Take a deep breath

John Damon is the Yankees new center fielder. Is that a good thing? Probably not, but the outrage and public perception right now is that we're in big trouble and Damon should be crucified. Look, we offered 4/40 and that was probably an overpay, nevermind 4/52 from NY. We do not have the NY bankroll to burn, never have and never will.

First lets look at what Damon is. Damon is a 32 year old center fielder with above average range and a noodle arm. At the plate, JD is a very good leadoff hitter, but it seems like people have this perception of him getting on base better than anyone else in baseball. Damon ranked 43rd in on base percentage this year with .366, right in between David Delucci and Varitek, nothing mind blowing. Damon had an awful second half, but still finished with a .313 batting average. This 313 is skeptical though with an abnormally high, compared to his career avg,% of his balls hit into play falling for base hits. Then you look at his power numbers which dropped off big time, granted this could be attributed to his shoulder injury. Over the last 3 years, Mark Loretta put up better offensive numbers than JD in every category.

So JD was part of our core. He played a good centerfield for us, and was the table setter for our prolific offense. We offer him 4 years at 40 million dollars, the same contract as Varitek. The safe and initial offer was closer to 3/27, but we upped it knowing he plays an important role here. Then NY drops 4/52 for him, what do you expect to happen? Have the Sox up their already risky offer by 15 million and mortgage the next four years on an aging CF whos game is predicated on speed? Did you expect JD to take 12 million dollars less to stay? If you did then your not living in the real world. A hometown discount is a few million, not 8 figures when it could be the last significant contract of your career.

Losing JD creates some holes for us, but it is not the be all and end all. We can sign or trade for someone who will return atleast 80% of Damons production for 1/10th the cost, then in turn spend the saved payroll on your choice of areas. It is not like we lost Damon and now play with 8 guys. You trade for Jeremy Reed and get a young stud who is already arguably top 3 defensive CF in the game, and get him out of the pitchers canyon at safeco field, or something similar to that move. We have options, we have time, we have financial flexibility. How about signing Clemens now for a 1 year deal? Or wait and sign Andruw Jones and/or Barry Zito next year?

The Yankees can afford to overpay for allstars and hall of famers on the downswing of their career. We are fortunate enough to have a large payroll, but we also allocate resources much more efficiently which lets us compete with NY's 80 million dollar advantage. Get ready to watch Jon Papelbon, Jon Lester, Craig Hansen, Andy Marte, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis all develop. We have a young inexpensive core right now that will set us up for years to come.

In conclusion, we still have work to do. Moves will be made soon and yea the team will look a lot different then the one who came back from down 0-3. JD is just one more chapter in this rivalry, and you gotta admit your excited for the first time we see him in pinstripes with short hair, speech impeding to the NY times. Thanks for game7 Johnny, you were a part of the most amazing thing I've ever seen in sports. Take a deep breath Redsox nation, this loss tough to swallow emotionally, but your team is gonna be alright.