Johnny Damon is reportedly considering retirement after badly miscalculating the MLB free-agent market reports the Bergen Record.
Remember back in November, when Damon refused to give the Bombers a hometown discount? Remember when he said that unless Brian Cashman was ready to pay $13 million a year, don’t bother making an offer? Damon should’ve been careful for what he wished.
No one has called, no one has that kind of money anymore and no one, least of all Damon and his agent Scott Boras, has any hope of this ending well.
With only a month to go until spring training, Damon has two options: He can call the Yankees and admit he has nowhere to go. The Yankees, who will listen politely, will tell Damon he can play for $2 million for one season, not a penny or a day more.
Option 2, practically unthinkable after the World Series, would be retirement. A friend of Damon’s recently said, “Johnny is completely in the family mode right now” and has considered that option. It’s still hard to believe that, in the wake of a 24-home run campaign in 2009, and hitting .364 against the Phillies in the Series, Damon actually would quit.
This is a classic example of an athlete overestimating his worth. Damon can still hit and he can also run a little, but he’s a brutal outfielder and therefore he’s only suited to be a DH. Teams don’t want to spend $13 million on an aging, one-dimensional player that may or may not hit outside of that wind tunnel the Yankees call a stadium.
Whether it was Boras or Damon himself, somebody in that camp made a huge mistake setting the price tag at $13 million and now he’ll have to take whatever he can get if he wants to play next season.
