Johnny Damon nearly threw in the towel - throw landed short of the cutoff man

Sports Illustrated is reporting that the “personal reasons” that caused Johnny Damon’s absence from the Yankees clubhouse last spring was his uncertainty about continuing to play baseball.

Damon apparently almost decided to walk away from three more years of making $13 million a year to be a mediocre center fielder and part-time DH.

“{Retirement} definitely crossed my mind”, Damon told SI, “But then I thought ‘Where are the Yankees going to find another weak hitting center fielder with a lousy throwing arm to give them a 97 OPS+ and 12 homers?’ - these guys needed me.”*

New Yankees manager Joe Girardi has already talked to Damon to let him know how vital he is to the team. Really? Because if I’m the Yankees and I can get out from under the last $26 million of Damon’s contract I’d be saying things like “Yeah Johnny I see what your saying there - it’s important to know when to let go.”

Sport Illustrated Article

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* Part of this quote was later found to be misattributed to Damon - it was actually every baseball fan who watched him play last year that thought this.

OPS+ is a players OBP plus slugging percentage (OPS) measured against league average - an OPS+ over 100 is better than the average MLB player, below 100 is worse. (definition)