Johnny Damon to Cincinnati Reds?

According to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN , Johnny Damon’s agent Scott Boras is trying to engage the Cincinnati Reds in talks with the free agent outfielder.

The Reds interest is hard to gauge right now, but they do have a hole in left field.

The article also mentions the Tigers as a possible destination—one I have denied in the past—but it is hard to ignore the fact that Boras has talked them into signing some of his clients to no-so-wonderful contracts in the past. They also could seek to replace Placido Polanco in their lineup.

That’s still a longshot in my book, so for now we’ll focus on the Reds.

From ESPN.com: “Cincinnati’s outfield alignment currently consists of Jay Bruce in right field, Drew Stubbs in center field and Chris Dickerson in left. The Reds’ leadoff hitters also ranked last in the major leagues with a .650 OPS in 2009.

The catch is, the Reds and Tigers don’t appear to have much money left in the budget. Both clubs have been economizing this offseason, and that might be truer than ever now that Cincinnati has signed Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman and Detroit has added closer Jose Valverde. Both teams would probably have to get creative to make a run at Damon.”

The bottom line is that there are a few teams out there this winter that wouldn’t mind having Damon.

If his price drops low enough it might actually happen. However, Boras will have to get real here and realize this; he certainly has to stop trying to talk the Yankees into thinking that just because Cincinnati might have interest, they are going to offer him much more than $5 million.

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• January 27, 2010 -- Girardi Lays Out Some Tentative Plans (0)
• January 26, 2010 -- Scott Boras Still Playing Games with Cashman and the Yankees (4)
• January 26, 2010 -- A’s Sign Sheets and Could Still Sign Damon (3)