bignick33 {l Wrote}:Karim Garcia.
EagleNYC {l Wrote}:bignick33 {l Wrote}:Karim Garcia.
This is the guy who wanted the baseball board so badly?
bignick33 {l Wrote}:In all seriousness, they should go after someone who will double as a valuable bench player. For example, they could target someone like Reed Johnson or Rocco Baldelli (pinch-running/defensive upgrade). Or Fernando Tatis (pinch hitting). Versatility is probably the key here.
EagleNYC {l Wrote}:bignick33 {l Wrote}:In all seriousness, they should go after someone who will double as a valuable bench player. For example, they could target someone like Reed Johnson or Rocco Baldelli (pinch-running/defensive upgrade). Or Fernando Tatis (pinch hitting). Versatility is probably the key here.
I'll take Reed Johnson. The DL already have Nick Johnson, so no need to bring Rocco aboard.
Also, I don't know your age, but I'd exalt your mock OFers if they were a little older. Claudell Washington is a fine example.
bignick33 {l Wrote}:EagleNYC {l Wrote}:bignick33 {l Wrote}:In all seriousness, they should go after someone who will double as a valuable bench player. For example, they could target someone like Reed Johnson or Rocco Baldelli (pinch-running/defensive upgrade). Or Fernando Tatis (pinch hitting). Versatility is probably the key here.
I'll take Reed Johnson. The DL already have Nick Johnson, so no need to bring Rocco aboard.
Also, I don't know your age, but I'd exalt your mock OFers if they were a little older. Claudell Washington is a fine example.
Jesse Barfield. Danny Tartabull.
That's about as far back as I go. And, I can play the name game all day if you want. Eric Plunk. Bob Geren.
EagleNYC {l Wrote}:bignick33 {l Wrote}:EagleNYC {l Wrote}:bignick33 {l Wrote}:In all seriousness, they should go after someone who will double as a valuable bench player. For example, they could target someone like Reed Johnson or Rocco Baldelli (pinch-running/defensive upgrade). Or Fernando Tatis (pinch hitting). Versatility is probably the key here.
I'll take Reed Johnson. The DL already have Nick Johnson, so no need to bring Rocco aboard.
Also, I don't know your age, but I'd exalt your mock OFers if they were a little older. Claudell Washington is a fine example.
Jesse Barfield. Danny Tartabull.
That's about as far back as I go. And, I can play the name game all day if you want. Eric Plunk. Bob Geren.
Eric Plunk is on the right track. Obscurity + antiquity = gold. E.g.: Greg Cadaret
bignick33 {l Wrote}:EagleNYC {l Wrote}:bignick33 {l Wrote}:EagleNYC {l Wrote}:bignick33 {l Wrote}:In all seriousness, they should go after someone who will double as a valuable bench player. For example, they could target someone like Reed Johnson or Rocco Baldelli (pinch-running/defensive upgrade). Or Fernando Tatis (pinch hitting). Versatility is probably the key here.
I'll take Reed Johnson. The DL already have Nick Johnson, so no need to bring Rocco aboard.
Also, I don't know your age, but I'd exalt your mock OFers if they were a little older. Claudell Washington is a fine example.
Jesse Barfield. Danny Tartabull.
That's about as far back as I go. And, I can play the name game all day if you want. Eric Plunk. Bob Geren.
Eric Plunk is on the right track. Obscurity + antiquity = gold. E.g.: Greg Cadaret
In my book, it's extra credit for guys with hilarious names...such as Rick Honeycutt and Mike "If they want to pay me like Mike Gallego, I'll play like" Gallego.
EagleNYC {l Wrote}:bignick33 {l Wrote}:EagleNYC {l Wrote}:bignick33 {l Wrote}:EagleNYC {l Wrote}:bignick33 {l Wrote}:In all seriousness, they should go after someone who will double as a valuable bench player. For example, they could target someone like Reed Johnson or Rocco Baldelli (pinch-running/defensive upgrade). Or Fernando Tatis (pinch hitting). Versatility is probably the key here.
I'll take Reed Johnson. The DL already have Nick Johnson, so no need to bring Rocco aboard.
Also, I don't know your age, but I'd exalt your mock OFers if they were a little older. Claudell Washington is a fine example.
Jesse Barfield. Danny Tartabull.
That's about as far back as I go. And, I can play the name game all day if you want. Eric Plunk. Bob Geren.
Eric Plunk is on the right track. Obscurity + antiquity = gold. E.g.: Greg Cadaret
In my book, it's extra credit for guys with hilarious names...such as Rick Honeycutt and Mike "If they want to pay me like Mike Gallego, I'll play like" Gallego.
Did you enjoy the Rich "El Guapo" Garces era?
twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Rusty Kuntz
bignick33 {l Wrote}:twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Rusty Kuntz
Best of all time.
bignick33 {l Wrote}:Randy Wynn. Very short $$.
The merits of the New York Yankees' three-team trade for Curtis Granderson are debatable, and in time we'll know if the choice of trading some of their young assets in that deal was the right or wrong call. But it's laughable that the Yankees are taking flak for not working out a contract with Johnny Damon -- if you consider what happened as it happened, rather than the historical revision of those covering tracks.
In early November, Damon's agent, Scott Boras, compared his client to Derek Jeter in an interview with the New York Post and indicated at that time he was looking for a three- or four-year deal. Just standard agent posturing? Well, in the hours after the Granderson trade was completed, the Yankees moved to seriously engage Damon in talks, and -- as reported on ESPN.com at the time -- they were told over and over: If you're going to offer a contract that represents a decrease in salary, don't bother to make an offer. Damon, himself, told the Yankees that directly. If you want to cut my salary, talk to the hand.
At that time, the Yankees' internal discussions were about perhaps reaching a two-year deal, through negotiations, that might approach the two-year, $19 million deal that Bobby Abreu got with the Los Angeles Angels. But the talks never got started; Damon wanted no talks if he was to be offered less money than what he made in 2009.
The Yankees had two choices. They could sit and wait and hope that Damon came around to their way of thinking -- as the Houston Astros famously did with another Boras client, Carlos Beltran, to the team's chagrin -- or they could pursue other negotiations. They believed Damon didn't have offers along that the lines that Boras was talking about, but they didn't know for sure -- the Red Sox can speak to that experience, having lost out on Mark Teixeira -- and the Yankees' offer to make offers wasn't even being entertained.
So they moved on, pursuing Nick Johnson -- who had the highest on-base percentage of any free agent -- and they had to move fast, because Johnson was deep into negotiations with the Giants. Johnson was the Yankees' Plan B to Damon, and given that their Plan A wasn't even willing to talk, they reached an agreement on a one-year, $5.5 million deal with Johnson.
It wasn't until after word of Johnson's impending deal broke that Damon's side indicated a willingness to barter, and the Yankees did talk about a two-year concept, which was immediately rejected. But at that point, having reached a verbal agreement with Johnson, the team's priorities had shifted.
They had someone in Johnson who could hit second in the lineup, and they still hadn't addressed their need for a starting pitcher, which they had been willing to put off in their attempt to re-sign Damon. Once Johnson agreed to terms, that changed; the pursuit of Javier Vazquez became their priority, rather than another hitter.
Last week, Damon reached out to the Yankees, wanting to talk, so the Yankees re-engaged the left fielder, offering the money they had left under the budget that was set before the winter meetings. Even then, however, they were told that Damon had other options, including multiyear offers. They were told he wanted more than the $6 million package in salary and incentives that the Yankees were willing to pay.
So again, the Yankees had a choice: Sit around and wait to see if Damon would take those other offers, or move on. The Yankees then filled their left-field hole with Randy Winn.
Think of this like trying to get a date for the senior prom, and Johnny Damon as the target who keeps saying no. The Yankees wanted Damon more than anybody else has wanted Damon, and Damon has repeatedly turned them down -- for a time essentially telling them to not even bother calling.
So they got another date.
Is that their fault?
Damon's a good guy. He's a good teammate. He's a terrific player, coming off a very good season in a park tailor-made for him. With a couple of more strong seasons, he'll have a good case for election to the Hall of Fame.
He didn't want to take a cut in pay, but it appears that the Yankees' two offers -- the two-year, $14 million concept discussed after the Johnson signing, and last week's $6 million package -- might be about the same or even better than what other teams offered. Several prominent teams that needed outfielders eventually decided to pass because of concern that Damon would not be so good in their respective parks, given that his OPS was 120 points lower outside of Yankee Stadium in 2009. The market for Damon has never really developed.
This just in: The Yankees are not required to pay him what he wants, just as Damon is not required to take what the Yankees offer. They are not required to pay him above and beyond what his value is on the open market. They might have, if they hadn't been rebuffed time after time in December by Damon and Boras.
But Damon and Boras seemed to assume that the Yankees would break their budget to keep him and pay him far over market value, and that was their mistake.
Heard this: Oakland has determined that it is out of the running on Damon and moving on to other things, like the pursuit of veteran outfielder Gabe Gross.
Mike Lupica thinks the Yankees should spend the money to sign Damon, and within the same column also writes about the Mets.
Phil Rogers thinks Damon will wind up with the Tigers.
buconvict {l Wrote}:Johnny Damon is a dick. Good for the Yankees.
Endless Mike {l Wrote}:buconvict {l Wrote}:Johnny Damon is a dick. Good for the Yankees.
I wonder if he'll spend the next full season bitching about how the Yankees disrespected him just like the Red Sox.
BCEagle74 {l Wrote}:
I wish the Yankees would bust a move for Adam Dunn.
Hitting in front of A-Rod or Tex, he would bomb Maris's record of 61.
I don't count any of the juice lepers records.
EagleNYC {l Wrote}:Anyone want to set the odds that Brett Garner begins the year in LF? 1,000,000,000 to 1?
So who do they sign? Nady? Does Damon come crawling back? Thoughts?
BCEagle74 {l Wrote}:I changed my line-up!
JETER -- Needs to get more walks.
WINN --See how he does hitting second since he can steal 30
TEIXIERA -- Needs to hit for more average lik Texas
RODRIGUEZ --More HR's and RBI's
GRANDERSON --Better not strike out if the Intentionally pass A-Rod. He is protection.
JOHNSON -- If Granderson or Winn fail--move Johnson to the 2 hole or 5 hole.
POSADA -- If he catches 125 games and hits .285 and 20-80 --Backup needs more games and Posada at DH too.
SWISHER -- Better start mamking more contact and hit to LF more.
CANO -- Just keep gettting clutch hits and high OBP.
I wish the Yankees would bust a move for Adam Dunn.
Hitting in front of A-Rod or Tex, he would bomb Maris's record of 61.
I don't count any of the juice lepers records.
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