Red Sox Look at Life After Johnny Damon

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BOSTON - Even before Johnny Damon spurned the Red Sox for the
New York Yankees, Boston began looking for his potential replacement.

"We've inquired with teams about other center fielders. We would be irresponsible not to," co-general manager Jed Hoyer said Wednesday, a day after Damon agreed to a four-year, $52 million deal with the Yankees. "We're confident that we can work it out and we're going to have a good center fielder."

They'll have to hurry. Despite a busy offseason that left them with two third basemen, two second basemen and two general managers, the Red Sox still need a shortstop and a first baseman as well.

"A lot can happen in 3 1/2 months," said Ben Cherington, the club's other general manager. "We've got a lot of holes to fill, and there's a lot of ways to fill it."

Their options could be limited. The Red Sox reportedly talked to Cleveland about acquiring Coco Crisp, but only if the Indians had signed Nomar Garciaparra, who wound up with the Dodgers instead. Boston was also thought to be interested in trading for Seattle's Jeremy Reed, possibly for pitcher Matt Clement.

"They'll get something done. Good teams always do," said reliever Rudy Seanez, who signed with Boston at about the same time Damon was leaving. "I don't think the Red Sox will be any different."

The leader of the self-proclaimed band of "idiots" that ended Boston's 86-year
World Series drought in 2004, Damon defected late Tuesday to take more money from its archrival. The Red Sox offered Damon four years at $40 million on Dec. 6 and recently told his agent, Scott Boras, that they'd like an answer by Christmas Eve.

But instead of making a counteroffer, Boras jumped on a deal the Yankees had left on the table, and the surprised Red Sox found out from reporters. When team president Larry Lucchino checked his e-mail Wednesday morning, his suspicions were confirmed: Boston fans were not taking it well.

"One person expressed concern that his young daughter wanted to get a Yankees shirt with Johnny's name on it," Lucchino said at a Fenway Park news conference. "And he didn't know what sort of crisis that would cause in the family."

Although the Red Sox figured New York was involved, they couldn't figure out what they were competing against.

"There were a lot of rumors as to what was out there and what wasn't," Hoyer said. "There was a lot of information throughout the process that turned out to be untrue."

Damon's arrival in New York fills the Yankees' hole in center field and opens up two more in Boston's lineup: in the outfield and leading off. The Red Sox might have to find two players to replace Damon's dual roles.

More difficult to replace will be Damon's presence in the ship-of-fools clubhouse, with his long hair and beard that spawned comparisons to Jesus and T-shirts asking, "What Would Johnny Damon Do?" Always quick with a quip, none had more resonance than when he said, "We've got the long hair, we've got the cornrows, we got just guys acting like idiots. And I think the fans out there like it."

They did.

"He was an offensive force. He was a clubhouse leader. He was a bit of a cult figure who was enormously popular with the women of Red Sox nation and generally a good guy," Lucchino said. "We urged Johnny that Boston is a great place for him, that he was a beloved figure here. But in the end he was free to make his decision."

Damon, 32, led Boston with a .316 batting average and 197 hits last season. His 117 runs were second only to AL MVP runner-up David Ortiz, and his 75 RBIs ranked third on the team behind Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. In '04, Damon hit .304 with 20 homers and 94 RBIs, then went 3-for-6 with two homers against the Yankees in Game 7 of the AL championship series to send the Red Sox to the World Series.

Notes:@ Ortiz won his third consecutive Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award. Ortiz appeared in 150 games as a DH, batting .297 while leading all qualifiers with 43 home runs and 141 RBIs. He is the first player to win three times in a row since the award's inception in 1973. He received 75 of the 78 first-place votes cast by club beat writers, broadcasters, and AL public relations departments.