[kenberman]

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the most important thing you have to realize about this deal is that the yankees really don't give a damn about money. they don't really give a damn that damon may just be average his third year and completely useless his fourth (which by the way i think comparing/projecting his decline to bernie williams is probably not fair since bernie's decline is rather on the extreme end compared to many other thirty-something players).

all the yankees care about is winning a world series right now and given the available options, having a solid Johnny Damon at CF for the next 2 years will do that. Suppose that the yanks do happen to win a WS in the next two years, how much more value would you give the deal? could you give him a little leeway on the back end of the deal as a bonus for winning? i think that has to count for something when computing values for deals.

also its not as if signing damon will prohibit the yanks from signing other people they need. and even if damon becomes really bad the last year of his deal, who's to say the yanks couldn't just get another CF then? i mean, they offered arbitration to frigging bernie williams so they clearly dont mind paying 10+ million for 4th outfielder/DH platoon types.

obviously if it was the A's who made this deal, it would be truly horrific because they couldn't afford the first year let alone the 4th year, and such a deal would handicap them in signing other players, but we're talking about the must-win-at-all-costs-money-is-like-toilet-paper-to-us yankees here. if they can get 2 solid years out of damon and it gives them a better chance to win a world series, why wouldn't they make this deal? and if by some miracle, he is actually still a decent to good player by the time this deal is over, isn't that just an added bonus?

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I agree with all of this. this is a good deal for the Yankees; would have beena bad deal for anyone else. who knows if the Red Sox messed up by letting it get this far...