Tuesday, February 26, 2013
CBSSports: Johnny Damon wants to be a Yankee, still bitter toward Rays
The serious injury to Curtis Granderson has moved Johnny Damon to make public overtures to the Yankees. Here’s what the 39-year-old, semi-retired outfielder told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News:
“I don’t expect to hear from them. If they call, if they want me, I’ll go. They are one of the only teams I would do that for. We’ll see what happens in the future. If someone calls, I could definitely get ready.”
Damon adds that he thinks he’s better than “70-80 percent of the guys out there.”
CAIRO still thinks Damon can hit a little, projecting him at .260/.332/.414 as a Yankee. Although that’s better than just about all the other outfielders in camp aside from Brett Gardner (yes, a smidgen better than Ichiro) that only projects to be worth about 2 runs above a replacement level LF over 200 PA and he projects to give that value back on defense. CAIRO may also be slow on picking up if Damon’s cooked since it includes his performance going back to 2009.
I’m guessing it won’t happen unless another injury pops up, although I suppose the fact that almost everyone vying for the open spot in the OF bats right-handed might mean bringing Damon to camp without any commitment would be worth a flier. I don’t really see anything materializing here, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it.
In other news, Kevin Youkilis is being shut down with a sore left oblique. Great.
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