Is Johnny Damon an Everyday Player?

[Doughhead]

I seem to remember he was sharing time in the starting lineup last year once Melky emerged. Is it going to be the same situation this year?

[KCollins1304]

He's the primary left fielder, I'd expect 600 PA.

[BronXBombers51]

The plan is to play Melky in CF, Damon in LF, Giambi at 1B and Matsui DH.

That said, Giambi is going to need days away from the field, which means Matsui and Damon will get rest this season. I actually think that that's a good thing though. Damon was beat up last year. A few days off here and there should keep him fresh. I think he'll have a solid season.

[StarsNPinstripes]

Will echo what others have said regarding his playing time.Girardi was quoted as saying earlier in Spring Training that he wants Damon to get 600 abs.A lot of people are down on Damon this season but I'll go against the grain and say that he'll outperform his ADP(in the 123-125 range).

[jfg]

I'm with you on outperforming the ADP.

[StarsNPinstripes]

Intersting article on ADP at fanball with an analysis of Johnny Damon-ADP in ( )
From Fanball:

#17 Eric Byrnes (51.86) vs. #34 Johnny Damon (123.24)

Fifty. That's the number that is driving the value of Eric Byrnes this year (it was his stolen base total, by the way). Of course, those who talk up that number fail to realize that he had never stolen more than 25 bases in a season previously. He was also caught only seven times last year despite all that running, so one would have to think that a little correction there could obviously lower his overall number. People also seem to be forgetting that this is a guy who hit .226-10-40-49-7 as recently as 2005, so it's not like there is some huge track record of success. Here are a couple of other factors to conside: First, Byrnes has never hit more than 26 home runs or knocked in more than 83 runs in a season. He also has only one 100-run season in his career and has never hit higher than .286 in a season (career .267). He also has a long history of totally falling apart after the All-Star break, as his average drops 51 points (to .239), while his OPS falls 156 points (down to .695).

On the other side we have Johnny Damon, who was awful last year, right? Well, as bad as he was, he scored only 10 fewer runs than Byrnes (103 to 93), knocked in 63 runs and stole 27 bases. Big deal you say, right? Remember, before last season Byrnes had never stolen that many bases or scored that many runs in a season, and this was Damon's worst year since 2001. Damon will still hit at the top of a loaded Yankees lineup which almost guarantees him 100 runs scored, a total that he reached nine straight seasons before last year's 93. Damon has also stolen at least 18 bases every year since 1998, and he has put up double-digit homers in nine of the last 10 seasons. Damon also owns a .288 career average, and recall that Byrnes' season best mark is .286.

Byrnes will likely steal more bases and hit more home runs that Damon in 2008, but it's not as if you are getting dead weight with Damon. Plus, Damon can be had 70 picks later, and will likely produce comparable all-around numbers

http://www.fanballnews.com/article.php?article_id=11546

[jwinter228]

He'll definitely be an everyday player and in that lineup he's sure to get plenty of plate appearances even if he takes off some time now and then or has a minor setback. During the season all the talk about Damon's ailments make it seem like he gets about 400-450 ab's but he really still does quietly perform well. Actually last year was his first season since 1997 that he didn't produce over 100 runs. As long as he's healthy he should stay in left with an occasional game in center and bring in plenty of runs...the DH really helps since he/Matsui/Giambi can trade off time at the spot.