Johnny Damon on Loyalty
Taking what players say and analyzing the content literally is a dangerous game. Most of the time player quotes are nothing but an assemblage of clichés, prep talk, and prepackaged acknowledgments, leaving some style and little substance. Of course, I can’t really blame the players for taking this route, it’s not like they stand to gain much by being outspoken. With that being said, Johnny Damon may want to revise history following his recent quotes regarding Jason Varitek:
“I couldn’t believe that they were letting him walk and try to find a team. That’s the difference between New York and Boston…If you’re a part of New York, they’re going to keep you there: Posada, Jeter, Mariano, it’s the first time in history guys have been on the same team for 15 years. It goes to show you something about how the Yankees think, and how many Yankees players have been exclusive with one team. They keep them forever. (The Red Sox) were ready to let (Varitek) go. He’s their starting catcher. That’s how the two teams work. You know his days are going to be numbered here. But hopefully not — he deserves to be here until his career is over.”
I’m sure the two are friends, and obviously Damon isn’t going to bash his current team, one he might get a contract extension from. The Yankees do have some long, long time players on their roster, but they’re hardly the most loyal team around. Remember when the Yankees had an oral agreement with Albert Belle? You know, to replace Bernie Williams who had been in the Yankees organization for about 13 seasons at the time. In July of 1999 they tried trading Andy Pettitte (in the organization since 1991) for Adam Eaton, Reggie Taylor, and Anthony Shumaker. Countless threats were made towards Joe Torre’s job despite constant success. The Yankees had no qualms placing aside Tino Martinez after seven productive seasons in favor of Jason Giambi – not that it was a poor move, the Yankees certainly upgraded, but by Damon’s logic, in a rather heartless fashion.
Loyalty to players is a great idea in theory. Especially in cases like Varitek (and even Damon) where the fanbase loves them and scoops up their gear without much of a second thought, but when you’re Theo Epstein and have to win one of the toughest divisions in baseball history, you need to look wherever you can for an upgrade. That’s why it wasn’t disrespectful to Mike Lowell or Kevin Youkilis when the Red Sox sniffed around Mark Teixeira or to Tim Wakefield when the Red Sox signed John Smoltz and Brad Penny.
What the Red Sox did with Varitek wasn’t cruel or disrespectful. They were looking to upgrade their roster by getting rid of a weak link. Plus, if anyone should appreciate such an approach, it should be Damon. Unless he’s forgotten how Boston’s bucking of tradition and decaying loyalty to Nomar Garciaparra played a role in the team’s 2004 World Series title and placed Damon on another plateau of popularity.
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Great article, RJ. The closing paragraph was really strong.
7-9 is a horrible season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They are loyal to their players as long as they are productive and under 31 or so. If a three times cut non drafted free agent named James Harrison looks like a better option than Joey Porter, see ya Joey. Both players won rings.
Didn’t they offer him arbitration (that he turned down)? Of course, Damon doesn’t mention that if Varitek were “loyal”, he could have taken this, and re-signed with them right there.
And he would have a bigger paycheck.
And also: “Posada, Jeter, Mariano, it’s the first time in history guys have been on the same team for 15 years.”
Huh? Is there something I’m missing about that quote, ’cause it must be inaccurate. Off the top of my head, Yount, Gantner, and Molitor were on the Brewers together from 1978-1992, 15 years (and longer than 1996-2009, which isn’t quite 15 years yet). I’m sure there must be other examples.
Trammell and Whitaker in Detroit. Evans and Rice in Boston. Just off the top of my head.
I think he meant three guys, but still.
Johnny Damon is borderline retarded, guys. I wouldn’t be too hard on him.
haha can’t believe he’s bold enough to talk about loyalty either.
They didn’t even seem to try very hard to upgrade at the position. They offered him arbitration after he had a horrible season, only signed any other catcher to a non-guaranteed contract, reportedly turned down multiple trade offers for catchers, the owner of the team flew to his home to meet with him at his request, and gave in to his request for a 2nd year player option.
Especially on a site like FanGraphs (which I love), it’s easy to forget the humanity of the game. I doubt players know most of the terms used here, much less consider them relevant to their everyday lives. While it’s difficult to quantify a player’s concentration, ethic, and devotion with a metric, that’s how they view their daily lives. Nobody wants to be seen as expendable, especially Johnny Damon, who is staving off age and Austin Jackson. Instead of criticising him for his inability to view baseball through the eyes of a sabermetrician of GM, let’s view the opposite side of the coin and respect his dedication to his fans and team. And that includes the Red Sox, to whom he was very loyal up until they decided he wasn’t economical.
Damon’s not staving off A-Jax, Brelky Garbrera is. That said, I’d be shocked if they bring him back next year.
if irony hadn’t already died when they gave kissinger the nobel peace prize (thank you, mr. lehrer), it surely would have felt some crushing chest pains to hear johnny damon condemn the red sox for the lack of loyalty.
Well put sir. He has absolutely no idea how ironic this statement is. Even beyond the Red Sox, just ask Royals fans how much Johnny D knows about loyalty. What an ass
Or his wife.
Also on the subject of the Yankees and loyalty…
They are going to be faced with a few very difficult decisions with Jeter and, to a lesser extent, Posada in the next few offseasons.
It would be blasphemy to move Jeter to a lower rung of the defensive spectrum when he contract runs out after 2010, but it wouldn’t shock me if they did just that and signed J.J. Hardy during the ‘10 offseason.
Or if they signed Jose Reyes to replace Jeter after ‘11.
There’s also little doubt the Yanks will make a run at signing Mauer after next season (‘10), even though they’ll still have Posada under contract for one more year. They could always push him to DH for the last season of that deal.
Damon is making his statement at a time when the Yanks have indeed made some loyal, long-term commitments…but two of three guys he referenced may well get the Bernie Williams treatment themselves in two seasons.
Ultimately, the Yankees want to put a winning team on the field, and that means signing the elite FAs in their late 20s when they can – not clinging to a declining 36-40 year-old.
The Jeter decision in a couple of years is going to be interesting. Keep in mind that he will most likely be on the doorstep of the 3,000 hits club by that time. And unless he turns it around in a major way, he will also likely be a ~100 ERA+ shortstop with terrible fielding. As little sense as it makes baseball-wise (and the Yankees have indeed made some good decisions lately, for a team for which money is a non-issue), I don’t see them let the “clean” face of the franchise go and hit #3,000 elsewhere,
I meant OPS+ obviously. although depending on who you ask I guess he could even be a league-average pitcher.
Johnny could have actually made a good point if he brought up how the Red Sox PR Troops will launch an all out assault on one’s character when they want you gone. See: Nomar, Pedro, Manny.
Red Sox fans are some of the quickest to turn on players….Coco Crisp, Nomar, Manny, Pedro….that’s the one thing I hate about being a Red Sox fan.
I’m not sure I agree with that. I was at Trot Nixon’s first game at Fenway Park as an Indian, and they gave him standing ovations each time. Cabrera, Roberts, Millar, and many others still get a lot of love. I don’t know anyone who really turned on Pedro or Nomar.
mark drowns kittens by the burlap sack-full, and sold Scarlett Johanssen to the Nazi. Evil alien Nazis.
(yeah, I’m a knucklehead)
So, Johnny Damon.
The same Johnny Damon that grew his hair and beard out, pimped out his 2004 championship team’s catch phrase into a book, made millions, left for NY when the Red Sox decided to not give a 32 y/o (at the time) outfielder w/ a 108 OPS+ in his time in Boston a contract to exceed 4 year / $52,000,000 while we had both Jacoby Ellsbury and David Murphy (yes I know he’s been bad in ‘09) chilling in the farm system.
This is the Johnny Damon that is talking about “loyalty”.
The same loyalty the Yankees showed Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, Billy Martin, etc?
He’s really not a bright man.
I will give him a one-up on me, though, I bought “Idiot”.
Definitely should’ve known better.
Damon talks like the Red Sox said to get the hell out. They offered him two comparable deals with the Yankees: one for four years with less money, one with three years and the money as New York was offering. And all this after Damon had said he could never play for the Yankees. He has a lot of cajones talking about loyalty, especially in regards to ‘Tek, for whom (as has been pointed out numerous times) the Sox offered unneeded arbitration. This just smacks of Damon angling for a contract extension and trying to get everyone to love him.