Damon Becomes a Tiger

Today at 2 p.m. the Tigers will hold a press conference to introduce their new outfielder Johnny Damon.

Damon agreed to a one-year contract worth $8 million. That's not bad considering he was looking for $13 for three to four years. He also turned down a two-year contract worth $7 million from the Yankees. So overall, Damon has come out of this free agency season as a winner, while the Tigers won't know how they fare until the season begins.

Either way, Damon has passed his physical and will be making his way down to Lakeland, FL, to meet up with the team. Manager Jim Leyland says that the new addition makes the team more competitive, and many feel that he is the long-awaited left-handed bat that the Tigers have been waiting for.

My only question is when Damon puts the bat down and picks up his glove, where exactly does he plan on standing? Left field? Right field? The dugout perhaps because he is only the designated hitter? I can't really answer that question right now and I don't believe that the Tigers can either. I think they just saw their lead off hitter traded to the Yankees and scrambled to find a new one, and went with the only guy out on the market. What happened to the days when the Tigers used their farm system to groom players and then bring them up through the ranks? I guess those days must be gone, because now the team has resorted to trading away the young guys in order to get old, out-of-their-prime players for one or two year deals.

Who knows how this deal will work out, and even though we didn't trade our best young pitcher for Damon, this deal seems eerily similar to the Edgar Renteria deal...hopefully I'm wrong.