Damon: "We're The Best"

[matsui55]

www.nypost.com/seven/03202007/sports/yankees/damons_take__were_the_best_yankees_kevin_kernan.htm

March 20, 2007 -- DUNEDIN, Fla. - One of Johnny Damon's great strengths is that he tells it like it is; the center fielder will always offer an honest opinion. When he looks around the baseball landscape, this is what he says about the 2007 Yankees.

"We're the best team," Damon told me. He was quick to add that the Yankees have to go out and prove it this season, which doesn't quite make this a Jimmy Rollins "We're the team to beat" statement.

It does show that Damon's personality is now stamped on the Yankees as he enters his second season in Pinstripes. The "best team" comment does not mean the Yankees will win their first World Series since 2000 because as Damon noted, he also thought he was on the "best team" in 2001 with the A's and in 2003 with the Red Sox, but the Yankees ruined those plans.

"But I really like what I see in this team," Damon said

[David Goodman]

This awesome. He should say outlandish things all year. It will get the stupid media off the A-Rod death watch.

[davisian]

It's even better if you read it outloud and make Damon sound like Kenny Banya.

He should try Mendy's.

[stevej]

Damon is still a f-ing Caveman.

BTW- what's the no vulgarity deal I agreed to? Do I have to write f-ing?

[David Goodman]

You can say fuck.

[stevej]

admin said:

You can say fuck.

Good. Now I don't want to.

[pemoco]

I'll consider it news when Damon completes a coherent sentence.

[philinla]

calf cramps.

[jumbo]

Is Damon long for Yankees?
Posted: Saturday June 23, 2007 07:27AM ET
Johnny Damon's injury problems have raised questions about his own long-term viability. Yet he has a limited no-trade clause, and if he is pigeon-holed as a designated hitter, he will not be attractive to National League clubs. Damon is keenly aware that the Yankees need to determine how Melky Cabrera fits into their long-term plans. The Yankees know that when Damon starts in center over Cabrera, other teams will take advantage of his arm.--New York Times

[jumbo]

www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spdamon0802,0,324512.story

Newsday.com
Damon out of lineup, questions role with team

BY ANTHONY RIEBER

[e-mail]

10:36 PM EDT, August 1, 2007
Click here to find out more!

Johnny Damon looked at the lineup posted on the door to the Yankees' clubhouse Wednesday afternoon. His name wasn't on it. Rookie Shelley Duncan's was, in the designated hitter spot.

Damon wasn't happy he wasn't playing and he wasn't happy Joe Torre didn't give him a heads-up. He knows it's only going to get worse when Jason Giambi comes back, maybe in a week. He said maybe the Yankees should trade him if they're not going to play him every day now that he's feeling healthy.

"As a player, you always want to know what your role is and what's happening," Damon said. "If I'm still out there on the margin, especially with Jason coming back . . . Anything's possible. I know a lot of teams are interested. With Jason coming back and a number of outfielders going down, the Yankees could probably get a better player now than what they probably got offered July 31."

Does Damon want to be traded? He has a limited no-trade clause and two years and about $30 million left on his contract. With that contract and his uncertain physical status, it would be difficult to deal him.

"I wouldn't say I would like it," he said. "I signed here to win a World Series, but I've always been a guy if you're not wanted in a place 100 percent, why stop the team from making something work?"

Does Damon not feel 100 percent wanted here?

"I'm not sure," he said. "I don't know. You'd have to go ask some other guys, but I feel like what I can do on the field is something that can help the team win . . . Obviously, I feel like I'm producing and I'm doing my job out there. They see something different.

" ... The first time you get traded, it's a big deal, but after you're on a lot of teams, you know it's part of the game. You always want the guys you're with to have the best team out there."

After speaking with Torre following batting practice, Damon toned it down. He said Torre wanted to rest him before a day game today and wanted to go with the hot hand in Duncan against lefty John Danks. The move worked as Duncan hit his fifth homer, a two-run shot.

Damon has been pretty hot himself; Sunday in Baltimore, he went 3-for-5 with four runs and two RBIs and made a huge catch in leftfield, and he was 2-for-3 with an upper-deck home run in Tuesday's 16-3 win. He was batting .251 with six homers and 39 RBIs going into Wednesday night in an injury-plagued season in which he has gone from full-time centerfielder to a guy who has to check the lineup card.

"[Wednesday] I'll be a big cheerleader," he said. "I'm OK. I understand the game. Unfortunately, I understand it too well.