Centerfield

...getting ready to drop off the radar screen, starting vacation today, off until 2006.

Last night's whiskey toast to Judge Jones ended up being irish instead of scotch, Bushmill's. Fortunately, I managed to enjoy the whole thing before finding out that the Yankees got Johnny Damon. Big Stein goes the extra mile for his fans again. I blame Yoko. Peace everyone!

What? Did you at least make it the GOOD Bushmill's?

Johnny Damon is a sell out. That's right, T-R-A-I-T-O-R. I don't care about the money, or taking care of his family, or any of the crap that will be used to justify this. He sold out the city who embraced and loved him, and the team who paid him well. I hope he enjoys losing with the Yankees.

Merry Christmas!

Do you think this action in florida should be replicated in every state?
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-gifts2105dec21,0,812984.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

Johnny Damon is just an example of what sports has become today. There is absolutely no sense of loyalty by the players--they'll jump ship for whoever coughs up another (shiny) dime.

Susan...to answer your question...I've been following this one for a while. I think that on it's face it's a great idea, but there are many people who are already talking about the holes. For example (don't quote me on this...I just have a general idea), I believe that there is no limit on gifts to a party, so firms could donate to the party who could then pick up the lawmaker's tab. This is how I have heard some firms are going to get around the apparent "dinner ban." (It costs a lot more than $50 to buy a vote at Ruth's Chris.)

Another thing about the Florida gift ban...I found it funny that the bar and restaurant owners are complaining about the economic impact to the city of Tallahassee. You'd hate to see ethics get in the way of bribery-driven economic growth, wouldn't you?

I've always assumed that every major league baseball plays for the Yankees at some point in his career. I've imagined George going through the list every year and saying "Yup, owned him for a while. Nope, haven't gotten him yet. Yup had him 5 years ago..."

Corollary to this "Every good player for the KC Royals leaves within 2-3 years" (Used to be the Expos but they've gotten better).

I love Johnny Damon and the way he plays the game, and I'm very sad to see him go. But honestly, I have to ask, what price loyalty?

The Red Sox offered up 40 million for 4 years, and the Yankees ponied up 52 million for 4. I can't in good conscience expect Johny Damon to leave 12 million dollars sitting on the table for the sake of loyalty. It's the Red Sox own fault it came to this because they could have afforded to pay him, but they decided to play lowball even though they knew the Yankees were desparate for a center fielder and no other cf of even remotely similar caliber was available.

It didn't make sense. In order to not pay that extra 12 million to Damon over 4 years, they risked losing him, and they lost their stupid gamble, which they deserved to lose. Now the Yankees have a great centerfielder and arguably the best lead-off hitter in the game, and the Red Sox have no center fielder and no lead-off hitter. And Boston loses double, because their rivals immediately got as much better as we got worse.

Top quality leadoff hitters are an even scarcer commodity than great starting pitchers. If the Red Sox had offered him 40 million for three years and an option for a fourth year at 10 or 12, this would have been over a month ago. Instead the Red Sox talked themselves into the view that they were bidding against themselves, and the Yankees snookered them big time.

And you know what? The Yankees paid Bernie Williams 15 mil per to play a crappy CF the last 3 years, so they're actually saving money.

Now I can appreciate the notion that the Red Sox want to avoid getting old like the Yankees and continually overpaying for guys who may decline as they hit their mid thirties. But this was a bad place to implement the philosophy. teams with crappy l;ead-off hitters go through stretched where the struggle to score runs, and that almost never happened when Damon was around. He became an extraordinarily accomplished lead-off hitter while in Boston, he was a pleasure to watch. We'll miss him. Unless we get Coco Crisp.

I hate the Yankees. I am a life long Red Sox fan and when the Yankees signed Damon I imediatelly cried and shaved off my beard.