon, but if the Mariners don't sign Prince Fielder and still want to spend that money, Damon wouldn't be a disaster. Incidentally, he's represented by Scott Boras, just like Fielder is, so there's that to consider.
To be honest with you I really just wrote this post so I could use that picture.
0 recs | 50 comments
Get a phone that types gooder, Heyman
lemonverbena - January 12, 2012
"Gooder" haha
ichirofan5197 - January 12, 2012
You're right
lemonverbena - January 12, 2012
Jeff, are you stuck in the middle of a desolate wilderness?
Because if you’re not, why haven’t you eaten yet? I’m getting worried…
Sportszilla - January 12, 2012
A desolate wilderness that somehow has internet access, mind you
Sportszilla - January 12, 2012
He's probably on hunger strike to protest always having to post stupid Prince Fielder bullshit
pdb - January 12, 2012
Eat something!
BaronVonBullshit - January 12, 2012
Jeff's trying to covertly signal that Fielder has signed by indicating that Prince ate all his food
It’s so obvious. Wake up, sheeple.
Chris_FB - January 12, 2012
If they're going to continue the trend of old DHs...
I hear that Dmitri Young is looking for a come back. He is 38 years also and would probably be even cheaper.
I’m only half way joking. The more I think about it, the more it starts to make Mariner’s sense.
Hiccup - January 12, 2012
Or even....
Sign Manny Ramirez to an incentive-laden contract…
tkballer22 - January 12, 2012
I would enjoy having a player that couldn't play for his first 50 games with the team.
Patrick Stites - January 12, 2012
Chone Figgins?
Hiccup - January 12, 2012
You've got it the other way around
Figgins only played the first 50 games
cdlewey - January 12, 2012
Hey
Dmitri has stopped eating like a viking.
msb - January 12, 2012
If we win the World Series next year led by a comeback Dmitri Young
I’ll seriously eat a loaded stapler. I’ll even film it and put it on Youtube. This is a promise.
Corco - January 12, 2012
Screenshotted just in case.
Goose - January 13, 2012
So many invisible dicks in that photo...
sanford_and_son - January 12, 2012
"O, you got my eye!" - Damon
Fin - January 12, 2012
Why don't we just sign the top womens softball player and call her Johnny
JamMasterJesus - January 12, 2012
I'm not really into ladies with facial hair
Poochie - January 12, 2012
Johnny Damon still has facial hair?
JamMasterJesus - January 14, 2012
This one doesn't seem to have that problem,
but she can throw.
xmet - January 15, 2012
Only if he grows his beard again
Corco - January 12, 2012
Would rather have a one year stopgap with Damon than an albatross of a Fielder contract.
Reading this article on Fangraphs made me like signing Fielder even less:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/hitters-age-like-wine-power-like-cheese/
mebpenguin - January 12, 2012
Pujols albatross?
Please.
Easley - January 12, 2012
I'm hoping it's starting to come into force around the time that Wells comes off the books.
Aussie Mariner - January 13, 2012
Johnny Damon can still kind of hit,
but he only makes sense if we get Prince Fielder.
In any case, nothing will happen until Yu Darvish signs, right? The 18th.
ignacio - January 12, 2012
I kind of want Omar Visquel to be our utility infielder. I know he's old and doesn't really fit on a rebuilding team like ours but it would be cool for him to retire as a mariner.
I’m sad Wily Mo Pena is gone but maybe Vladimir Guerrero?
Edgar for Pres - January 12, 2012
I'm down with the Guerrero idea.
grips - January 12, 2012
I've wanted Vlad for the last couple years, declining abilities and all.
Cascadian Man - January 12, 2012
Vlad is a horrible horrible fit considering our park and that his power is gone
I would want a reason to believe that his performance last year was a fluke
Poochie - January 12, 2012
But that was said last year after a good 2010 at Texas
Here is the real plus with Vlad : he would get a chance to wreak havoc, if he’s got any left, on not one but two former emplyers of his, Texas and the Angels.Up through 2008 he had a good walk rate but since then….At least he won’t pout like Damon does, he
should be good for the clubhouse.
jjmalden - January 13, 2012
I like my outfielders to have better arms than my mother's.
Unless he would be coming here to DH.
d0nkey - January 12, 2012
I think Damon would be a good clubhouse influence
Punkhazard - January 12, 2012
demographics
I wonder how many people under the age of 25 remember Johnny Damon as a Kansas City Royal.
wackomann - January 12, 2012
the frick
I threw the target-blank tags into my sig links in an effort to pop up another window so no one gets diverted from the LL page in the rare case that anyone feels compelled to click on anything. It doesn’t seem to be working. Yet.
wackomann - January 12, 2012
target="new"
not target=“blank”
harkening - January 13, 2012
When I saw that picture I thought it was a picture of Damon in a Royals uniform so I guess I do
Corco - January 12, 2012
Wow, how did I not catch that?
Couldn’t believe I didn’t think about the powder blue Royals jerseys immediately. However, I think the Royals still had George Brett when they made the original move to the gray road uniforms (mothballing the powder blues). The worst look the Royals had was when they paired gray hats with the gray uniforms. Drabtastic.
wackomann - January 12, 2012
I associate Damon as a Royal pretty strongly for whatever reason and that uniform color as being Royal despite that I definitely don't remember the Royals in those uniforms
In terms of Damon association- if asked to name teams Damon plays for- I’d probably go in this order:
1. Red Sox
2. Royals
3. Yankees
4. Tigers
5. Rays
6. A’s
- struggling to remember those last three
Corco - January 12, 2012
It tells you something when my reaction to this comment is "Holy shit, when did Damon play for the Tigers?"
It was just two years ago!
Goose - January 12, 2012
Same here
Poochie - January 12, 2012
Don't feel bad- were it not for the picture I would not have been able to tell you that he played for the Rays
I thought he was still with the Tigers!
Corco - January 12, 2012
Just under 25, and yes I do.
Patrick Stites - January 12, 2012
I'm so old I remember when he was married to his first wife.
msb - January 12, 2012
He's going to play for them again, in the future
J0SER - January 13, 2012
Damon's final year with the Royals was 2000
Damon did a fair share of DHing that year. The Royals’ outfield consisted of Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye, and Mark Quinn, who I swear was a K-Swiss Minor League Player of the Year in some prior year.
wackomann - January 12, 2012
I think he may have been injured too
Poochie - January 12, 2012
I don't want Johnny Damon.
I just don’t want him.
Also, why can’t he just call himself John?
He’s not 10.
jose luis - January 13, 2012
I thought Andy Rooney died.
Mariner John - January 13, 2012
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