Sunday, May 21, 2006

Damon Needs to Sit

Johnny Damon is officially hitting at below the average level of a major league player. His season line has come down to .269/.346/.404. He started out very strong, batting .312/.400/.512 in the month of April. However, he injured both his shoulder and his foot banging up against walls against Boston. Due to these injuries, Damon is batting .218/.274/.282 in May.

We need Damon's bat in the lineup. We don't need Tony Womack's bat. Johnny Damon needs to heal, or else he could produce this poorly for the rest of the year. When we get back to American League play, he should DH. Our outfield may have to consist of Bernie Williams, Melky Cabrera, and Kevin Reese for that time, but that is a step that we will have to take. He may even have to sit some of those days.

Last season, Damon suffered a shoulder injury but elected to play through it. He batted .343/.386/.473 before the all star break and .282/.343/.397 after.