Johnny Damon: “I definitely want to keep playing”

Last week general manager Dave Dombrowski said the Tigers will not attempt to re-sign impending free agent Johnny Damon, but yesterday the 36-year-old outfielder made it clear that he has no plans to retire:

I definitely want to keep playing, but it’s going to have to be somewhere else because Detroit has a lot of young outfielders who hopefully I helped groom. It seems like every year I’m up to the challenge so I believe whatever team that gets me, I’ll be an asset for next year.

Damon played reasonably well on a one-year, $8 million deal with the Tigers and as usual stayed remarkably healthy, hitting .271/.355/.401 with 49 extra-base hits, 11 steals, and 81 runs in 145 games. That production represented a 100-point dip in OPS compared to his numbers with the Yankees in 2008/2009, but some of that is due to no longer calling Yankee Stadium home and Damon was still solidly above average offensively. He also became just the fifth player in MLB history to play 140 or more games in 15 straight seasons, joining Hank Aaron, Brooks Robinson, Pete Rose, and Willie Mays. However, if he was only able to get a one-year, $8 million contract last winter coming off an .850 OPS season it’ll be interesting to see what the market is for Damon coming off a .750 OPS season.