Johnny Damon’s decision to veto any trade to the Boston Red Sox further affirms my long held belief, that the Red Sox treat their players like garbage.
After Damon’s tremendous contributions to the Red Sox franchise, they refused to give him a reasonable contract. The very next year they gave J.D. Drew a more lucrative contract than they offered to Johnny Damon.
You see a lot more players leave Boston for New York than the reverse. We’ve seen Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens do it. More recently effective lefty specialst Mike Myers was not offered a contract by Boston and signed with New York. Damon was essentially told to leave and went to New York where he played a major role in a World Series run. Tom Gordon, Alan Embree, and Doug Mientkiewicz also made the Boston to New York upgrade.
Let’s not fail to mention how they gave Mr. Red Sox Nomar Garciaparra the boot, shipped Manny to LA, and let Pedro go without second thought. Bronson Arroyo took a significant discount to stay in Boston, then was promptly traded for Wily Mo Pena. Oddly enough they idolize their big fat DH and act as though he didn’t take steroids although a positive test indicated that he did.
Going the other way you basically have David Wells who was mad at New York due because of the way he was treated regarding a back injury. Meanwhile the Yankees felt he didn’t take care of his body and cost them the 2003 World Series. Now that tempers have cooled, David Wells cheers for the Yankees.
Now, I understand that Damon very well could have bought a house in Detroit and may want to stay in the city(although I find it hard to believe he is planning on settling down in the lovely town of Detroit). Nevertheless, the trend is pretty pronounced and hard to ignore.
RyanKantor.com 
Woah, lets not go nuts. Damon was told to leave the Red Sox because he was asking for an ABSURD amount of money for a declining player. (The fact that he was just waived proves they were right to do it.) Tom Gordon, Alan Embree, and Doug Mientkiewicz were all easily replaceable, Nomar Garciaparra fell to shreds the second he left Boson, nobody wants Manny anymore, and it was Pedro’s time to go. When you come to look at the success rate of the players that they let walk out the door, are they cruel to their players? or are they just REALLY good judges of character because it seems that when they let somebody go, they just aren’t worth the headache or they just aren’t any good anymore. Baseball rule #1, when somebody is replaceable and can be replaced with a lower contract, you do it.
Damon earned every penny of the contract he recieved from New York. He ended up being a very worthwhile signing, not just because of his World Series heroics, but also his regular season prduction.
I forgot to mention Bronson Arroyo, I think I may edit him into it. He was signed at a home town discount and then immediately shipped to Cincy. That’s ridiculous.
Thanks for the comment. I added a line about Arroyo, that may have been the worst offense of all. He said he took a discount to stay and then they traded him right away.
You’ve got some points, some of the players they moved didn’t make sense (particularly Arroyo after the discount) I’d like to hear the real reason as to why Damon declined a trade. I’d like to see whether he thinks the Red Sox aren’t a serious contender this year, or whether he just doesn’t want to be a 4th outfield or platoon man.
Or if he’s a Yankee at heart and couldn’t bring himself to go back to Boston.
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