Johnny Damon was the comet flashing across the sky for the Kansas City Royals -- the foreboding omen of doom. The Royals finished over .500 just once in the 17 seasons after Damon arrived in 1995.
MLB Free-Agent Prediction: Johnny Damon
Where will Johnny Damon land? What teams can use him? Will he look charming and precocious, or will he look like a hobo?
Which was no fault of Damon’s own, of course. He was a good-to-great player in his six years with the Royals. But when you want to think about how old Johnny Damon is, just looking at his age won’t do. It isn’t enough to think about how his debut season was in ‘95. All you have to think about when evaluating Damon’s age is this: Before he debuted, the Royals had finished two straight seasons with a winning record. As a way to date a player, that’s the tops. Beats cutting him open and counting the rings.
But he’s still a worthwhile addition to a lineup, even though he just turned 38. Last season was the first time his on-base percentage dipped under .340 since 2001, but it’s worth remembering that Tropicana Field stealthily became the most extreme pitchers’ park in baseball when no one was looking. Literally, no one. Tampa, and all. But while his OBP was down, his OPS+ actually went up a tick to 110. He can still hit a little.
There's a caveat, of course. He most certainly does have a noodle arm that's impossible to play in right. He's much more comfortable as a DH than an outfielder, and while putting him in the outfield wouldn't be exactly the same as putting David Ortiz at second, you'd think he'd be limited to just AL teams.
You'd think that, but the last two World Series champs, the Giants and the Cardinals, have started Pat Burrell and Lance Berkman in the outfield, respectively. Outfielders who play defense like they're tangled in a garden hose are the new market inefficiency. So we'll keep the door open for some NL teams to take a shot at him.
In a bubble, with 14 DH spots and 30 left-field jobs that need to be filled before the start of the season, Damon is the kind of player that teams should fight over. He’s old, sure. But he’s still a patient hitter. He has a little power. He isn’t exactly a bankable star, but he doesn’t hurt a team’s efforts to sell more tickets. And he’s also been one of the more consistently healthy players in baseball history
| Rk | Yrs | From | To | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pete Rose | 19 | 1963 | 1983 | 22-42 | Ind. Seasons |
| 2 | Carl Yastrzemski | 17 | 1961 | 1979 | 21-39 | Ind. Seasons |
| 3 | Brooks Robinson | 17 | 1958 | 1975 | 21-38 | Ind. Seasons |
| 4 | Johnny Damon | 16 | 1996 | 2011 | 22-37 | Ind. Seasons |
| 5 | Craig Biggio | 16 | 1990 | 2007 | 24-41 | Ind. Seasons |
| 6 | Rafael Palmeiro | 16 | 1988 | 2004 | 23-39 | Ind. Seasons |
| 7 | Cal Ripken | 16 | 1982 | 1998 | 21-37 | Ind. Seasons |
| 8 | Eddie Murray | 16 | 1977 | 1996 | 21-40 | Ind. Seasons |
| 9 | Dave Winfield | 16 | 1974 | 1993 | 22-41 | Ind. Seasons |
| 10 | Hank Aaron | 16 | 1955 | 1970 | 21-36 | Ind. Seasons |
And on a one-year, low-risk deal? Well, it worked well enough for the Rays last season to be the difference between the playoffs and a lonely October.
But out of the bubble you have to find teams that don’t already have a better option at DH, who don’t have a lot of money tied up already at DH, or who really don’t need to spend a couple of million on a player who will take at-bats away from a younger player. Here’s my attempt at eyeballing a list of AL teams that make perfect sense for Damon:
Damon would make the A's better, for example. But the A's really don't need to be messing around with a 38-year-old DH when they need to find out if Chris Carter or Brandon Allen can forge a big-league career. Really, if Damon is set on being a DH, he has about one option: the Orioles.
If he's willing to play left, though, and if a team is goofy enough to try it, the market opens up a bit. The win-now Reds could use him. The pay-later Dodgers could too. If the Phillies are committed to giving Domonic Brown some more development time, Damon would improve that lineup as well. After watching Raul Ibanez for three years, the Phillies would be mesmerized by the silky-smooth outfield defense of Johnny Damon. If Damon is willing to play the outfield for 140 games, he'll have a couple of options.
Prediction:
Orioles, one year, $4 million. When the universe tries to give you the Cliff's Notes of life, you take them. And my copy says that the Orioles and Johnny Damon are on a collision course with destiny. Plus, Damon would be just a Blue Jays signing away from his free t-shirt!
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