That is quite possibly the best article of yours that I have ever read. I'm impressed.

Of course ballplayers make millions of dollars, but no one can tell me a player should turn down an extra couple of million just to stay with a team. That's a lot of money, people. YOU turn it down.

There may be other reasons to accept an offer, such as comfort, location, possibility of success, etc., but money is the major reason. I don't know why the free market has to be locked away in the closet just because it's baseball. That applies to team salaries, too. Why should big spending teams be penalized because other teams either don't have enough or (more likely) don't spend what they do have? Life isn't fair, let alone sports.

Thome claimed that money is not the issue. But, he just left Indians for the money.

I couldn't agree more. Some Red Sox fans seem to have forgotten that Johnny Damon was acquired as a free agent in the first place. Tip your hat to the guy for what he did while he wore your colors, and then move on.

I'd love to know where the outrage was when Arroyo was traded to the Reds. Here's a guy that took a pay cut to stay with the Sox, and the management shipped him off. Why isn't anyone furious with the front office, holding up signs?

I think it's funny how Damon seems to think it's OK for him to go around making backhanded comments at the Red Sox front office (which we all know is like making fun a Red Sox fan's Grandparents. You just don't do it.) What really bugs any fan is when one of "our guys" says he couldn't fathom crossing the line and go to the otherside of a rivalry, then do just that. In reality if he would have just said thank you to the fans for 4 fantastic years and kept his mouth shut about the whole situation alot of the booing would not have happened.

You have completely missed the point to the Johnny Damon issue. Red Sox fans have always awkolwaged players who left for more money but contributed to their team previously, so long as the team they left for isn't the Yankees. Remember Orlando Cabrera? He received a HUGE ovation after signing as a free agent with the Angels. What also makes this case different? DAMON SWORE HE WOULD NEVER PLAY FOR THE YANKEES because didn't need the top dollar money they would offer him. Yet that was exactly what he did. Get with the program. This isn't just a run-of-the-mill case of a guy leaving more money. This specific case is far more complex than that.

If Johnny D. hadn't taken so many swipes at the Yanks during his Boston tenure, culminating in the I'll-never-play-for-the-Yankees comment a year ago, I expect Sox fans might not have reacted so vehemently. But when you swear undying fealty, and sneer so publicly at your rivals, expect a bit a flak when you change camps.

And were we pleased to see Arroyo traded away after sealing that deal? Not in the least. But several scribes, including some at SI, warned that might happen.

I think that most people understand how the market place works, but sometimes we just don't care. Frankly put, athletes make more money than most of us will see in our working lives. When you get emotionally attached to a guy like Damon for instance, and see him leave for a little more money, you get mad. Think about it. Counting taxes, Damon is making 8 million more in New York than he would in Boston (NY taxes are higher). Do you really think he couldn't recoup at least a sizable portion of that 8 million in endorsements? Especially given the fact he said that no amount of money would ever make him play for the Yankees? At some point, it's not just about money, it's about comfort and happiness. Many people do turn down more money to stay where they're comfortable, or take career paths they know won't make the same money but will make them happier. The people of Boston, IMO, feel that leaving everything he built in Boston behind for ~8 million just isn't worth it.

I disagree with your article. To compare a MLB player to a regular worker is absurd. Of course someone making $60k a year is going to leave for any kind of raise. But ball players? If these guys can't support their family on the major league minimum ($300k), let alone the millions free agents get, they need serious financial counseling. It makes me puke when players say they leave in order to "take care of family".

It's the greed stupid. What ever happened to loyalty to something other than money? Why didn't ol' Johnny stay in Boston to try to win consecutive world series? That would have been something. He really is an idiot.

Everyone says Damon betrayed the Red Sox for signing with the Yankees, but we all know that most of us would've done the same thing if we were offered $12 million a year

Damon swore he'd never go to the Yankees? So what? Did the front office ever swear that they'd never let him leave? The real issue from this past winter is the fact that the Sox NEVER indicated that Damon was a priority....if they were serious, they'd have locked him up as quickly as possible. What kind of team lets their star center fielder walk away? Why, the Red Sox, that's who.

thank you for this article. im tired of hearing how thome "betrayed" them. thank you, i enjoyed this article

Damon couldn't have won consecutive World Series because the better Sox won it last year. I am so sick of people talking about the Red Sox and the Yankees- two very mediocre teams this year. Neither team has the pitching or defense that the champs have, and thusly will finish 10-15 games behind them record-wise.

Nicely said. Although I'm a Yankee fan, I can honestly say I've always liked Damon because of the way he played. He annoyed me to no end when he would get two strikes and foul off pitch after pitch.

Boston fans are the most unforgiving out there. Period. Hands down the most unforgiving, let's not forget the rude treatment of the Clemens' family when the Rocket came back to Fenway, which in all fairness can translate as the most passionate. Funny how now they'll throw Roger a blank check...

I can understand them being passionate. And Damon himself has said it, they only booed him because they loved him and because he's good. If he weren't, they just wouldn't care. However, that being said... I think considering what he meant to the Red Sox, he deserved more respect than they gave him. And I think it's sad that his instincts to keep his wife and kids out of Fenway were correct.

Another thing we need to consider is that Damon's defection is probably one of the biggest in the history of the rivalry. You could even argue it was the biggest, bigger than Ruth since the rivalry didn't come into it's own till years after the Ruth trade... plus Ruth was sold, he didn't leave of his own volition. The Sox fans couldn't really blame Ruth.

The main thing I think Red Sox fans need to realize is that Damon, in truth, didn't leave for more money. He left in essence for more respect. The Red Sox front office, Lucchino in particular from what I understand, were trying to low-ball him. Can you imagine Tampa trying to low-ball Jeter? After all the years here? Johnny didn't leave for more money, he left because he felt he was being disrespected by the Red Sox, and the truth is he was. Chalk the botched handling of those negotiations to Epstein being on hiatus. Theo taking an extended vacation was to the Yankee's advantage. Sure you could make the argument that he should have done the Andy Petite dance, taken less money, and I believe he would have but there's a BIG gap between 40 and 52 million and the most important fact was that the Sox NEVER upped their offer at all to Johnny. I personally believe if they offered him 44 or 48 he would have stayed. Just simply offering more than the original 40 million would have been enough in my opinion.

I see your point being from florida, but being from Boston, its about the Yankees, Johnny played in Boston and 40 million isn't disrespect! Johnny should have taken the yankees contract and just kept his mouth shut!!! If johnny had been really low balled I and all of Boston would have been less upset.

Most Sox fans would have been fine with it if Damon simply said he was leaving to take more money. Instead, he had to start shamelessly taking potshots at the Sox for "disrespecting" him and saying how great it will be to play for the legendary Yankees. The guy would play in Siberia if the price was right.

Free agency is a part of baseball. It hurts to lose a star player, but it happens. People just need to get over it.

I find it ridiculous that people rail on the front office for "not holding on to Damon." When the Yankees go into the offseason with Damon as their only big-name target, it is stupid to get into a price war with them. Damon was worth 10 million a year and anything over that would be overpaying. So when Damon started going on about how the front office betrayed him, it pissed me off. Varitek took his 10 million. Learn something about loyalty from him and Tom Brady. He really is an idiot. I booed him.

PS. Don't get me wrong- the front office does terrible things sometimes. Like the Bronson deal. And David Wells.

People that get emotionally attached to ballplayers need to get counseling.

Excellent article, by the way.

Please... Boston fans are crying because Damon said he'll never play for the Yankees, but when the money he came, he left for the Yankees? If that's the thinking... then Bronson Arroyo has every right to say Boston management are a bunch of backstabbers cause they shipped him when he took less money.

Boston fans pout when a player leaves for more money, but when a loyal player wants to stay then is shipped away, they'll be the first to turn their backs.

I think it's pretty hypocritcal to boo him for something everyone of us would've done ourselves. But that's life I guess. I think the Redsox fans should think about this -If JD had come to them 3 years ago and said- I'm going to win a World Championship for you but then leave for the Yankees- everyone of the Sox fans would've said "I'll take it." Don't they remember how hungry they were for 86 years? I guess not. In my opinion, I think they should've given him a standing ovation in his first at bat- and then booed the hell out of him for the rest of the game. That would've been classier.

I'm continually amazed that people who have no connection to either New York or Boston feel that their input into the affair is insightful. Here's an analogy:

Guy and girl breakup. Girl goes off with guy's nemesis. Guy gets mad.

Simple as pie. Us Red Sox fans will eventually get over it as we did with Clemens and Boggs. But this blog and people's ignorant comments (including Joe Torre) are starting to get on my nerves.

P.S. Anyone who offers the suggestion that it was OK to leave Boston (where JD was revered as a deity) for a 20% increase in an already absurdly high yearly salary should be relegated to the dustpan of non-history - as JD will be in NY.

yeah but when you are already making that much does it really make that much of a difference?

why go to a new team when everybody loves you right where u are, let alone after winning the world series, johnny damon is stupid and proves that every baseball player is only there for the money.

whatever man we dont need damon we got big papi, i was just fine monday night when he hit that homerun over damons head, no worries

I'm so tired of hearing about the Sox "disrespecting" Damon. 4 years at $40 million was by far the best offer on the table until the Yankees came in and offered $52 million. He did not go back to Boston and tell them about the offer and allow them the chance to increase theirs. He bent over backwards to adjust his contract demands so the Yankees would make him an offer. It was never about disrespect and always about the money. That's fine, but he made 2 critical mistakes 1) He said a year earlier that he would never play for the Yankees even for more money 2) He used the disrepect card and bashed the organization when it was him that disrespected all of Red Sox nation. He deserves to be booed everytime he sets foot in Boston.

maybe Johnny left because he realized that all people from Massachussetts are ignorant.

Dont you Boston fan see a trend? Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens and Johnny Damon. Boston players LOVE coming to New York. Now, notice who has come to Boston from the Yankees, Derek Jeter? No, Don Mattingly? No, Paul O'Niell? No, Tino Martinez? No. Yankee players love to play for us. Ask yourself why these players are leaving. Blame your front office. Not the yankees.

You're really missing the point. In a day where rivalries in sports border on the extinct, when a star player switches uniforms -- the enemies' uniform no less -- it is refreshing to see the outrage of the fans. I'm a Mets fan so I'm writing from the outside here. I have no allegiance to either team. Damon should be boo'd because he is a star player who once again took the cash instead of embracing the rivalry to the level the fans do. Maybe we're the silly ones for thinking they really care about this stuff as much as we do.

some of you people don't get it. Part of why Boston fan's book players like Damon is because he disrespected the organization by slapping them in the face all the way out. He claims there was a third team involved offering more money than the yanks and sox and no one else will confirm that. He is a liar. He used the yanks offer to try and up the Sox offer. Then as an aging star (still with productive years left in him) he saw the Sox would rather spend less and get younger than overpay for a 33 year old center fielder. Damon had no choice once the Sox refused to pay more but to sign with the Yanks because NO ONE ELSE IN BASEBALL WAS WILLING TO PAY HIM MORE THAN 40 MIL EXCEPT FOR THE IDIOT YANKEES. Lost in this is how they overpaid for Damon. No other team outbid the Sox and he got stuck trying to make a point and had to sign with the Yankees where he now sits and constantly bashes the Sox all the while hanging out and talking to all his old Sox buddies.
And for the record the reason why Clemens got booed here was because he purposely pitched poorly his last two years in Boston. He was no longer pitching like an Ace those years. He looked like he was done and one of the most hated GM's Duchhette let him walk. Everyone hates Duchette but he fooled the Expos and brought Pedro here for practically nothing.

Whoever thinks that Damon should just have taken his $10 million and been happy is wrong. Look at the Yankees with Matsui last offseason. He could have tested the free agency, but the Yankees valued him as a player and didnt let that happen, signed him right away. Then they offered Damon the exact same contract as Matsui. I think Damon deserves as much as Matsui, so just because the Red Sox didn't value Damon as highly, their fans shouldn't blame Damon. If the Red Sox draw 3 million fans a year, over the next 4 years, they could have raised ticket prices $1 each and paid the difference. Im sure those red sox fans would have preferred that. So stop whinning about Damon being a hypocrit and start blaming your front office for not valuing your players high enough

You and other sportswriters need to STOP comparing the average American's ability to switch 'burger flipping jobs' on a moment's notice with the poor plight of MLB players who have to wait 6 years to cash in with free agency. There is NO COMPARISON between a guy making $5.50 - $10.00 an hour and a guy making $300k at minimum! There isn't a person alive who wouldn't opt for the restrictions that come with that kind of money versus the supposed freedom that comes with earning $20-30k a year.

I agree that the Damon return to Boston was overhyped, but I also agree that he should have been booed. It's true that a lot of people would have probably made the same decision, but Damon also publicly said that he'd never go play for the Yankees. Damon got booed for going back on his word, not for taking the better offer.

I think it's great that Damon left Boston for the Yankees. What's the point of staying in Boston after they won their elusive World Series when he could play for the most heralded team in all of sports (most hated also). Playing for the Yankees is the pinnacle in all of baseball. Many crumble under pressure but those who succeed have their names etched in stone. It's to be expected that Red Sox fans feel wronged by a star player who’s playing for the enemy and that's what makes this story so great. The real problem is Thome getting booed at Jacobs; he was the hero in Cleveland for the longest time and left for Philly. This is old news, as a Tribe fan, I felt ashamed that we booed a Cleveland great who did nothing but good things while in Cleveland. Boston fans: just drink a Sam Adams and hope Beckett starts pitching like he did two weeks ago (and feel lucky that Papelbon took over as the closer – pitching wins championships).

All these people that are saying Johnny Damon was disrespected by the Red Sox need to remember one thing.....when he was offerred more money by the Yankees late at night, he just signed away and neither he nor his agent even TOLD the Res Sox that he had gotten a better offer. If he had, Red sox management said that they would have upped theirs.

All those claiming that Damon's case is different because he said he wouldn't sign with the Yankees are either incredibly naive or just pretend to be. By the way, I hate the Yankees as much as they do, but EVERY player in the Red Sox organization would say that if they were asked. I can assure you most would sign with NYY if the right offer arose. Baseball players are not fans any more. They are not concerned at all with "rivalries", unless it is for personal reasons (player to player i.e Vizquel and Mesa). They will consider other things as well as money, but they don't care about going to "the enemy". You could swear to your boss you'd never go to a competitor (you might have actually signed a form saying you wouldn't) but if you're offered 30% more money elsewhere (like Damon), you will not be back from lunch!

Come on. So some players get booed. So what? Most people would choose the cash, too. But you are supposed to boo your opponents. Thome isn't going to go up there and strike out on purpose b/c he wants his old team to win. Fans aren't going to cheer for an old player either. There are more interesting baseball subjects than feeling sorry for millionaire's b/c their feelings were hurt.

As a Cleveland fan, you wopuld have had to listen to Jim Thome prior to his leaving. He ripped former teamates and other stars who left for larger contracts. Jim said, "It's not all about the money. It has to be fair for the team and player. I want to retire here." Now Albert Belle, he came out and said, "I want paid!" basically. So yeah, we have a problem with Thome. He lied.

"People that get emotionally attached to ballplayers need to get counseling."


Brilliant. Right on.

The only problem with your argument is that in both of the cases you mentioned, the players spoke out against leaving their teams for money. Thome repeatedly said that he wanted to stay in Cleveland no matter what. Instead he bolted for 10 million more. In Damon's case he even talked about how the Yankees would throw money at him but that he wouldn't be influenced by it, he wanted to stay in Boston. In both of these cases the fans didn't boo them because they simply left, they booed because they felt betrayed by guys that ran their mouths and then didn't practice what they preached.