There may be something for Matt Holliday to learn from this week’s Johnny Damon saga and a similar story from over two decades ago.
Tuesday: The New York Post’s George King reports free-agent outfielder Damon is ready to look elsewhere than the Yankees for work. “I am going to start looking around. Teams are getting better and there are teams interested,” Damon said. “I can’t wait forever and I am sure [the Yankees] are trying to figure things out. I have to be ready.” It is believed the Yankees aren’t interested in giving Damon more than two years for about $20 million.
Wednesday: ESPN.com reports Damon wants $13 million a season from the Yankees. There has been no movement in talks between both parties. Damon has indicated that he does not want the Yankees to make an offer if they are going to propose less.
Friday: Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, reports Damon lowered his price for the Yankees earlier this week, first to two years, $26 million, and then to two years, $20 million. However, by the time Damon dropped his price the second time, the team had already agreed to terms with designated hitter Nick Johnson. The Yankees offered two years and $14 million somewhere in the process, but the two sides failed two reach an agreement.
Friday: The New York Post caught up with Damon for his reaction upon the Yankees signing Johnson instead of him. Damon had been looking for a three-year deal in the $39 million range, and even though sources say that agent Scott Boras caved on the third year, the Yankees weren’t willing to give Damon the same $13 million salary he earned in each of the last four years.
Damon did not hide his disappointment that the Yankees decided to move on without him, though he did not mention his agent.
“I wanted it to happen. I have nothing but great things to say about the Yankees,” Damon said. “If the Nick Johnson thing works out, it will be good for them. It’s part of baseball.
“I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do. I know there are some teams interested, but the Yankees are the best organization I’ve been a part of so far in my career. I wish them all the best.”
It reminded me of another Yankees-related situation from past years, with a player heading in instead of out, but otherwise similar feelings.
In the 2005 Rob Rains book “Cardinals: Where Have You Gone?”, former St. Louis first baseman Jack Clark looked back at his departure from St. Louis. It was a time, 1987, when the owners were guilty of collusion. In fact, as 1987 became 1988, Clark had not received a single offer other than a cut from St. Louis despite coming off a very strong season.
“There were a lot of things that were said to me, and the way they were said, that bothered me,” Clark said. “I was getting a lot of pressure from the (players) union. (Agent) Tom (Reich) came to me and said, ‘What about the Yankees?’…”
He agreed to terms with the Bombers on January 6, 1988. The Ripper is still ripped today about how the events played out.
“Looking back on it, I should have stayed a Cardinal,” Clark said. “I was very happy here. I had my best years in baseball here. We went to the World Series twice in three years. It was fun to go to the ballpark every day. I was playing for the best manager in the game. My family liked it here. My kids were in school. I considered this my home.”
Here is hoping another Boras client, Matt Holliday is aware of the details of the Damon situation and that while a Cardinal, he had the chance to meet Clark, now a broadcaster with FOX Sports Midwest, and hear his story about leaving St. Louis first-hand.
Otherwise, perhaps Holliday will be featured in the 2029 version of “Cardinals: Where Have You Gone?”
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Clark: “I was getting a lot of pressure from the union.” In another thread(s), I have alluded to this possibility.
I suspect the Union puts pressure on players to take the highest dollar from the highest spending teams. The claim would be that a player moves to another city, not just for himself, since that would be selfish and less than fully honorable. Instead, he is advised to move because another team respects him more and on behalf of other players, since his higher salary will boost the Union wage scale helping other players.
When I saw Bernie’s similarly themed article, I figured Mo’s end game was on. Now he rolls out the big unit, BW. Crunch time. Stay by the phone DeRo.
It looks like Boston’s idea of a ‘big splash’ this year is 5/82.5, which was offered to MH and rejected before being offered and accepted by Lackey. Now Mo is lowering the boom as well. Let’s hope MH can see that Scottie is focused on Scottie. Johnny was too slow, he has tire tracks down his back now. The P-D guys and the bard of the blog are pouring it on.
http://espn.go.com/boston/columns/redsox/blog/_/post/4755011
I did try to explain this. It isn’t always in an agents interest to tell his client where he stands. The Yankees never made a formal offer to Damon. This popular theme is just doing BD/Mo’s work for them.
I like the move by the Red Sox. Float a fair, but not stupid offer out there for Holliday and if it is taken, great. If not, they had another plan as equally interesting to them and closed the deal. On the other hand, the Cards lack a comparable Plan B so have to be more patient.
The Mike Lowell problem presents some intriguing possibilities. Will the Red Sox take another loss.
Will there be another give away. The Yankees are smiling. The Cardinals are trying to embrace any plan that gives excuse to avoiding FA’s or multiple yr commitments.
Yes, the Red Sox were primed to take another loss. Reports had them sending $9 million of Lowell’s $12 million salary to Texas in return for a prospect. If Lowell can’t play this year, maybe they have some part of the $12 mil insured, but if not, it is down the drain. Sort of like Troy Glaus circa 2009 only worse because Lowell and the entire world now know he is unwanted in Beantown.
The Holliday rules may be changing. Yanks are re-acquiring Javier Vazquez from Atlanta for their rotation and among players they are giving up is outfielder Melky Cabrera. If the Yanks are not excited about Brett Gardner starting, they pick up a left fielder from the free agent market. Maybe Johnny Damon comes back on his hands and knees…
Looks to be a smart move by the New Yorkers. We’ll have to see what it does to the outfield market, but whatever it is, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it occurring relatively quickly.
I can see Scottie shoving Damon in a closet and locking the door.
Heyman (suggested by some as being a Boras conduit) is saying Braves still need an OF even after adding Melky, specifically mentioning Holliday and Bay. Are they dumping salary for a big OF run or is Boras kicking up dust? Things are about to get more interesting…
As far as Holliday goes, i dont see this speeding up the process. It simply means that now Boras has to convince the 2 of the Braves, Mets and Yankees to take Damon and Holliday off his hands (with Bay probably going to the 3rd). Arousing interest, playing those guys off one another, and adding mystery teams to the negotiations takes time. It may hurry things up for the Cards if Mo reads the tea leaves right and realizes its time to move on.
Check this out:
#Yankees say Melky departure does not open door to Damon nor put Bay/Holliday in play. Still saying all too expensive
about 1 hour ago from web
nyp_joelsherman
Joel Sherman
ha ha ha ha ha, Oh….ha ha ha ha ha ha. All too expensive…….for the Yankees!! Oh…ha ha ha ha ha…….That was a good one.
Try, too not worth the asking price, Mr. Shill-man, er, I mean Sherman.
The yankees will not go for MH unless sonebody else outbids the Cards. They would be happy to see us tie up all that money. Then they go for Albert and probably Carl Crawford next year.
The Yankee’s are tied up pretty tight at the corners to consider Albert BB. They desperately want to see the Sox not get him tho…………………………… In truth, Holiday will cost them 40% more right now. Question is, does Matt going back to the Cards keep Albert there, or do they see BD creating a buffer against Pujols likely departure.
Yanks don’t need to sign Holiday. Their desire to control him may be another issue completely.
This AP article shows $190Million in Luxury tax since 2003, including $26M to be paid this year by the Yankees. So $164M has previously been collected. Is it known exactly where it all went? Who got what?
forgot the link
http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2009/12/ny_yankees_get_26m_luxuy_tax_b.html
CC pointed out correctly that the Luxury tax money goes into a special baseball development fund. Third world grants ……..sponsorship for the WBC tourney etc.
BB, I’m surprised at your overlooking the bone I tossed out.
In 2008 after the All Star break, Lohse beats the Phillies 3/2…………stands 11 and 2 or something like that……….everyone is clamoring for the Cardinals to give him an extension. The Cardinals run into the obvious…….and then say ” its not always good to give money or talk extension to a guy on a hot streak, because they often stop performing”………………………………..They of course went on to sign the likes of Felix Lopez for 100,000 dollars.
Franklin, all star closer, lights out………in line for a 7 million dollars a year on a multi year deal as he reached FA, takes much less……………………. Is it fear of failure and security for his family that wins out? Or the aggressive, goat bearded troll that will take on anybody including the Cardinals in asking for his share that wins out? Look who the Cardinals bet on……knowing the risks they were taking………………………………the rest is now your history……..it was mine then.
One difference. Franklin had a cheap option sitting out there so he would have to stay hot for another year and half to cash in big, Lohse only had to hold on a few months more to cash in.
I thought the baseball development fund was to help develop the fish, pads and bucks into legit MLB teams. I hope the commissioner’s office sent them turkeys for christmas at least.
BDW knows better than to pay full price for a pitcher, which leads to yet another theory. I’m surprised you didn’t think of it Westy, having spotted the awkward demographics resulting from Joltin Joe’s departure. Even so, if Carp’s return had been a sure thing, and Wainey’s emergence also known, the Cards would not now be so diverse. Lohse was potentially our #1 for 09 when he was signed. Franklin knows a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
True………..the dynamic is still the same though. Pressure would have come in July of 2010…….if he was throwing well……………………….. my point is…was… is that they chose to exploit his desire for security above any aggressive assertions about his worthiness and adoption of his new persona.
Clearly there interest was to save a money on the risk that what did happen, might not happen.
The whole problem here is, Franklin’s bubble was popped……….and he is probably out of gum. It is a huge risk to gamble against that reality and his track record……………but we are. We need a Smoltz. Freese in a huge risk who is apparently self destructive. DeRosa probably takes 2/13 right now. He could easily be traded latter……..but you aren’t going to be able to get him latter…………… This is why Albert and his agents are headed out of here. This is a non-competitive posture. Other organization aren’t at a loss for what the Card are doing. If we get Holiday, it has to be on the assumption that they will let Albert go before he hits no-trade status. The way Boston and NY are going about their business shows that they are grappling for position. I doubt money is the sole issue.
BB, you better hope that our lack of interest in DeRosa isn’t because their new acquisition is already guaranteed the job to back Lugo up in the infield. I would normally say heads up because it has occurred to me as a possible validation of the weakness in their thinking. I’m watching that with interest. That is a true sign of their intentions concerning Albert.
BB……………Unless your bird in hand is a parakeet……………….and the birds in the bush appear to be run away farm turkeys with a particularly dumb look on their face.
They sized him up and he bought it. We have troubles in the pen with plenty of fixes out there. Lets watch.
I hope releasing Boras’s client Mark McCormick doesn’t make him mad.
Westy, sometimes you need to peel away a few more layers. BDW and Mo have multiple layers of motivation and strategy, all of them deeper than you are looking. The tactics near the surface mean nothiing. Opening day payroll means nothing if it can be off-loaded. Signing Holliday has no risk, …none. If BDW needs money, offer him to Boston so the Yankees will step up and take him off our hands…No way that doesn’t happen. Mo is a smart man, he sees that surely. Whether or not Albert stays or goes only matters as it affects the bottom line, meaning the value of the franchise.
On the other hand, you can peel off too many layers and get down to the pit. Franklin’s salary is a good deal for a set up man. End of story. That was several layers ago.
Difficult to follow all that BB…………… Holiday will sign nowhere without a no trade clause. Unless, he is massively over paid for that privilege, enabling a team to dump him. That would be +20 a year……………..Your right it is good money for a set up man. I wish he was one.
Interesting article in the Boston Globe today suggesting an inhibitor for the Red Sox signing Bay or Holliday is having to pay Luxury Tax.
I thought it was funny. They can regularly eat millions to dump players, and would have us believe a few million in luxury tax is an issue. Like the yankees resolve to stick at $200M. Right.
As to Brian’s article, Cot’s show the Cards owing zero to players no longer on the roster, and getting $9.25M from Boston. Boston, on the other hand pays out $10.5M. So, right there is a swing of $19.75M. Philly doesn’t have Theo, so they are on the plus side like the Cards. But my point is that stadium financing costs are only one thing, and can obviously be totally offset by other things.
Let’s look at how the $8.75 beers at Busch affect on field performance. A similar beer at the taverns might be as much as $2.75, so lets say $6 extra profit. X20,000 per game? Lets go with that. $120,000 per game X 81 is $9,720,000. So half the stadium debt service is covered by beer sales. I’ll have to review that Webster speech to see where Billy the turd talked about that.
“The Sox showed creativity when they protected themselves on John Lackey’s deal by adding an option for a sixth year should Lackey miss any time because of elbow surgery. Lackey would have to play at the major league minimum in the sixth year should he miss time with such an injury.”
Are the Red Sox now insuring themselves? Or, is this an arranged payday in that eventuality?
My goodness teams are getting creative with their resources.