Thursday, December 22, 2005
The Hot Dog Man Was Right About these owners all along...
" Damon's super agent, Scott Boras, explained the last-ditch effort to keep his client in Beantown:
"I called (Red Sox principal owner John Henry) and said, 'John, I wanted to call you, you're the owner of the team, it's important to let you know that we are in a position to do something with another team, something's about to be done and if you have a five-year proposal, now is the time to come forward.He said he would have to talk to his people and I told him that I was not calling to negotiate but to let him know what was happening."
Boras said he placed that call to Henry somewhere between 7 and 8 o'clock Tuesday night. Approximately an hour and a half later, Boras heard from co-GM Jed Hoyer. When Hoyer informed him the call was not about Damon, Boras had an excellent idea the Sox would not be making any last-minute moves to sweeten their four-year offer worth $10 million a year. Between 10:30 and 11 o'clock, Boras and the Yankees had wrapped up their talks. "
LARRY'S MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE LEFT A FLOATER:
At yesterday’s press conference at Fenway Park, team president and CEO Larry Lucchino said the Red Sox told Damon’s camp the Sox’ four-year offer, first made on Dec. 6, would expire on Christmas Eve if the sides could not reach an agreement.
Boras indicated he was unaware of such a deadline.
“I hear there’s a letter waiting for me at home, where I haven’t been in awhile,” said Boras. “John Henry did ask me if I got the letter.”
All along, said Boras, he had been telling teams that Damon was looking for an annual average salary that fell between J.D. Drew’s $11 million and Carlos Beltran’s $17 million. The Red Sox never reached that range. The Yankees did.
As far as the suddenness of Damon’s decision, Boras said, “The reality of it is, everyone in this process had two months to get involved. None of this was a quick decision for anybody.”
-Let's see Larry Lucchino spin his way out of this one. Henry and his headless henchmen simply dropped the ball...A year ago last offseason, when they could have locked this guy up for a Tek-like extension-$30 over 3 years. Here at the Hub, we're not mad at "The Trio" anymore for giving away our star players...We actually feel sorry for them, as it looks like their responsibilities have moved beyond their maximum capacities...they appear best suited for government work.
-Red Sox Hub
