“…for the right price.”

1year, $5 mil, please. Make it happen! Learn from Bobby Abreu, Johnny! Take a hit now, get a bigger contract when you continue to do that thing you do.

When Jim Leyland doesn’t bat Clete Thomas in the three spot, the lineup card might look something like this:

LF – Johnny Damon – L
RF – Magglio Ordonez – R
1B – Miguel Cabrera – R
DH – Carlos Guillen – S
3B – Brandon Inge – R
2B – Scott Sizemore – R
C – Gerald Laird – R
CF – Austin Jackson – R
SS – Adam Everett – R

Now trade Ryan Rayburn and Bobby Seay to the Nation League (which is just what Lynn Henning told me to say).

Not since the perils of Khan Noonien Singh on Ceti Alpha V have I seen such ridiculous behavior. They cut Granderson. Then sign Velarde. Now they are eve contemplating signing Damon? Please. I’d like to think even DD would say no to this. But continue to set phasers on recession and depression. It looks bad at there that’s all I’m saying kids. Drink the Meyers and OJ (to stave off the scurvy) if you can.

Damon is known for his hot dog cooking prowess.

I see people bringing up his stats for Comerica, but that’s a negligible sample size.

Overall AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB HBP SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
Home 272 56 76 18 0 17 42 43 2 44 6 0 .279 .382 .533 .915
Away 278 51 79 18 3 7 40 28 0 54 6 0 .284 .349 .446 .795

http://espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?playerId=3323

The home away stats are slightly decieving. True he will not hit as many home runs in comerica as he did at Yankee’s stadium (imagine that) but hopefully with the outfield expanses he’ll hit more doubles/triples. If you look at the number he has almost the exactly the same number of hits and doubles both home and away. The only big differences between the two are the number of home runs and the number of walks, which is somewhat odd, maybe the away pitchers are less aggressive at yankee’s stadium because they’re afraid of the long ball, or just intimidated and thats why they give Damon more balls there.

Either way this is how I look at this: If you can sign him to a one year deal for $7.5MM or less then it would be a good business deal and I would say do it. At the same time I would be angry because this would go against the whole Curtis-Granderson-Saving money thing and I like others would be pissed that they gave up Grandy for a shoddy reason.
But I’ve made my peace with the Grandy issue, he’s gone, I’m sad, there’s nothing I can do about it so now all I can hope for is that the Tigers put together the best team they can and win the AL Central next year.

Actually my only real issue with this is the comparison to the man he would be replacing:
                  AVG OBP SLG OPS AB/HR
Player A: .291 .359 .533 .891 18.06
Player B: .282 .365 .489 .854 25.96

Player A is Ryan Raburn, Player B is Johnny Damon. True Ryan Raburn is not a lefty but he’s got a much better arm, is getting better with his outfield routes and I think will be a better bat in the lineup.
So from that point of view I would rather have Raburn but with all the uncertainties in our lineup it might be worth having him. Lets say Guillen gets hurt, you move mags to DH, Raburn to Right and Damon in Left. Or Say that Mags gets hurt/ineffective, Raburn moves to Right with Damon in Left. Or say that Austin Jackson just doesn’t cut it, put Raburn in center with mags and Damon. It just gives the team a lot more options and a lot more insurance. Will he be pricey? Yes. I’m still totally torn on the issue but I’m really warming to the idea because I really wouldn’t mind seeing this lineup

1. Damon – LF
2. Raburn – CF
3. Magglio – RF
4.Cabrera -1B
5. Guillen – DH
6. Inge – 3B
7. Sizemore/Santiago – 2B
8. Laird – C
9. Everett – SS

Also, slightly off topic but something that was banging around my head as I was writing this: I want Santiago playing more, so here is what I was thinking, Santiago plays 1/3 of the games at SS and 1/3 of the games at 2B, that leaves Everett playing 2/3 of the games and Sizemore the same. Each of them gets the same number of at bats, you might lose some marginal defense with Santiago v Everett, sounds like Santiago and Sizemore will be pretty equal in that regard but you’d probably gain some offense because I think Santiago will probably have the best season of the three. Plus this way everyone stays nice and rested and Sizemore gets his experience with the ability to ease into it a little bit more.

Wow this turned into a long post, guess I really don’t want to do homework right now.
/WALL OF TEXT END

I think Damon would have better success than anyone else shooting the massive gaps in Comerica.

A proven winner, fills a lot of holes, no clubhouse concerns, cheap.

DO IT!