BY SHAWN WINDSOR
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
Johnny Damon has a chance to return to the one
place he thought would never take him again.
The Red Sox claimed the Detroit Tigers
outfielder on waivers today, he said.
He found out about 3 p.m., when his agent called
his wife.
Because of a no-trade clause in his contract,
Damon gets to decide whether he returns to the
Red Sox. The Tigers are allowed to trade him to
eight teams without his permission, but Boston
was not one of them. Damon has until
Wednesday afternoon to decide whether to allow
a deal to be made.
“I have to think long and hard if I’m going to be
one of the nicest guys in baseball but, again, the
most hated guy in baseball,” Damon said.
Damon left the Red Sox for the archrival New
York Yankees after the 2005 season. He signed a
one-year, $8-million contract with the Tigers
this off-season, after four years in New York.
He often is booed in opposing parks even now
and has said it wears on him. On the other hand,
Damon said, if he allowed the trade, he would
get a chance to repair his fractured relationship
with Red Sox fans.
As this afternoon, Boston was 5 1/2 games
behind Tampa Bay for a wild-card spot and 6
1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees.
Damon called that positioning “intriguing.”
If, somehow, we (Red Sox) pulled it together
and made the playoffs, that could mean a lot to
people,” he said.
The Tigers reportedly placed Damon on waivers
Friday. Damon figured he might get picked up by
Tampa Bay or New York.
But by Boston?
“I thought that ship had sailed,” he said.
Though he enjoyed playing in Boston -- Damon
became part of the self-described “Idiots,” a
group of scrappy players that led the Red Sox to
a World Series title in 2004 -- he said things
turned ugly during contract negotiations
following the 2005 season.
Damon, 36, said his preference is to stay in
Detroit instead of packing up his family for what
could be a five-to-six-week stop in Boston. He
said he would like to remain a Tiger even next
year. He said he loves the organization and that
club officials have been “upfront and honest with
him.”
However, he said if he did agree to go to the Red
Sox, he could help the Tigers by bringing in a
prospect.
