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//  Saturday, September 4, 2010

A Winn-Lose Situation: Yankees Gain Winn, Lose Damon

Thursday, January 28, 2010
Posted by Andy Ouriel

The New York Yankees finally signed a left fielder, however, it isn't Johnny Damon.

Instead of bringing Damon back to the Bronx— a productive player during his four-year tenure with the Yankees, which included helping the team secure its 27th World Series championship last season — they instead opted to sign Randy Winn to a one-year, $2 million contract Wednesday.

The deal was first reported by the Associated Press.

Winn, a former All-Star, hit .262 with two home runs and 51 RBIs for the San Francisco Giants last season. Winn has a .286 batting average throughout his 12-year career and has averaged 11 home runs and 64 RBIs over the course of a 162-game season.

And while Damon had better all around statistics than Winn last year, re-signing him was not based solely on his production.

Damon had a brilliant 2009 season after hitting 24 home runs, 82 RBIs and stealing 12 bases. 

Yet he priced himself out of a contract this offseason. After turning down two two-year offers from the Yankees valued at $20 million and then $14 million in hopes of a three-year, $39 million contract, he is left without a team today.

Now, such lucrative offers previously offered to him are simply not available for Damon.

"The Yankees along all have said they had $2 million and that obviously removed them out of the marketplace of a lot of talented players. We really did not have a lot to talk about," said Damon's agent, Scott Boras in a Associated Press article via USA Today.

"Johnny knew what their budget was, so there was never any expectancy. The Yankees could never make an offer because they knew Johnny's performance value far exceeded what their budget was."

Possible suitors for Damon include the Atlanta Braves, Toronto Blue Jays and the Oakland Athletics.

This will be Winn's fourth team. He previously played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (1998-2002), the Seattle Mariners (2003-05) and the San Francisco Giants (2005-09).

Winn will be one of two new outfielders for the Yankees entering the 2010 season. Earlier this offseason, the Yankees acquired center fielder Curtis Granderson in a three-team trade involving the Detroit Tigers and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Yankees now have $205 million committed to 18 players on the 25-man roster, the AP reports. General manager Brian Cashman said he wanted to keep the team payroll down, but the Yankees have already exceeded that amount after the team had a payroll of $201 million last season.

Comments (1) - Post a Comment
They are nuts
Howard B at 1:42pm EST - January 29, 2010


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