That’s what Mark Feinsand of the Daily News reports, however it still wasn’t enough to get a deal done for Damon as the Yankees wouldn’t pay him $13 million per, even for two years.
Assuming this is true, this is a case of Boras seriously misreading the market for his client, and ultimately doing him a disservice. Damon wanted nothing more than to play for the Yankees, telling Feinsand “I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do. I know there are some teams interested, but the Yankees are the best organization I’ve been a part of so far in my career.” No one, outside of Scott Boras, believed that Johnny Damon was worth more than a two year deal. While it was too much to expect the Yankees to negotiate hard on a two year basis at the 11th hour, isn’t it highly likely that something could have gotten worked out if Boras had gone to Brian Cashman talking about two years a week or two ago?
Now it’s almost certainly elsewhere for Damon. Maybe he’ll get that $13 million. I doubt it, but it could happen. But that’s cold comfort when he so obviously wanted to stay in pinstripes.