Johnny Damon Would Give Himself A 4 Year Deal

One of the more absurd tidbits of the offseason emerged yesterday when Larry Stone of the Seattle Times dropped the following chestnut into an article about the Mariners' interest in signing Johnny Damon (h/t BBTF):

One other rather bizarre Mariner-related Damon anecdote. I heard from someone who works around the Mariners that after Bill Bavasi was fired in 2008, and the Mariners were searching for a new general manager, Damon actually was telling people he would be interested in the job. This person insisted that Damon seemed dead serious, even though he was still an active player. It didn't go anywhere, of course, but I always thought it was an interesting notion. I meant to ask Damon about it last year when the Yankees came to town, but never got a chance.

Johnny Damon seems like a pretty decent guy and when his career is done, he'll probably be a borderline Hall of Famer. He's played for four different organizations (including ones run by Billy Beane, Theo Epstein and Brain Cashman) and been on two World Series winners. The man certainly has an eye for talent. All that said, campaigning for a front office position is one of those times that being a self-proclaimed "idiot" (and "writing" a book about it) might work against you a bit.

Clearly no team with any brains is going to hand over the keys to their franchise to Johnny Damon; I'm certain that any number of assistant GMs or scouting directors or other front office personnel would make a better general manager. If this is true, it makes his request for a four year deal seem downright realistic by comparison.

Riding High But Feeling For Mo

Good morning, Fackers. They might have had to do it the hard way, but the Yankees pulled off a road series victory against their nemesis, the Angels, in the one place that, for whatever reason, they really struggle to win games. These three games were framed as a litmus test for the team and while you can challenge the validity of that premise, but the results were conclusive; the Yanks passed.

Somewhat apropos to each of the cities, leaving Seattle, it was all doom and gloom. Now, departing from Los Angeles, things are looking much brighter.

The way that the last two games unfolded, tense battles of the bullpen with late lead changes, had those who stayed awake or left work early to watch them hanging on every pitch. A-Rod stepped up, going 3 for 8 in the series with two home runs, 4 RBIs and a decisive sacrifice fly to win the second contest. Andy Pettitte, Chad Gaudin and A.J. Burnett all put forward representative performances although each was viewed as a potential liability coming into the series.

Mariano Rivera also bounced back from his blown save in Seattle by saving the final two games of the series, protecting a one run lead in both of them. They weren't cheapies. He allowed one baserunner to start each outing, but neither advanced past first.

After the home run to Ichiro, Tyler Kepner published this article about Rivera intertwining with Phil Hughes' role as a set up man, nailing the essence of the man thusly:

Such mastery of the mental and physical cloaks Rivera in a kind of mysticism. He is a team captain without the title, a touchstone for teammates. To Hughes, he is an inspiration, even without many words.

Rivera's job description provides enough mental challenges, but Mo has probably had even more on his mind as of late (hat tip to the indispensable Baseball Think Factory).

Puerto Caimito, the small fishing village on the southern coast of Panama where he grew up and still keeps a home, has been struck by some pretty serious flooding and storm surges causing the canals of the city to fail. Three people are dead, dozens more injured and hundreds more unable to return to their homes. (Articles in Spanish)

We've talked a little bit about Latin American baseball lately, but didn't get into what it must be like for these guys to leave much of their families behind even though they have probably surpassed their wildest dreams in terms of wealth and success. An event like this has to make that infinitely harder.

It's worth noting that Rivera had to return home to his house in the same town in between the 2004 ALDS and ALCS because his wife's cousin and his son were electrocuted while cleaning his pool. Either by purposeful omission out of respect or forgetfulness, this is never cited as a reason for Mo's struggles in that series, although the travel must have taken something out of him and it must have weighed heavily on his mind.

The fact that we haven't heard about the flooding from the beat writers via Rivera or the Yankees almost certainly means that his family was not affected. Hopefully that is the case and for the people of Puerto Caimito in general and Mariano and his family in particular, the worst of it is over.

Another Brush With Celebrity

As I alluded to in yesterday's game preview, I've made a few trips to Seattle in the last six years or so. Since the Yanks are in the Emerald City this weekend and yesterday I posted about my meeting with Mickey Mantle, I suppose now's as a good a time as any to tell you about another encounter I had with a member of the 500 home run club. And this one I actually remember.

In April 2003, not yet a year out of college and just a few months into to my first "real" job, I went on my first business trip, accompanying the company owner and vice president to a conference at Seattle's Four Seasons Olympic Hotel (now the Fairmont Olympic).

As with every medical conference I attend, it covers at least one day of a weekend: convenient for physicians with patients to see and professional schedules to keep, inconvenient for a 22 year-old with friends to see and social schedules to keep.

As the conference adjourned for lunch on Saturday afternoon, I was invited by the owner and VP to join them for lunch. Since they signed the checks and knew how to eat and drink well, I jumped at the chance to tag along.

We went down to Shuckers, the oyster bar on the hotel's lower level, and one of Seattle's top seafood joints. It was early in the day, so the place wasn't very busy. The three of us were seated along the back wall, two tables away from a large corner booth.

As we perused the menus, a large group entered from the 4th Avenue entrance. They were seated at the corner booth, just a few feet from us. I glanced up from the menu, and noticed some familiar faces: Freddy Garcia, Einar Diaz, Carlos Guillen, Esteban Yan, maybe Francisco Cordero too. And tucked away in the corner of the booth, shielded from autograph seekers on all sides, was Alex Rodriguez.

The Rangers were in town for a weekend season, and the $250 million dollar man was taking some of his current and former teammates out for lunch apparently - at least I assume he picked up the tab.

We finished our lunch well before they did and had to return to our meetings. I did notice a few autograph and picture seekers managed to weasel their way towards A-Rod; I however was not one of them. Besides, I doubt A-Rod would have held me like The Mick did - it would have been a little weird at 22 years old rather than 22 weeks old. But I will be able to tell my grandkids that I had lunch with Alex Rodriguez - sort of.

Bolstered by his lunch, A-Rod knocked one out of Safeco that night before leaving after an HBP. Carlos Guillen went 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles and a pair of runs scored. Esteban Yan, it would seem, overdid it on the oysters though, surrending three hits, a walk, and two earned runs in two innings of mop-up work.