Detroit offers Damon two years, $14 million (UPDATED)
Scott Boras reaffirms he is king among agents.
You can curse Scott Boras all you want and blame him (and his ilk) for baseball salaries spiraling out of control. But we just found out again why he’s the best agent in baseball.
According to FoxSports.com, Boras has coaxed a two-year, $14 million offer out of the Detroit Tigers for free agent outfielder Johnny Damon. If the report is accurate, you can forget about the Braves landing Damon for left field and, more important, the leadoff spot in their batting order.
Johnny Damon hit .282 and a career-high 24 homers in 2009.
The Braves’ offer reportedly was for one year for somewhere between $4 million and $5 million, including deferred payments, according to our David O’Brien.
After not extending an offer the entire offseason, general manager Frank Wren clearly was eager for Damon to sign, even having Chipper Jones make a recruiting phone call to the player in hopes of luring him to Atlanta.
But it’s doubtful the Braves would add a second year to their offer, especially with Damon being 36 years old. Part of the Braves’ pitch was that their spring training home in Orlando is near Damon’s offseason home, but the Tigers also train in nearby Lakeland.
FoxSports reported that Tigers owner Mike Ilitch authorized the two-year, $14 million offer, doubling Detroit’s previous offer of one year for $7 million. Damon has spent his entire career in the American League (Kansas City, Oakland, Boston New York).
Bottom line: It was a nice effort, even if belated, by Wren to improve the lineup. But he can’t be faulted if the Braves don’t match Detroit’s offer.
UPDATE: There’s no comment yet from the Tigers on their reported offer to Damon. But here’s a link to an interesting story from a long-time pal of mine, John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press. It seems when Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski was asked four weeks ago if he was interested in Damon, the answer was no. Things apparently changed only after owner Mike Ilitch got involved. That would jibe with the Fox report that Boras, “seemingly has succeeded in reaching out to Ilitch, who previously signed several of the agent’s other high-profile clients, including catcher Ivan Rodriguez, right fielder Magglio Ordonez and pitcher Kenny Rogers.”
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221 comments Add your comment
willie g at yur service
February 12th, 2010
1:41 am
the braves just need TEX BACK, AT FIRST, AND DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND SIGN SMOLTZ TO A 1 YEAR CONTRACT PUT HIM IN THE BULLPEN HE WILL BE THE INSURANCE FOR WAGNER AND SAITO, THEY WILL GET HURT SEE WHERE YOU ARE AT THE ALL STAR BREAK AND HOPE CHIPPER ONLY MISSES A WEEK THIS YEAR INSTEAD OF A MONTH OR 2. ICANT WAIT TILL APRIL UNTIL THEN I WILL START WORKING ON MY BRACKETS.
willie g at yur service
February 12th, 2010
1:46 am
oh i forgot UNTIL THE BRAVES GET AN OWNER THAT CARES YOU ARE NOT WINNING ANYTHING . GET RID OF THE COLORADO CHUMPS , TED TURNER LEAVE YOUR MONTANA RANCH SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR BUFFALOS AND BRING YOUR BILLIONS BACK TO ATLANTA SO WE CAN WIN ANOTHER WORLD SERIES BEFORE I TURN 100.
willie g at yur service
February 12th, 2010
1:52 am
oh yea there is a radio host that works for the braves organization that lives in the middle ga area get rid of the chump he is a jinx to this team he is egotistical and thinks he is greater than chocolate icecream he is a joke to the profession.
bird
February 12th, 2010
2:27 am
ESPN is reporting that the Tigers offer is just for one year?
Johnny Demon
February 12th, 2010
4:31 am
When one makes $14 million one doesn’t live in Detroit.
You don’t see Matt Ryan or Brian McCann renting a place in L5P.
Mitchell
February 12th, 2010
4:42 am
He’s not worth nearly that much money. It’s not going to happen, who are we kidding?
It would be nice to have him but we don’t need him for two years at that price.
MitchC
February 12th, 2010
4:56 am
I know that Garrett Anderson was hurt at times last year, but when he did play, he was okay.
I’d take a chance and try to sign Dye. Yes, he’s not young, but how can you overlook 27 homers and 81 RBI’s in our power light lineup? Even if he gave us.. 20, and 70, it might be worth it.
We would probably be okay with what we have right now. We could also see where we are in July, and just try to trade for an outfielder then.
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
February 12th, 2010
7:01 am
JS- i thought the Braves refused to do business with Boras? no sense on braves trying to out-bid the tigers for a 36 yr old. Go with heyward and screw Boras- fans can blame him for ruining baseball and costing us an arm/leg just to go to a game.
George
February 12th, 2010
7:16 am
Hey all us Atlanta fans, LET’S GO BUY OUR SEASON TICKETS….. Until we stop buying the tickets, nothing constructive will happen to this team.. Corporate sponsership, Lexus, Suntrust, Coke, Chick-fil-A, Home Depot,AT&T, They are the culprits who buy the seats by the section, pay for the bulk of the advertising etc.. Braves front office doesn’t care about the product on the field they have their money in hand before the season starts..
Bank Walker, Texas Ranger
February 12th, 2010
7:54 am
who is in Right anyway? There is only one RF excluding Heyward, Cabrera
papadawg
February 12th, 2010
8:05 am
Please Damon PLEASE sign with Detroit
Rod
February 12th, 2010
8:06 am
shane – Damon can’t hit a homerun? What? He had 24 homers. None of the other outfielders for the Yankees hit 30 homers either. Get a clue.
How many Braves outfielders hit 24 homers last year? Huh?
jsatt32
February 12th, 2010
8:09 am
The Tigers offer him 2 yrs at 14 mil and we offer 1 yr at 4.5 mil? Hmmm, I wonder which deal Boras will take? God, the Braves will never be good until Libery Media SELLS the team! Bottom Line like it or not….World Championship teams don’t have sarary limits!
But as far as Damon is concerned, Detriot can have him for that. Thank you very much!
jfreak13713
February 12th, 2010
8:17 am
Tommy Hanson was unproven until he proved it! Heyward has a chance to produce as much as Damon would. Remember Damon put up average numbers in a hitters park! .288avg 24hr while good for a leadoff hitter was not great and he wouldn’t put up those numbers at the Ted. Damon might be worth 4 million for one year but no way 14 million for 2 years.
Braves are ok and if they can stay close maybe Wren pulls off a trade to fill a hole or two. Believe it or not I think this team will be good. They will pitch well and if Chipper and Glaus can put up some power numbers they will hit as well.
Jesse Stone
February 12th, 2010
8:18 am
Rod, how many Braves outfielders got to play half their games at Yankee Stadium (Williamsport)?
F-105 Thunderchief
February 12th, 2010
8:19 am
What did I tell you two days ago? Unfortunately it was a pipe dream. We could really stand a good leadoff hitter.
F-105 Thunderchief
February 12th, 2010
8:21 am
Trade Milky for whatever you can get and sign Dye for one year.
Dayman
February 12th, 2010
8:22 am
Thats what I’m seeing, bird. A one year deal.
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
February 12th, 2010
8:23 am
Will Prado lead off? Or Cabrera?
Jesse Stone
February 12th, 2010
8:37 am
17 of Johnny’s 24 homers came in Williamsport. 15 of Jermaine Dye’s 27 homers were at home.
DMR
February 12th, 2010
8:46 am
Give Damon and his agent credit. They know how to play. Give the Braves credit for making a good and reasonable offer. If I am J.D., I go home, talk to my family, look at my overall financial picture, and check out state tax rates. If I am financially sound and money isn’t the beat all end all reason for taking a deal, the I choose Atlanta. Detroit and the Michigan economy may be the bleakest in the Nation. Lifestyle usually counts for something. However, if MONEY is the number one driving force, take the offer with Detroit and see if crashing with M. Stafford is an option.
UA Alum92
February 12th, 2010
8:46 am
I honestly don’t think the Braves ownership cares about competing at the highest levels and/or doesn’t have the money to do so. I’m turning in my tomahawk.
Being loyal to the Braves is like being loyal to Delta. Both Atlanta institutions, same colors, etc. But they’re also both way too old, overpriced, and sooner or later, they’re going to screw you.
Don
February 12th, 2010
8:56 am
The Braves do not need to “ADD” a player nearly as much as they need to “SUBTRACT” Bobby Cox.
Don
February 12th, 2010
9:02 am
Offering Damon 14 mil for two years is nothing compared to the Dodger GM giving Andruw Jones 18 million for two years a few years ago – when any knowledgable baseball fan who had watched him for any length of time knew he wasn’t worth 2 million for 18 years at that point.
jim
February 12th, 2010
9:02 am
The blogs in Detroit are tilted in favor of not hiring Damon. The Braves got this one right. Too much money for an older player with a limited arm. Time to move on and let some of the younger players get a shot. Damon does better in Detroit anyway – he knows American League pitching.
Bobby Cox
February 12th, 2010
9:09 am
Gee, Skip. Frank is talking to Arizona about Kelly Johnson. Kelly knows something about leftfield, I tell ya !
Braves #5
February 12th, 2010
9:17 am
Damon will sign with Braves at low cost ! Why would you play in Det? ASK
Matthew Stafford!!!!
Bill in VA
February 12th, 2010
9:27 am
Stop this noise about signing another retread like Dye, please!!
Chop Chop
February 12th, 2010
9:29 am
Good deal for the Tigers. Damon can still hit. The Braves can’t offer him the right amount of money or any DH time.
Toots
February 12th, 2010
9:31 am
I thought at the time of the Braves offer that Boras would use it to try to leverage another, better (aka longer) deal elsewhere. I think I win the Kewpie doll.
Mike
February 12th, 2010
9:36 am
Foolish move by the Tigers. They don’t need Damon at all given the makeup of their team. Too much money for a team that isn’t going anywhere in the near future and if it blocks the development of Austin Jackson at all, this move will look that much worse.
Great effort by the Braves and I would love to have Damon for 2010. But anything beyond that is just not in the Braves’ best interest. Kudos to Wren for the effort and more kudos for not overpaying – in years or money.
Bill in VA
February 12th, 2010
9:36 am
You do win, Toots. DHing is the place for damon.
Kyle
February 12th, 2010
9:42 am
Apparently Schultz prematurely blew his load:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4905884
I strongly urge Schultz not to rely on any fox news affiliate for his info
BSIATL
February 12th, 2010
9:44 am
The responses on this blog are very frustrating for a lifelong baseball fan and student of the game. I’m guessing that most of the commenters on here do not know that HRs and RBIs are two of the worst stats that you can use to judge a players offensive performance, since most like to reference those stats when looking at a player. Everyone asking for Jermaine Dye is just asking for trouble. If you have 5 minutes check out http://www.fangraphs.com for some insight into metrics on how to look at players past and predicted future performances. You can search for Jermaine Dye and look at his detailed offensive and defensive stats. Bottom line…I’d rather have someone that has 1 RBI in 4 games than someone who has 4 RBIs in one game (Jermaine Dye). Jermaine Dye is projecting to be a +.5 WAR player this season and both Diaz and Cabrera are rated at +1.4 and +2.3 respectively. So you would take at bats away from Diaz and Cabrera for a +.5 WAR with positional and stadium adjustments and a UZR/150 rating of -26.3? Seriously? If you are you just cost your favorite team approx. 5 wins! Or are you saying you would sign him for RF and block Heyward for another season? We are fine with the lineup we have now. You HAVE to look past things like HRs and RBIs for position players and Ws & Ls and ERA for pitchers. We as a team have a WAR rating that puts us in the 88-92 win range. With a payroll of $90+ mil that is pretty darn good. This isn’t fantasy baseball! The goal isn’t to lead the league in runs scored…the goal is to win more games than the others and from the looks of it we will improve slightly from last year and be in a year long competition for the division or the wild card. That’s good stuff! Kudos to Wren for making the most of the budget and keeping us in the hunt.
Greg
February 12th, 2010
9:49 am
Nice game that baseball has become. $14 million for a .280 declining 36-year-old. And pitchers with ERA’s of 3.85 and 10-10 records get even more. What has the world come to?
Jeff Schultz
February 12th, 2010
9:55 am
Braves — The Thrashers did not offer him $10 million for 10 years. Get your facts straight. … Further, because he’s in his prime now, he has leverage. He makes any team better. Not the case with Damon. He makes the Braves better but not every team better. And really, while we can debate what Kovy is “worth” the fact is worth is only what you ultimately can get. We’ll find that out this summer.
Don
February 12th, 2010
9:56 am
BSIATL, your points are well taken – except you forget one thing relating to the Braves – Bobby Cox is our Manager – And he does not understand/ violates the most simple and basic fundamentals and procedures to get maximum run production.
Jeff Schultz
February 12th, 2010
9:57 am
Bird– reports are that there are one- and two-year offers by Detroit.
Jeff Schultz
February 12th, 2010
10:00 am
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater — Schuerholz butted heads with Boras, but not Wren (at least not to the same degree). Schuerholz last year said the team wouldn’t do business with agent Arn Tellem again (the Wasserman Group) after the Rafael Furcal thing happened. But I doubt the Braves would really stick to that if there was a player they really wanted.
Don
February 12th, 2010
10:02 am
You are not going to get anything close to good run production when your Manager does not teach, emphasize, demand that your hitters be selective/ work the count/ make the opposing pitcher throw some pitches — Which enables your hitters to see what the pitcher has, adjust to the pitcher, get better pitches to hit, make the pitcher make mistakes, wear the pitcher down both within innings and for the game, get into the other teams weak middle relief etc. This is the major reason that Bobby Cox’s management (and lack thereof) of the offense is and has always been absurd and results in inconistant run production.
BSIATL
February 12th, 2010
10:04 am
It would violate the terms of the CBA if they blacklisted an agent.
Melky's the Man
February 12th, 2010
10:06 am
With Melky, the Braves will dominate their division, beat the Phillies and win the pennant! Melky’s a superstar in the making!!!
BSIATL
February 12th, 2010
10:08 am
Don – all very true but you can hardly pin that one on Cox. The player still has to go out and do the things the player has to do and you can only “manage” them so much. I think Albert Pujols would hit just fine here in ATL with Bobby Cox as his manager. Good patient hitters with good OPS and good BABiP will succeed regardless of managers and hitting coaches.
the real Andy
February 12th, 2010
10:15 am
Say there was an outfielder on the market with a career .310 batting average, who was given his first chance to play every day in the second half last year. Say that outfielder responded with a .333 avg, an OBP north of .400, a slugging of .522, to go with 10 HR and 41 RBIs for the half. All while providing serviceable defense.
Wouldn’t we be trying to sign that guy and start him?
That’s Matt Diaz, folks. We’ve got him. Why are we looking to get someone else in there? I watched almost every game last year, and he was impressive. Was anybody else watching?
Melky in LF, Diaz in RF till we call up Heyward in June. Then move Diaz to left. He’s a born hitter, and I think he’s proven himself worthy of a real shot.
PMC
February 12th, 2010
10:19 am
It does make the Tigers seem fairly foolish to give up Granderson essentially for whatever is left of Johnny Damon for 14 Million…. that’s kind of like the stuff they are doing across town in Detroit. Phillip Buchannan….sure!!!
PMC
February 12th, 2010
10:22 am
Yeah I wouldn’t mind if they started talking with Jermaine Dye either. Would be nice to have his services for a year.
BSIATL
February 12th, 2010
10:31 am
Diaz’s splits are way too dramatic for him to ever be more than a platoon or part time player on a major league club. I like him and at his price he is a very nice piece to have on the team but for those wanting to hand him the full time job you’re not looking at the full picture. Last year he absolutely shreded lefties to the tune of a .412 batting avg., .464 OBP and a 1.103 OPS. Against righties he is a rather so-so guy batting .255, and a .349 OBP with an OPS of .766 (which is not good). He had 90 SOs against only 35 BBs. He swings and misses too many balls out of the strike zone and does not fair well against anything but fastballs. With a larger sample size he will be figured out by pitchers and turn out to be the same as a Garrett Anderson type player (which is to say not awful but not great either). A Matt Diaz and Melky Cabrera platoon would be a good thing though as Melky hits the righties quite well and is an upgrade in the field over Diaz.
Braves fan
February 12th, 2010
10:33 am
Who cares about Johnny Damon? Is Damon the difference between winning the division or not? I don’t think so. Besides, that money for Damon could have gone to Javy Vasques instead.The Braves are not going to the World Series this year. Let the kids play and get better. No need to buy another broken down player.
BSIATL
February 12th, 2010
10:37 am
With Damon’s natural regression due to age and stadium splits his projected WAR is +3.4 for this season down from +4.2 last season. So yes…he could very well make the difference between getting into the playoffs or not this year.
Cmon Frank
February 12th, 2010
10:38 am
Our lineup is a pathetic joke right now. Why is it year after year we don’t add the 1 or 2 sticks we REALLY need to compete in the NL East?