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Damon Signing No Blow to Sox Fans

By Ryan McGowan

My warmest regards for the holidays to all SportsColumn readers.  After a long hiatus, BostonMac has emerged from his cocoon of semi-retirement to comment on the Yankees’ signing of Johnny Damon.
Contrary to the belief of some writers on this site who aren’t Red Sox fans and don’t live in Boston, this is not a devastating blow to the psyche of Red Sox Nation.  This is not just another in a long line of heartbreaks drilled into the Sox fandom by the Evil Empire, the existential successor to Babe Ruth, Bucky Dent, Aaron Boone, etc.  Please, spare me the retro-Curse psychobabble.  This is no more a Yankee blow to the soul of Boston than Paris Hilton is a legitimate actress.

Let’s start with the obvious.  Does Johnny Damon make the Yankees better?  Of course he does.  Putting Damon at the leadoff slot allows Derek Jeter to hit in his more accustomed #2 spot in front of Sheffield, Fraud MVP ’05 (A-Rod), Matsui, and Jason “Backne like J.J. Redick” Giambi.  I will admit, that is a veritable Murderer’s Row of a lineup right there, with Posada, Robinson Cano, and whoever the Yanks get to play first base rounding out the bottom of the order.  Damon had a couple of good seasons left in him, where he’s going to hit around .300 and get on base 250 times, giving Rodriguez plenty of opportunities to get clutch RBI’s in the fourth inning with his team already up five runs.

But am I, as a Sox fan, trembling and shaking right now about the prospect of watching the fearsome Yankee team come into Fenway next year and rip apart the Sox like King Kong with a Twinkie?  Oh, I surrender right now.  I am absolutely shivering with fear at the mere thought of Aaron Small, Shawn Chacon, Grandpa Randy, Underachieva Mussina, and pretty boy Carl Pavano commandeering the mound on Yawkey Way and dominating the Red Sox en route to the Yankees’ return to their rightful, birth-earned place in the World Series.  Sorry, I’m not buying it.  The Damon signing did address one Yankee weakness with the loss of Bernie Williams in center field, and Bubba Crosby certainly wasn’t the answer.  But as the Marlins, Red Sox, and White Sox have shown in the last three World Series, the trophy is won and lost with starting pitching, an area which the Yankees have not been able to improve this offseason.  Although Johnson finished strong last year, and Small and Chacon had unexpectedly strong seasons, the Yankees certainly don’t have the best rotation in the American League East.  They might not even have the third-best rotation, especially since Boston added Josh Beckett and Toronto signed A.J. Burnett and will be getting back a healthy Roy Halladay in ’06.  The Yankees’ starting pitching will be their albatross this year, and the Damon signing does nothing to address that.

This is not to say that the Red Sox are without question marks.  Losing Damon hurts the Sox.  How could it not?  We are losing a player who was the table-setter for so much of our offense last year, and has been a consistent defensive player (albeit with the throwing arm of a five-pound bag of sugar) for his entire career.  With Damon game, the Sox will have to replace him as a leadoff hitter (most likely with Moneyball favorite Kevin Youkilis, who will likely move over to first base to replace Kevin Millar, as Mike Lowell is slotted to play third) and in center field, which is still up in the air.  Rumors abound of trades in the works for Seattle’s Jeremy Reed or Minnesota’s Torii Hunter, with the Sox giving up one of their lesser starting pitchers such as Matt Clement or Bronson Arroyo in the deal.  While it is unfortunate that they will seemingly have to trade pitching for outfield help (usually considered a cardinal sin by orthodox baseball people), the Sox’ strong pitching depth both at the major league and high minor league levels allow them to pull off such a deal with minimal damage to the club.

Still, the Sox will be fine.  By saying goodbye to Damon, they will have to get younger, and cheaper.  With the influx of young, cheap talent from Theo Epstein’s stocked farm system such as Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, and Craig Hansen (not to mention super-prospect Andy Marte, acquired from the Braves for albatross Edgar Renteria), the Red Sox over the next few years will take on a new identity.  No longer will they be the Idiots of Damon, Millar, and Manny Ramirez.  The organization doesn’t want to be the Yankees, full of overpriced, over-the-hill big names who would have formed an unstoppable fantasy team in 1998; they want to be the Oakland A’s, except with a bigger payroll and with fans that sleep indoors in conventional beds.  They want a fresh, exciting, team-oriented group of Beckett, David Ortiz, and the aforementioned young studs to become the face of the franchise, not some mid-30’s bearded clam who last year lobbied for Mike Timlin to be given the closer’s job because it would help his “marketability” as a free agent in the offseason.

And by the way, for anyone who is jumping on the predictable notion that “the Red Sox lost out on Damon because they have two GM’s and the experiment already is a failure,” this is shortsighted as well.  Boston has had one of the best offseasons in the league, and they are not done yet.  Not only did they get Beckett and Lowell in the Marlins firesale for some minor league prospects (including our top prospect, Hanley Ramirez, about whom the book says is immensely talented but lacking an appropriately professional attitude), they also got the Marlins to throw in Guillermo Mota, a solid reliever who will shore up the atrocious bullpen of last season.  They were able to trade a backup catcher (Doug Mirabelli) to the Padres for Mark Loretta, who will play an everyday second base and hit in the #2 spot behind Youkilis.  They unloaded Renteria, a total bust last season, for Marte.  Before spring training begins in two months, they will have traded Ramirez, and even if they only get a quadriplegic llama and a bag of balls in return, they will have opened up significant payroll for a run at an outfielder or shortstop, maybe allowing them to hold onto Clement or Arroyo.  The two-headed GM monster is not to blame for the Damon signing.  The Yankees were willing to overpay $13 million a year for a guy who two years ago was thought to be overpaid at $8.5 million.  More power to them; I am not going to sit here and cry about the Yankees having all this money to spend.  But how good is that money going to look in 2009 when Damon’s arm has fallen off and he is relegated to Bernie Williams-esque DH status?

Don’t get me wrong, I like Damon a lot as a player.  It was fun to root for him for the four seasons he wore the Boston uniform.  But losing him isn’t going to destroy the Red Sox franchise, and it certainly doesn’t rip a chasm in the soul of Red Sox Nation.  

By BostonMac

Ryan is a teacher, writer, journalist, basketball coach, sports aficionado, occasional real estate agent, and political junkie. He graduated from both the College of the Holy Cross (bachelor's) and Boston College (Master's), and knows anyone who has never heard of Holy Cross probably would never have gotten in there anyway. He is an unabashed Boston sports fan and homer who, according to lore, once picked the Patriots to win for 25 straight weeks on the "NFL Picks Show," which he co-hosts with Vin Diec, R.J. Warner, and Burton DeWitt. He is also an original co-host of SportsColumn's "Poor Man's PTI." He is married, lame, and a lifelong Massachusetts resident (except for a brief sojourn into the wilds of Raleigh, NC) who grew up in North Attleboro and currently lives and works in Everett.

5 replies on “Damon Signing No Blow to Sox Fans”

sour grapes — Those sour grapes must have had some hallucinogenics in them if you think an offseason where the Sox lose an all star cfer, create a new hole at ss and still don’t have a 1b is “one of the best offseasons in the league.” You should have let the loss of the top of the order soak in before writing this.

Youkilis Kevin Youkilis is going to be a good player and a very viable option at first.  I wouldn’t be shocked if he had the same impact Dan Johnson had in Oakland last year.  .280 hitter with a .370 OBP who hits with power and drives in runs because he constantly puts the ball in play and never strikes out.

BTW, Boston Mac I loved the Oakland crack and the A’s are my hometown team.  That was very good.

Renteria As far as a hole at SS, I’d take Helen Keller at SS rather than have to watch another year of the train wreck that was Renteria in 2005.

I never said that Damon’s loss wasn’t going to hurt the Sox.  I am just saying that people are overrating him signing with the Yankees.  I still think the Sox have had a good offseason and aren’t done yet. They have some great minor league prospects who will either contribute to the club or be used as currency for trades to plug the holes.

Thanks Trevor.  I know you’re an A’s fan but at least you’re a Niners fan too to balance it off

damon….. — yeah so i dont care about you people that think yeah well he did the right thing. i dont know what he was thinking. i thought he was a true red sox but i geuss he was just a fake loser. johnny i hope you have fun with your new little friends and fans in new york. and i know more people have different opinions on this but whatever. i dont care.

jonny damon — yess damon might have left and all and i know alot of people are very unhappy about this as am i but i dont think that this will make such a big impact on the sox even though damon was my favorite…

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