Johnny Damon, entering the final months of his contract, is publicly declaring how happy he is with his current team and how there's no other place he'd rather be.
“I don’t know where else I would want to go to,” Damon, who will become a free agent at the end of the season, told The New York Times. “Obviously, that’s not the right thing to say when you’re about ready to approach free agency, but I’m very happy with playing in New York, and my family’s happy I play for New York. There’s no bigger place to go."
But Johnny, what about all that glorious money?
"If you play well here, you’re going to get paid," he said. "New York has the resources."
Damon also said he prefers to stay in New York because the Yankees always are in contention for a championship.
Of course, Red Sox fans heard a similar story in 2005, when the Sox were in the heat of a pennant race.
"There's no way I can go play for the Yankees, but I know they are going to come after me hard," Damon told MLB.com in May of 2005. "It's definitely not the most important thing to go out there for the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It's not what I need. … I'd like to finish my career [in Boston]. I'm not sure they'll let me do it, if they offer me [only] two or three years. I want at least four or five."
The Yankees then swooped in signed him to that four-year deal, putting Damon in a similar position in 2009.
Damon's never been the most eloquent guy in any room he's ever been in, but that's never stopped him from talking. Whether he'll sign with the Yankees or move on to the highest bidder is unknown, but one thing is clear: Damon should never be taken at his word.
