The Yankees were probably wishing the two-time world champion was still in pinstripes.
Damon, who’s hitting .276 as the Tigers’ designated hitter and part-time outfielder, was unable to work out a deal over the winter to stay in New York.
The Yankees originally offered Damon, a Scott Boras client, a two-year deal worth about $14 million last December. Boras and Damon wanted about $28 million.
Then, New York made a last-ditch effort for Damon by offering him a one-year, $6 million deal, one that could allow both parties to re-evaluate the situation after the season. Damon (via Boras) declined.
The Yankees’ inability to work out a deal with Damon could come back to haunt them. In need of an outfielder with similar power and speed, New York traded raw center field prospect Austin Jackson, left-handed reliever Phil Coke and young right-hander Ian Kennedy in order to acquire Tigers’ center fielder Curtis Granderson.
To replace Damon at DH (and in the two-hole in the lineup), New York went out and signed veteran slugger Nick Johnson to a one-year, $5.5 million deal.
A series of moves that was supposed to help the Yankees in the short term has not panned out in 2010. Johnson was placed on the DL on May 8 with a wrist injury — one that has been plaguing him for years — and is unlikely to come back this season.
Granderson, meanwhile, has not lived up to his former All-Star self as a Yankee. After hitting 30 home runs in Comerica Park, a tough pitcher’s park, in 2009, Granderson has hit just 11 bombs in Yankee Stadium, a park designed for left-handed sluggers. A .240 average and just 12 doubles haven’t exactly cut the mustard, either.
Signing Damon instead of trading for Granderson and signing Johnson wouldn’t have been that big of a tradeoff, statistically speaking. Damon has just 40 extra-base hits this year, and his OPS is down to .786 after it was .854 in 2009 and .836 in 2008.
But by being forced to trade for Granderson, the Yankees gave up Jackson, who is on his way to a brilliant career in Detroit and is leading the way in the AL Rookie of the Year race.
Jackson is hitting .303 with 17 steals. He has struck out 123 times and only homered once, but you have to imagine that someone with as much ability as his will figure it out.
Damon ended up signing a one-year, $8 million dollar deal with Detroit in late February. Granderson and Johnson each are making $5.5 million in 2010.
The Yankees tried to save money by being frugal with Damon, but in the end, their thriftiness ended up costing them both immediate production in Damon and a future star in Jackson.
New York will probably learn from its mistakes. Don’t expect the Yankees to get cheap with any free agents in the near future.
