a700hitter

The cheers were fairly loud, many were standing and there were no boos.

pick one jsinger 170 or 180.

He won't be there for long. Someone in the rotation will start slow or come up lame and he'll be in the rotation, but I dont see him putting up alot of innings before June. If they work this kid to 170+ innings in a penant race, they could permanently damage him. It's too big a risk and he's too valuable to screw him up. Why don't we each predict his innings and see what happens. I am in at 140.

I think most of us feel the same way about Damon, but he's on the enemy list for the next 4 years.

140 innings at the ML level is a little different. Hitters at the ML level are more selective. His pitch count in 140 ML innings will be equate to several more innings at the AA level.

What bad things did Wells do? I know he wore Babe Ruth's hat when he pitched a game, and that he missed the Sports Illustrated Cover Picture with the rest of the Yankee staff, and that he likes to shoot nose rockets on the mound, but nothing bad. As for Sox fans taking things too far, what in the world are you talking about. Damon was never booed in Fenway, and he had a loyal following of Red Sox fans from coast to coast. Are you talking about some of the stupid posts on various boards? Well, I don't think Johnny D. or Jeter or any of them read our crap, especially not Damon who is apparently learning disabled.

The players should limit endorsements to food chains like Dunkin Donuts. There are very few scams involving donuts.

I wouldn't push the kid beyond 140 innings this year. Let him build up to 180-200 in another year.

I don't take any of this personally. My post was a little long, and I did go off on a tangent, but there was no animus involved. Note, not a single exclamation point or demeaning statement in that post. Don't be reluctant to post, but if you say something collosally stupid, you have to expect that I will call you on it. And occasionally, I can't resist giving a history lesson, because I am old. There's nothing personal about it. Heck, three-quarters of my family are Yankee fans, and I only hate half of them.

lol!! I hope you enjoyed your time in Boston. You'll have to pardon me-- low blood sugar before the Christmas feast. Merry Christmas.

Dude I have lived almost my entire life in NY and I work in the heart of the city. I didn't say he could walk down the street unnoticed. I said that his egotistical, wanabee wife could walk down Broadway and no one would notice. And that is dead on balls accurate. Living behind enemy lines, I have a perspective that most people on theis Board don't. The truth is that Boston is much more focused on the Red Sox than NY is on the Yankees. In Boston, every waitress and cop and cab driver knows the players. They know who is scheduled to pitch on any given night. NY is nuch different. Half the people wouldn't know how to get to Yankee stadium. NY is too big, and there are lots of other distractions. Boston is more intense about its baseball. Damon will have a much better chance of walking the streets in NY without people noticing. In Boston, he would draw a crowd from blocks around. If you don't believe me, go spend a week in Boston. That's all it will take. You think your parade down the Valley of Heroes is a big deal. The Red Sox victory parade had people that drove from California and 3 attended. You cant's jam that many people in the Valley of Heroes if you stacked them on top of each other. Go onto a Manhattan street and ask people how they feel about getting Damon. You'll get some blank looks. Ask the question on Boylston Street and you'll get an earful. Merry Xmas.

Okay moderators, I promised no personal insult, and this in not personal, but this quote is completely idiotic. We still love what Damon did for RSN, but we root for the uniform not the individual. We hate anything in pinstripes. He should be expecting it, and being the mercenary that he is, it won't even bother him. What will bother him will be that he will blend into the crowd in NY, and his egotistical little wife will be able to walk down Broadway without being noticed.

My sentiments exactly. The whole operation became dysfunctional after Theo left. We were lulled into a false sense of security when they pulled off the Beckett move. At that point, the team needed a few tweaks to get it back to championship caliber, but then the wheels fell off. They moved Renteria for a prospect, and I thought to free up some payroll to sign Damon. They were caught napping in the Damon fiasco. Now, they have holes at SS and CF, and in filling these hole, they will probably spend more $ by taking bad contracts and trading prospects than it would have cost them to show Damon the love and sign him. They had a good plan to start, which was to rebuild the rotation and the bullpen. They did a good job with that, but losing Damon was not part of their plan, no matter what some of the experts on this board think. They failed to execute their plan. Someone needs to be held accountable. John Henry has to figure out where the breakdown in process ocurred and fix it before it rears its head again. I'll tell you one thing, if Theo was the GM, they don't get blind-sided. They might not have signed Damon, but Theo would have been plugged into that process 24/7. Nothing would have happened without him knowing about it. Lucchino should swallow some pride and get Theo back.

I like that idea. I hope it catches on. And you can't hurt anyone by throwing a beard.

We root for the uniform, and we root against anything wearing pinstripes. There is no spite involved. Damon saw the passion up close for 4 years. He went to the other side. He should know that he is now the enemy. He needs the cold slap of a hooting crowd to snap him into that reality. There ain't no more love in Fenway for him. Bob Gibson used to room with Bill White and they were the best of friends. Gibby told White that if they ever faced each other that White would not be his friend on the field. After White was traded to the Phillies, Gibby drilled him in the back in his first AB. No spite, just not friends on the field. The Fenway Faithful will figuratively drill Johnny when he steps to the plate on May 1st.

Doesn't matter. They lost him, Rocket and Wells in one off-season. That was a really bad off-season, and all 3 are still good pitchers. Yikes, Red Sawx fans would have been throwing themselves into the Charles.

Even though he is 25, he doesn't have a lot of innings under his belt. They need to build him up a little before he can started tossing 180-200 innings in a year. If they let him go, I have no doubt he'd put up 180-200 innings, but history has shown when a team steps up a pitchers innings that fast they can really damage him. I'd like to see him step into the rotation around June and let him get about 140-150 innings maximum this year. He's got to much potential to run him into the ground in one year.

I think they should let Papelbon work out of the pen at the start of the season. This should take some pressure off of him. He might press too much if he is thrown right into the rotation. I've read or heard that Wallace wants him to work in the pen first. You don't want a kid to burn himself out operating on an adrenaline rush.

There were plenty of stories in NY that the Yankees were happy to let him walk. They were probably pissed though when he was able to un-retire Rocket and bring him to Houston.

Okay, let's assume they lied, don't you agree that the lie backfired on them. There are articles in every major newspaper and tv stories making them look like keystone cops. They can't like the way it turned out. Risking pitch-forks and torches by telling the truth might have been the better strategy.

I'd be more than happy to let this go, but it takes two to tango. I am not going to make up theories that the Damon bungle was part of the FO's strategy. If I am trying your patience, it might be because I have exposed as weak the arguments defending the FO. Was the "Theo matter" part of the FO's strategy? What if this kid Marte is damaged goods, but we didn't give him a physical or check out his medical records? Are going to apologize for that too? I am getting concerned that the FO has had a series of missteps here. Maybe you are right, and they have everything under control, but you won't even acknowledge the possibility that they are somewhat dysfunctional right now without Theo and they have looked sloppy to say the least.

2 games to none at the stadium would have been a stranglehold. I was at the Stadium that night, and when I saw the posted lineup, I was livid. No way, no how Forest Gump should have had Kapler batting leadoff. In that lineup, he clearly should have been the #9 batter.

You are engaging in heavy rationalization and speculation but your theory is not supported by the facts. There is no reason why they would be honest about the Pedro situation, but engage in a conspiracy of deception to make themselves look foolish to save Damons's feelings. Apparently, they failed and Damon felt betrayed anyway. Once Damon started talking smack, why not be honest and fess up that they were holding the line? Did they maintain the conspiracy of deception because they liked looking like bungling buffoons? Your theory is really, really weak. This last post about hurting Damon's feelings is stretching the bounds of believabilty.

Also, let's not forget that Damon missed games 1 and 2 of the ALCS. In his place Kapler batted leadoff, that's right leadoff, in game 2. We had Pettite on the ropes early but Kapler ran into a strike em ot throw em out DP in the first inning. He got thrown out by 10 feet. In the second inning, he hit into a 6-4-3 rally killing DP. Damon just might have made the difference to bring a WS Championship in 2003.