Deja Vu as Damon Settles In With Detroit

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Here's what Johnny Damon had to say about his former and new teams:

"They did try. But guess what? These guys tried a lot harder. ...The fans were very loyal to me. It took some thinking, but when I realized the organization did not hold me at that level, I understood that I needed to go elsewhere. ... That was their last offer, and it didn't sit well with me."

By the way, Damon said that four years ago, about the Red Sox and the Yankees.

Actually, more than four years ago, since back then Damon didn't have to wait until the eve of spring training to sign.

Otherwise, Monday's official introduction of Damon as a Detroit Tiger seemed quite familiar.

Popular in one city, where he helped win a World Series, Damon gets an extension offer he deems insulting. He signs with different AL team and declares it a good fit for him.

"This is where I wanted to be from day one," he said Monday at Tigers camp.

He later clarified that statement, explaining that "day one" was the first day after it became clear he could not return to the Yankees.

The long saga -- "in no way did I think it was agonizing" -- ended Sunday when Damon picked Detroit over Atlanta, Tampa Bay and the Chicago White Sox. One source said the White Sox made an offer equal to Detroit's $8 million for one year, but because Damon is familiar with the Tigers from spring trainings past and lives just 45 minutes from Lakeland, Chicago would have had to go to $9 million to win him over.

"Contrary to anyone's belief out there, [Detroit] is where I want to be, where my family wanted to be. You can't listen to all the BS out there."
-- Johnny Damon What's clearer than ever is that, to generalize, players have a great deal of pride and measure themselves in large part by their salaries. When the Yankees didn't offer Damon what he thought he deserved, relative to his past and other players, he rejected it. And he wound up "settling" for a $5 million pay cut and a one-year deal.

Still, Damon spent much of Monday's news conference trying to correct perceptions of his free agency:

• He said he never told the Yankees that he would not take a cut from the $13 million he made the past four seasons, although he didn't deny that agent Scott Boras might have made that demand.

"That didn't come from me," Damon said, adding that all he ever told Yankees general manager Brian Cashman directly is that he wanted a two-year deal so he could spend six straight years with one team for the first time.

Cashman has said he was initially told by Boras not to offer less than $13 million a year. ("I'm sure this was early into the offseason, too, when you're coming off a great year," Damon said Monday.)

Eventually, Boras approached the Yankees, who made a two-year offer that Damon had to accept almost on the spot. Damon's side made a counteroffer, he said, but the Yankees rejected it and signed Nick Johnson instead.

"I tried to do what any player should do," Damon said. "I tried to be as loyal as I can. I kept having conversations with them.

"They had until Sunday to keep me. ... They had their chances, and they just went a different way. And teams do that. There's no hard feelings there."

Damon said he thought his chances to return were long over in January when CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez encouraged him to make one more attempt. Damon might have taken a $6 million deal, half of the pay deferred, but when he called managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, "It was short and quick, and he said, 'We just can't do anything.' "

• Damon disagreed with those who say Boras bungled things.

"I think he did a great job in all this," Damon said. "This isn't the same market we lived in years ago.

"Scott put me in a place that I really wanted to be. ... I'm very happy with the deal that we eventually signed."

• Damon also denied a report that his wife wanted no part of Detroit, preferring Chicago.

"Contrary to anyone's belief out there, " he said, "this is where I want to be, where my family wanted to be. You can't listen to all the BS out there.

"My wife is here to support me anywhere I go. First and foremost, I'm a baseball player. And she's going to support me, and she's always wanted to come to Detroit also. So whatever the bloggers out there want to talk about, I think I'm the most honest and truthful person out there. Unless I said it or she said it, it's probably not true."

In fact, Damon made a good sell job to Michiganders. He mentioned his lifelong love of the Red Wings (and I can say that whatever statements he made Monday in the name of political correctness, he actually is a Wings fan).

"This is a scary team," he said of the Tigers. "We have tons of friends in the Detroit area. ... It's a great city. ... I actually feel like I belong here. ... I probably felt like I was a Tiger a month and a half ago. ... The biggest reason why I'm going there is a chance to win. ... [After having played in the Boston and New York markets] the lights don't need to be bright for me. ... To have that name on the back of your jersey [as opposed to the Yankees] is awesome."

Damon even said that instead of growing back the beard he became famous for in Boston he considered dyeing his hair Tigers orange.

In fact, Damon insisted the Tigers were his first choice in the winter of 2005-06, even though they were coming off a 91-loss season.

"I just saw how they developed [after losing 119 games in 2003] and kept developing," Damon said. "And I was like, 'Man, this team's going to be tough to beat.' "

But Detroit had a kid named Curtis Granderson in center field, so it didn't have interest Damon at the time.

Four years later, the Tigers traded Granderson to the Yankees, creating an opening for Damon to jump from the Yankees to the Tigers.

And since Detroit fans may be left wondering why Granderson was traded at all if owner Mike Ilitch could expand the budget for Damon, the two players are bound to be compared all year.

"Whoever's team is better," Damon said, "wins."