Johnny Damon is vastly overrated
 

Does anyone agree with this?

Sure, he's a good player, but he's not a superstar, and yet he's paid like one and treated like on by the fans and media.

He's an above average hitter, but far from a great one. He's a career .783 OPS. That's good but not great. He does a decent job of getting on base (.350 OBP), but has very little power (.400 and change slugger). In the field, he has pretty good speed to track down balls, but not much of an arm.

Damon makes $13 million this year, and that will go up. He isn't worth anywhere near that. There are a lot of players in the majors who are better and don't make anywhere near that type of money.

Comments?

Re: Johnny Damon is vastly overrated
 

Seconded, now if we were talking about Johnny Damon back in his KC days I might aruge with you.

Re: Johnny Damon is vastly overrated
 

Damon is overrated in my view. He has good looks and an intriguing personality, which gets him attention from the media. His best offensive traits are speed and batting average, the two most overrated offensive traits in baseball.

That said, good center fielders are hard to come by. It is mostly due to being overrated that he is paid so high, but also partly due to a position premium due to scarcity at that position. He is good for his position.

Re: Johnny Damon is vastly overrated
 

Do we really need these threads? First about Jeter, who everyone in the world knows is overrated (or at least, everyone on this forum).

Yes, Johnny Damon is overrated. He's overrated because he was the supposed face of a championship team - a team which won the World Series after a heroic comeback in the ALCS. No, he isn't a fantastic hitter but he's a decent #1 or #2 guy.

Re: Johnny Damon is vastly overrated
 

[ QUOTE ]
Damon makes $13 million this year, and that will go up. He isn't worth anywhere near that.

[/ QUOTE ]

THANKS CAPTAIN OBSERVO

Re: Johnny Damon is vastly overrated
 

putting that IQ to good use.

Re: Johnny Damon is vastly overrated
 

Johnny Damon is the Derek Jeter of the Red Sox....

oh wait. crap!

Re: Johnny Damon is vastly overrated
 

[ QUOTE ]

He's an above average hitter, but far from a great one. He's a career .783 OPS. That's good but not great. He does a decent job of getting on base (.350 OBP), but has very little power (.400 and change slugger).

[/ QUOTE ]

He's overrated because he's now 32 years old and just past his prime years.

During his prime (1999-2005), he batted .296, had a OBP of .362 (dirty estimate), an OPS of .805 (dirty estimate), and a SLG of .443 (dirty estimate). Those numbers have got to rank him highly during that period.

Damon deserves a little bonus for his base stealing/speed and excellent low strike out rate,

Remember, Damon was rushed to the big leagues when he was just 21 years old because of the Royals system. He was a very raw talent and it took several years for him to develop. Those early years hurt his career power numbers in particular.

Re: Johnny Damon is vastly overrated
 

[ QUOTE ]

Damon deserves a little bonus for his base stealing/speed and excellent low strike out rate

[/ QUOTE ]

Please explain why Damon deserves a bonus for his low strikeout rate. What does it matter how often a player strikes out? An out is an out.

Re: Johnny Damon is vastly overrated
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Damon deserves a little bonus for his base stealing/speed and excellent low strike out rate

[/ QUOTE ]

Please explain why Damon deserves a bonus for his low strikeout rate. What does it matter how often a player strikes out? An out is an out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Because you can make an out and advance runners. Not every out is equal.