@ GDH:
I couldn’t agree more.

It always irritates me when the Yanks get bitchy over the last 2%-3% of their $200M payroll. Give me a freakin’ break, Cashman. You wanted him at $20M and now dropped your offer to $14M? What are you really gaining here? The $6M over two years doesn’t mean squat.

MJ wrote:

Personally, I think this whole sulking thing is overplayed. If he’s willing to come off the 3Y/$39M and offered his services at 2Y/$20M, he’s obviously desperate enough and therefore willing to take a pay cut

This is where I don’t understand the logic. If we still have an opening, and we’re only 3M per year apart – split the difference and get this done already – or just pay the guy. (It’s starting to sound a lot like the old Andy Pettite saga). I hate this playing coy BS. I posted this in the other thread, but someone tell me where is a 2yr deal a huge risk for Damon? He only has to play left this year, and then he can DH if need be. He’s FAR better than the other alternatives right now, and that makes him worth the extra 3 per year.

Evan3457 wrote:

I much prefer Damon…and hope he doesn’t sulk about the reduced salary as much as Cashman fears.

Personally, I think this whole sulking thing is overplayed. If he’s willing to come off the 3Y/$39M and offered his services at 2Y/$20M, he’s obviously desperate enough and therefore willing to take a pay cut.

If he sulks, he sulks. He won’t be the first or last player to think he deserves more money. What’s he going to do? Mail in the entire season? Strike out on purpose? Not dive for catchable balls? I highly doubt that. And if he does, the Yanks will bench him, play Gardner in LF and humiliate Damon even further. I just don’t see it going down that way.

I’ve thought all along that Cashman’s “sulking” meme was just an excuse on his part.

G.I. Joey wrote:

Assuming Damon is out of the picture, does anyone have any feelings about moving Swish to left and signing Jermaine Dye for RF?

Swisher could not cover the ground in left. Big mistake. Probably cost 30 runs defensively, between the two positions, and for a bat that’s only OK now, and declining.

MJ wrote:

clintfsu813 wrote:
Hoch thinks it might be Derosa in LF
He hasn’t played the OF enough to be truly tested out there. Only 219 of his 1032 career games as an outfielder and only 59 of those in LF.
He’s not anywhere close to the hitter Damon is and, as Evan liked to point out yesterday, he’s a righty, thus negating the natural advantage Damon’s swing has at Yankee Stadium.
I really, truly would pass on DeRosa unless it’s for one year and under $5M. Otherwise, you’re just taking the poorer option on principle.

Couldn’t agree more, MJ.

In spite of the probable defensive hit, I much prefer Damon to DeRosa, and hope he doesn’t sulk about the reduced salary as much as Cashman fears.

G.I. Joey wrote:

Assuming Damon is out of the picture, does anyone have any feelings about moving Swish to left and signing Jermaine Dye for RF?

Yes, I have a feeling about signing Dye. To quote the 80′s anti-drug campaign, “JUST SAY NO!”

It would fly in the face of the “younger and more athletic” mantra that I keep hearing and Dye had a bad enough 2009 that it’s conceivable he’s already begun his decline, something that cannot be said for Damon as of yet.

Assuming Damon is out of the picture, does anyone have any feelings about moving Swish to left and signing Jermaine Dye for RF?

I hope it’s not DeRosa. He’s a 4th OF just like Gardner, with less speed and and less defense. Damon makes the most sense in left, just will someone teach him that 80 mph underhand thingy that the softball pitchers do? I wince every time he throws the ball.

clintfsu813 wrote:

Hoch thinks it might be Derosa in LF

He hasn’t played the OF enough to be truly tested out there. Only 219 of his 1032 career games as an outfielder and only 59 of those in LF.

He’s not anywhere close to the hitter Damon is and, as Evan liked to point out yesterday, he’s a righty, thus negating the natural advantage Damon’s swing has at Yankee Stadium.

I really, truly would pass on DeRosa unless it’s for one year and under $5M. Otherwise, you’re just taking the poorer option on principle.

Hoch thinks it might be Derosa in LF