MLB News

[Brent Burns]

Provided that Johnny Damon passes his physical tomorrow, he would more likely be wearing the pinstripes for the Yankees. Second, it is going to be interesting to see what he looks like without a beard and his renowned long hair.

I know Gregg Pathiakis and other Bosox diehards will not be thrilled about this, but history has shown that the players have jumped ship from either Boston or New York Yankees. That is nothing new.

[Timbalaned]

Second, it is going to be interesting to see what he looks like without a beard and his renowned long hair.

Like this, he was clean for the A's

http://johnnydamon18.tripod.com/id5.html

dont know how to insert pictures if someone wants to do that. [/img]

[Sonny]

dont know how to insert pictures if someone wants to do that.

Use the IMG tag. Read about it in the FAQ (linked at the top of the board):
http://forums.uslia.com/faq.php#24

Practice your image posting in the Test Drive Forum....

[cjwilhelmi]

With Damon jumping to the Yankees and the Red Sox seemingly losing a lot this offseason, I would like to auction off my Baseball Allegiance.

[Dan Wishengrad]

Let's see, the Yanks' lineup could look like this:

1. J Damon CF
2. D Jeter SS
3. A Rodriguez 3B
4. G Sheffield RF
5. J Giambi 1B
6. H Matsui LF
7. J Posada C
8. R Cano 2B
9. T. Martinez 1B

On days when Giambi moves to 1B, Bernie Williams could bat 9th and be the DH. Or will they move Sheffield to 1B and have Giambi be the permanent DH?

Any way you slice it, this is one scary lineup for opposing pitchers...

[Timbalaned]

dont know how to insert pictures if someone wants to do that.

Use the IMG tag. Read about it in the FAQ (linked at the top of the board):
http://forums.uslia.com/faq.php#24

Practice your image posting in the Test Drive Forum....

Figured it out and here he is all clean....

[laxfan25]

Quite geeky looking without the hair and beard. I'm sure his female posse will be disheartened.
I can only believe that it Theo Epstein was still at the Sox he wouldn't have let Big George steal his player (for $54M!)
As someone mentioned, other players have jumped from the Sox to the Yankees - no big deal. After all, when Babe Ruth switched sides it didn't affect the Sox at all! (Thank god the Curse of the Bambino has been laid to rest.)
My only hope is that a small-market, small salary team finds a way to keep George from buying another championship - that's the best!
As a life-long Sox fan, now that they've gotten their long-sought championship I really don't care all that much what happens. I can die a contented man.

[Brent Burns]

Quite geeky looking without the hair and beard. I'm sure his female posse will be disheartened.
I can only believe that it Theo Epstein was still at the Sox he wouldn't have let Big George steal his player (for $54M!)
As someone mentioned, other players have jumped from the Sox to the Yankees - no big deal. After all, when Babe Ruth switched sides it didn't affect the Sox at all! (Thank god the Curse of the Bambino has been laid to rest.)
My only hope is that a small-market, small salary team finds a way to keep George from buying another championship - that's the best!
As a life-long Sox fan, now that they've gotten their long-sought championship I really don't care all that much what happens. I can die a contented man.

I join you laxfan25 in the company of being one of the contented men. All of my life, I have been rooting for the New York Rangers and they finally got rid of the curse and won the Stanley Cup with Mark Messier, Mike Richter et al. Ever since winning the Cup, I am just contented no matter how they are faring. Second, my Cincinnati Reds have won several World Series. Finally, I no longer root for the 76ers, but when Dr. J was on that team when he finally won the NBA title.

I read that the Red Sox front office is very confused.

[KnoxVegas]

Just another overpriced athlete that will enjoy a quick first-round exit come the fall. Rivera can't pitch every inning and Johnson is a fossil. After Mussina, who ya got?

The Yankees are soon to be the Cubs of New York. Go Mets!!!

[Gregg Pathiakis]

I know Gregg Pathiakis and other Bosox diehards will not be thrilled about this

You got that right. Lots of people are asking if he'll be booed or cheered for at his first appearence in pinstripes at Fenway. Not a question in my mind. The loudest boos will be coming from my seats.

[CATLAX MAN]

You got that right. Lots of people are asking if he'll be booed or cheered for at his first appearence in pinstripes at Fenway. Not a question in my mind. The loudest boos will be coming from my seats.

It's not his fault. He stated many times that he wanted to be with the Sox. They failed to make a competitive offer. If you're going to boo someone, look at your team management & ownership, they are the bad guys here.

[Gregg Pathiakis]

You got that right. Lots of people are asking if he'll be booed or cheered for at his first appearence in pinstripes at Fenway. Not a question in my mind. The loudest boos will be coming from my seats.

It's not his fault. He stated many times that he wanted to be with the Sox. They failed to make a competitive offer. If you're going to boo someone, look at your team management & ownership, they are the bad guys here.

I disagree. The offer the Sox gave him may have not been as good as the Yankees' offer, but for the type of player he is, is was a good offer. He hoped the fact that the fans loved him that the Red Sox would beat any offer from another team, but that's not a good business decision. I would guess he has the worst arm of any center fielder in baseball, maybe just a tad better than the man he is taking over for (Williams). He's a good lead-off hitter, but not the best.

[CATLAX MAN]

I disagree. The offer the Sox gave him may have not been as good as the Yankees' offer, but for the type of player he is, is was a good offer. He hoped the fact that the fans loved him that the Red Sox would beat any offer from another team, but that's not a good business decision. I would guess he has the worst arm of any center fielder in baseball, maybe just a tad better than the man he is taking over for (Williams). He's a good lead-off hitter, but not the best.

OK, let me see if I understand this correctly. He should have given up millions of dollars in compensation to stay with the Sox because he has the worst arm in baseball and he is only a good lead off hitter, not the best. He should have realized all this and accepted less money than the Yankees were offering so that makes it a bad business decision on his part, not on the Red Sox part.

Hoo boy. That's a good one. Can you say bitter Red Sox fan?

[Gregg Pathiakis]

I disagree. The offer the Sox gave him may have not been as good as the Yankees' offer, but for the type of player he is, is was a good offer. He hoped the fact that the fans loved him that the Red Sox would beat any offer from another team, but that's not a good business decision. I would guess he has the worst arm of any center fielder in baseball, maybe just a tad better than the man he is taking over for (Williams). He's a good lead-off hitter, but not the best.

OK, let me see if I understand this correctly. He should have given up millions of dollars in compensation to stay with the Sox because he has the worst arm in baseball and he is only a good lead off hitter, not the best. He should have realized all this and accepted less money than the Yankees were offering so that makes it a bad business decision on his part, not on the Red Sox part.

Hoo boy. That's a good one. Can you say bitter Red Sox fan?

I am not even close to being a bitter Red Sox fan. When I said it would be bad business decision, I meant for the Red Sox to offer him more money than they were. He obviously made a good business decision by accepting a deal for the most amount of money. Yes, I would have liked for him to accepted less money to stay with the Red Sox, like he says he wanted to. I fault him for caring only about the money. He knew that by accepting a contract with the Yankees, that the Red Sox fans would take it personally. You may attack my view that he should have accepted less money to stay with the Red Sox, but it's not that crazy of an idea. Multiple football players have done just that to stay with the Patriots. Yes, football has a strict salary cap which prevents them from spending more sometimes, but still, there is a sense of loyalty with those players. Johnny proved that he has no loyalty for the fans of Boston who have been been in love with him since day one. I can't wait till he realizes that there is no way he is going to find the same love in New York.

[Gregg Pathiakis]

I'd like to quote El Presidente from Random Thoughts at Barstool Sports... I think I agree with basically everything he says.

Okay, here is my take on the whole situation. My main concern is that I’m hoping that Sox didn’t get caught with their pants down on this one. By that I hope they weren’t prepared to give Damon more money than the Yankees if they thought he would really leave. I hope they didn’t think he was bluffing because that would just be bad. However if this was strictly a business decision where the Sox felt they couldn’t match the Yankee’s offer without hamstringing themselves for the future than I have no problem with it. And I don’t hate Johnny Damon for going to the Yanks because this is exactly what I would expect him to do. I’ve always kind of thought that Damon was a jerk and the only thing he cared about was money and that stripper wife of his who he definitely cheats on. I firmly believe that the Sox could have offered 4 years for 52 million and if the Yankees offered 4 years for 52 million and 10 cents he would have gone to NY. It was all about the money. Damon has no loyalty to the Red Sox or the fans. Don’t get me wrong I don’t feel bad for Sox management because they are every bit as ruthless as the players. Just look what they did to Nomar. The bottom-line is that baseball is a business. The players don’t care about the fans. The owners don’t care about the fans. Nobody cares about the fans except the fans. Therefore, I don’t care about the players or owners either. I just root for the laundry. I’m not rooting for Johnny Damon or Edgar Renteria or Kevin Millar. I’m rooting for all my buddies and everybody around here who have grown up with me watching the Sox. It doesn’t matter if we have robots playing MLB in 10 years as long as there is still Boston robots vs. New York robots, I’ll be a fan. That’s honestly how I look at things now in baseball. So in the end I’m going to reserve judgment on the Damon situation until we see what the Sox do with his money. But as far as him leaving town on an emotional level I could care less.