Johnny Damon
Rumors

Though the Curtis Granderson-to-New York trade has not been officially announced, a deal has been agreed upon to send Granderson to New York while Edwin Jackson heads to Arizona and the Tigers and Diamondbacks pick up prospects. 

The under reported aspect of this story so far is how the acquisition will affect Johnny Damon's future in New York.  Until now, Damon had been discussing about how he'd be willing to take a home town discount to stay in New York, but one has to wonder if the Yankees were not seeing that discount in negotiations and decided to go another direction.  Throughout his career, Damon has gone to where the most dollars and years were present.  In 2001, after being traded to Boston, Damon signed a lucrative deal with the Red Sox and then followed that contract up with an even higher paying deal with the Yankees. 

Damon is a 36 year old free agent and is looking for a multi-year deal.  Damon has even commented that he believes "there still is a window for him to come back."  With Nick Swisher under contract and Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner on the roster, there might not be any room for Damon with Granderson on the roster. 

Assuming Damon does not return to New York, that likely reduces what he'll be able to get in free agency without competitive bidding from New York.  So where does that leave Damon's free agency?

Johnny Damon's days in New York appear over

Ken Rosenthal of foxsports.com believes that free agent outfielder Johnny Damon and agent Scott Boras will seek to sign a contract similar to what fellow 35+ outfielder Bobby Abreu signed a few weeks ago with the Angels.  Abreu and the Angels agreed to a two-year, $19M deal on November 6th after signing a one-year $5M deal in late February in 2009. 

Most speculation has the Yankees interested in bringing Damon back, but on a short term basis.  Rosenthal, however, feels that if Damon is looking for Abreu-money, that is not good news for Yankees fans.  Seems as if the Yankees would be happy to have Damon back at less than $10M per season. 

The Yankees hope to retain Johnny Damon - can they afford him?

Jayson Stark from espn.com has a new article up with plenty of off season rumors.

• Milton Bradley appears to have three different suitors: Rays, Rangers and Jays. However, Bradley is owed $21M over the remainder of his contact, so the Cubs will likely have to take on a bad contract in return.
• The Marlins had discussions about trading Dan Uggla with the Giants and Rangers.
• Rather than bid on Jason Bay or Matt Holliday, the Yankees seem content to try and resign Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui.
• Derek Lowe's contract is becoming burdensome for the Braves, especially as they look to extend Javier Vazquez. They'll try to move Lowe and hope to get a hitter in return for him.
• The Phillies are considering Placido Polanco, Mark DeRosa and Adrian Beltre at third base.

Johnny Damon is an off season priority for the Yankees

Below is a list of left fielders that are eligible for free agency for the 2010 season, their age, current team, current contract and whether the player falls into a Type A or Type B free agent compensation status.

Free agent catchers
Free agent first basemen
Free agent second basemen
Free agent third basemen
Free agent shortstops
Free agent center fielders
Free agent right fielders
Free agent starting pitchers
Free agent middle relievers
Free agent closers

Garret Anderson, 38, Braves - 09:$2.5M (Type B)
Jason Bay, 31, Red Sox - 06:$0.75M, 07:$3.25M, 08:$5.75M, 09:$7.5M (Type A)
Marlon Byrd, 32, Rangers - 09:$3.06M (Type B)
Johnny Damon, 36, Yankees - 06-09:$13M/year (Type A)
David Dellucci, 36, Blue Jays - 07:$3.75M, 08:$3.75M, 09:$4M
Matt Holliday, 30, Cardinals - 08:$9.5M, 09:$13.5M (Type A)
Reed Johnson, 33, Cubs - 09:$3M
Gabe Kapler, 34, Brewers - Signed a one year, $1.05M contract for 2010
Greg Norton, 37, Braves - 09:$800K
Wily Mo Pena, 28, Mets - 09:minor league contract
Gary Sheffield, 41, Mets - 07:$13M, 08:$14M, 09:$14M
Fernando Tatis, 35, Mets - 09:$1.7M (Type B)
Randy Winn, 36, Giants - 07:$4M, 08:$8M, 09:$8.25M (Type B)

Matt Holliday Leads The 2010 Free Agent Class

The rumors of Mark Teixeira signing with the Yankees have been confirmed.  Now let's take a look at the various reports about how the deal went down:

• Bill Madden of the Los Angeles Times writes that Teixeira told him that he prefered New York over Boston and Los Angeles all along.  
• Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports gives a rundown of events that brought Teixeira to New York.
• Joel Sherman of the New York Post notes that the decision to sign Teixeira, along with their entire 2009 off season haul (CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett) was made with the poor 2010 free agent class in mind.  Sherman also points out that the team will now try to trade one of their outfielders: Nick Swisher, Johnny Damon, Xavier Nady or Hideki Matsui.
• Danny Knobler of CBS Sports reports that the contract does not include an opt-out clause as Sabathia's did.  He also notes that the Sox do not intend to go after Derek Lowe simply because they missed out on Teixeira.
• It appears as if the Red Sox final offer was eight year, $168M according to Joel Sherman.

With the playoffs starting on the first day of October, there's still plenty of rumors to discuss:

• Rangers owner Tom Hicks admits that trading John Danks was a mistake.
• The Astros declined Doug Brocails's 2009 option.
• The Seattle Mariners have received permission to interview Blue Jays assistant Tony LaCava.  LaCava was rumored as a general manger candidate in Seattle earlier.
• Dodgers general manager Ned Coletti's future is still in doubt.
• Buster Olney heard this week that Andruw Jones' awful signing was orchestrated by Dodgers owner Frank McCourt rather than Coletti.
• Joel Sherman wonders if the Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, discourages free agents from signing in New York.
• Brian Cashman would like to get a full time first baseman rather than convert Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui. 
• The Padres are filing a grievence against Khalil Greene after the shortstop was lost for the season after punching a storage cabinet in Petco Park in late July.  The team is looking to recoop approximately $1M.

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated has posted his latest column.  Let's take a look:

• One unnamed Yankees official feels it will take a contract well above market value to lure CC Sabathia to New York, but more importantly, out of the National League.
• The Yankees are also looking to trade for a centerfielder which means they're obviously not happy with the defensive play of Johnny Damon who is owed $13M for 2009.  Nate McLouth, David DeJesus and Matt Kemp have all been discussed with Robinson Cano as the headliner of a package to get one of those players. 
• Heyman doesn't believe the Yankees will resign Jason Giambi or Bobby Abreu because of their poor defense.  It's going to cost New York $5M just to get rid of Giambi. 
• Rumors of the Brewers interest in acquiring Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts during the spring have been confirmed. 
• Heyman fuels the Matt Cain for Prince Fielder rumors, despite no official from either club having formally mentioned such a deal.  He feels that might free up the Giants to then go after CC Sabathia. 
• Another dark horse for Sabathia are the Rockies.