Our old friend turned hated enemy Johnny Damon is not pleased with the Tampa Bay Rays. Damon believed that he was going to return to Tampa but the Rays went in another direction signing designated hitter Luke Scott to a one year deal plus a team option. This blindsided Damon who then said the following (via text) to Tampa Bay Times writer Marc Topkin:
"It's an unhappy day,'' Damon texted. "Didn't realize the DH and 1B brought the offense down. Thought we would've had an offer.''
Damon, 38, talked of finishing his career with the Rays, enjoying the team, the atmosphere and playing close to his Orlando home, while making $5.25-million, his lowest salary since 2000.
Instead, he will be looking for a new team for the third consecutive off-season, saying there's been talks with at least one.
"You wonder why fans can't get involved with players,'' he said, "because they are here and gone.''
Oh I'm sorry Johnny what was that? You wanted....loyalty? Like the loyalty that the Red Sox and the fans gave you? Like the loyalty that we thought that you had for the Red Sox? Like when you said this in May 2005:
There's no way I can go play for the Yankees, but I know they're going to come after me hard. It's definitely not the most important thing to go out there for the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It's not what I need.
So when the Yankees offered $3 million more per season, he jumped ship in a move that still doesn't make sense. That $3 million per season could've easily recouped (and then some) with all the endorsements he would have received since he was one of the biggest personalities and fan favorites with the Sox. His explanation for going against his word?
"They set a value on me, and I respect that. They didn't want to go over that threshold. But it's $3 million a year, and with that $3 million, I could help out so many unfortunate people."
Now five years later, the Rays set a value to Damon and it wasn't near what they wanted to pay for a 38 year old outfield who can't play the field every day. Tampa's outfield now consists of Desmond Jennings, BJ Upton, and Matt Joyce. They brought in Luke Scott who is more valuable then Damon because he can play the outfield and first base, adding more depth to a position that they could really use since Dan Johnson is only useful when they need someone to hit clutch home runs in September. Those that follow the Rays know how the management runs and that they made the logical move.
Damon had the same brutal reminder that many Red Sox fans did when he left, that baseball is a business. He's also handling it in the same manner as Sox fans did. What goes around comes around Johnny and after spurning the Sox twice, there's no sympathy in New England where you were once a living legend.
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