I love JOHNNY DAMON more than life itself ... almost ... and I am really nervous about him signing with the Boston Red Sox. Four years, 31 million. Nice to see a great player with a fantastic booty being rewarded thusly, but ...

He's going to get eaten alive in Boston. He's always been a notoriously slow starter all through his career. What's the Boston/New England media going to do to him when he's hitting .203 on April 30? I won't be pretty. Plus, he strikes me as another Knoblauch waiting to happen: a low key guy who's not suited to playing in the major media markets.

If it works out for the Red Sox, this'll be great for them. Damon's the lead-off hitter they desperately needed all through the Jimy Williams years. DAMN. Johnny Damon being added to a team that already has Tim Wakefield and two Georgia Techies (Nomar and Varitek). It's getting harder and harder to hate the Red Sox.

Well, I wish him luck. Oakland wasn't too easy on him at the beginning of the season either, but his leaving has gotta hurt, especially with Jason Giambi and Jacob Isringhausen leaving too. Damon didn't have a great year in Oakland, but he poured it on towards the end. Giambi, on the other hand, was the heart and soul (and butt) of the team. They're in for some rebuilding.

(I also noticed F. P. Santangelo is going to the Yankees farm system. That hurts Oakland primarily in the scenery department.)

Yeah I don't think Boston is the best fit for Damon. He always starts off so slowly and the Boston media is as critical as they come. Last year, the entire A's team started slowly, so it helped mask Johnny D's problems. If he starts slowly again and the team isn't doing well, he'll be raked over the coals!

Naaah, better that Johnny Damon start out white-hot, then sink like an anvil dropped into Boston Harbor [see: Ramirez, Manny]. While I agree with the above commentary on the notoriously harsh Boston media, they pretty much gave Manny a complete free pass last season. Sure, he started out with MVP-worthy numbers, but his production after Memorial Day was mediocre at best, and for a man making $20 million per annum, it was horrible. Last season, I was beginning to wonder if I was the only fan in town who saw that the emporer had no clothes.

While I'm still not a fan of Duquette's, quite the contrary, I have to admit that he's done about as good a job as anybody could during these winter meetings. Does that forgive his innumerable offenses (recent biggies include siding with Psycho Carl against Jimy in the 2000 season, taking on Psycho Carl's contract extension, and hiring Joe Never-Managed-So-Much-As-A-Little-League-Team Kerrigan as manager)? Heck no!!! It might be too late to s**tcan Duquette's ass for the 2002 season, but the sooner he gets his butt kicked out of his dream job (yeah, I guess his childhood dream was to be the Red Sox GM), the better.

Well, if Johnny flames out, at least he'll look good doing it.......