Johnny Damon Sucks Forum

Damon is expected to take the physical on Sunday.

As Scott Boras negotiated for Damon in recent weeks, many of the offers he received included deferred money, which would have reduced the present-day value of the offer. A source tells ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney none of the $8 million the Tigers will pay Damon is deferred.

Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski confirmed the offer in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday after telling reporters in Lakeland, Fla., that the Tigers were interested in signing the outfielder.

Johnny Damon

#18 LF
New York Yankees

2009 STATS

• GM143
• HR24
• RBI82
• R107
• OBP.365
• AVG.282

The 36-year-old Damon hit .286 with 24 homers for the New York Yankees last season. He likely would bat leadoff for the Tigers, filling the void left when Detroit dealt Curtis Granderson to the Yankees.

Damon also gives Detroit a left-handed bat it needs and a veteran in the outfield, where his savvy is an asset and his arm a liability.

Among the other teams who had expressed serious interest in Damon were the White Sox, Rays and Braves. The White Sox had withdrawn their offer on Friday, a decision first reported by ESPNChicago.com.

Damon helped the Yankees win the World Series for the first time since 2000, hitting .282 with 23 homers and 82 RBIs, but he was coming off a $52 million, four-year contract.

While he initially wanted a long-term deal at the same average salary, New York valued the 36-year-old at far less. The Yankees kept reducing their offer, claiming payroll constraints.

They now have no place for Damon after acquiring Granderson, signing free agent outfielders Randy Winn and Marcus Thames and signing designated hitter Nick Johnson to become their No. 2 hitter.

Karl Ravech is a baseball analyst for ESPN. Buster Olney is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

In the book, Damon describes his first wife, Angie Vannice, as an overbearing nuisance who cramped his style and prevented him from having fun and living his life. However, Vannice disputed that account and accused Damon of being more interested in partying than taking care of his family.

“I think it’s absolutely absurd that he would come out and say those things,” said Vannice. “He’s actually bragging about cheating on me while I was sitting at home with the kids. And that story about the nurse at the hospital? That’s typical Johnny. He started having sex with her on the bed next to me while I was in labor. As you can imagine, I was pissed. I knew Johnny loved women, but he had never taken his obsession this far. This was the nurse that was delivering my baby, for God’s sake. Not only that, she was about 70 years old. I guess he didn’t put that in the book.”

Still, Damon refuses to apologize for his actions. Right or wrong, the self proclaimed “idiot” says he has no regrets.

“Hey, that’s just the way I was back then. I wasn’t happy in my marriage, and that’s just how I dealt with it,” he said. “See, ballplayers are a different breed. With all the women throwing themselves at you, it can be hard to resist. I can’t even keep track of all the girls I slept with back then. Half of time I didn’t even know their names. My ex-wife, she was a nice lady but she wasn’t right for me. She was, like, totally obsessed with being a caring mother and doting over our children. Boring!”

Damon also said he is working on a sequel to the book in which he admits to cheating on his current wife. 

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This was a satire story by The Onion or one of those fake story sites poking fun at ball players. This wasn't in his book Not true

I would love JD to take right field for the Giants. As long as he comes a decent price. He'd have to bring his aksing price down from 10 million to maybe 6-7 million.

In the book, Damon describes his first wife, Angie Vannice, as an overbearing nuisance who cramped his style and prevented him from having fun and living his life. However, Vannice disputed that account and accused Damon of being more interested in partying than taking care of his family.

“I think it’s absolutely absurd that he would come out and say those things,” said Vannice. “He’s actually bragging about cheating on me while I was sitting at home with the kids. And that story about the nurse at the hospital? That’s typical Johnny. He started having sex with her on the bed next to me while I was in labor. As you can imagine, I was pissed. I knew Johnny loved women, but he had never taken his obsession this far. This was the nurse that was delivering my baby, for God’s sake. Not only that, she was about 70 years old. I guess he didn’t put that in the book.”

Still, Damon refuses to apologize for his actions. Right or wrong, the self proclaimed “idiot” says he has no regrets.

“Hey, that’s just the way I was back then. I wasn’t happy in my marriage, and that’s just how I dealt with it,” he said. “See, ballplayers are a different breed. With all the women throwing themselves at you, it can be hard to resist. I can’t even keep track of all the girls I slept with back then. Half of time I didn’t even know their names. My ex-wife, she was a nice lady but she wasn’t right for me. She was, like, totally obsessed with being a caring mother and doting over our children. Boring!”

Damon also said he is working on a sequel to the book in which he admits to cheating on his current wife.