Johnny Damon

Johnny Damon expressed an interest in returning to the Yankees while outfielder Curtis Granderson recovers from his broken arm, but he acknowledged that it’s unlikely the team would reach out to him. On Tuesday, general manager Brian Cashman responded to an exploratory text from Damon’s agent, Scott Boras, and confirmed Damon’s thinking.

“It’s just not something we’re going to pursue.” Cashman said (via the New York Daily News). “I love Johnny, a lot of leadership and everything else. But it’s just not going to fit our needs. It’s the same reason we didn’t bring him in last year. We need somebody who can play the outfield every day.”

Damon, 39, last played with the Yankees in 2009. He was a member of the Tigers in 2010 and the Rays in 2011, and he played 64 games last season with the Indians before being released. With his outfield skills deteriorating, he’s been used more as a designated hitter the last three years.

“That’s what he was towards the end with us,” Cashman said. “But he was a great Yankee, has a World Series ring to show for it, and it was a good marriage while we had it. Johnny’s great. Listen, I love Johnny Damon, and he was an awesome Yankee when we had him — but that was a while ago.”

Welcome to Tuesday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.

TUESDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
NHL: Bruins at Islanders, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN, NHL Network)
College basketball: Indiana at Minnesota, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Memphis at Xavier, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Auburn at Alabama, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Towson at George Mason, 7 p.m. (CSNNE)
College basketball: Florida at Tennessee, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Nebraska at Wisconsin, 9 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
College basketball: Wake Forest at Florida State, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
MLB preseason: Yankees at Phillies, 1 p.m. (MLB Network)
MLB preseason: Diamondbacks at Angels, 4 p.m. (MLB Network)

AROUND THE WEB:

Johnny Damon

♦ With Curtis Granderson out for an estimated 10 weeks after breaking his arm, the Yankees are looking for outfield help. Former Yankee (and Red Sox) Johnny Damon is eager to return, but he isn’t expecting he’ll get a call.

“I don’t think it will [happen],” Damon told the New York Post. “They’ve had plenty of opportunities since 2009 and it hasn’t happened. But if they call, I’m ready to go.”

Damon was released by the Indians after hitting .222 in 64 games last season. He lobbied for a chance to prove his worth to the Yankees, for whom he hit 24 home runs during their 2009 World Series championship season — although even then he was moved to a DH role as his outfield skills deteriorated.

“I would play for the minimum [$490,000 one-year deal] for six weeks,” Damon said. “If Granderson returns, I would leave. If there’s no room for me, I am gone.”

♦ The Jets added to speculation that they want to part ways with cornerback Darrelle Revis when they avoided contact with Revis’ camp at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, according to a New York Daily News report.

Jets general manager John Idzik, coach Rex Ryan and owner Woody Johnson reportedly had no contact with Revis’ representatives, who were staying at a hotel a few blocks from the Jets brass before departing Monday. Meanwhile, the Jets executives met with representatives of a number of other Jets players.

Revis suffered a season-ending knee injury after playing just two games last season. He is scheduled to earn $6 million in 2013 and is looking for a long-term deal, ideally to remain in New York.

♦ Dennis Rodman and three members of the Harlem Globetrotters are part of a group heading to North Korea as part of an HBO show. Rodman, the controversial former NBA star, is visiting the country that is in a state of war with the United States two weeks after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test in defiance of a United Nations ban.

“Is sending the Harlem Globetrotters and Dennis Rodman to [North Korea] strange? In a word, yes,” said Shane Smith, VICE media company founder who is host of the upcoming series. “But finding common ground on the basketball court is a beautiful thing.

“These channels of cultural communication might appear untraditional, and perhaps they are, but we think it’s important just to keep the lines open,” he said. “And if Washington isn’t going to send their generals, then we’ll send our Globetrotters.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On Feb. 26, 1994, Patriots fans bought 5,968 season tickets, a team single-day record, following the previous day’s announcement that Robert Kraft had purchased the team from which man?

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Johnny Damon

Rays designated hitter Johnny Damon told MLB Network’s Matt Vasgersian Thursday that if he were elected to the Hall of Fame, he would wear a Royals hat.

“Well, it’s a tough decision … four years in Boston … four years in New York … five and a half years in Kansas City,” Damon said. “If you go by the numbers, that’s where my best years were. So, if they’d have me …”

Baseball-reference.com compares Damon favorably with several Hall of Famers, including Roberto Alomar, Paul Molitor and Rickey Henderson.

Welcome to Monday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.

WHAT’S HAPPENING LOCALLY MONDAY:
MLB: Padres at Red Sox, 7:10 p.m. (NESN; WEEI)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ Former Patriots and Colts linebacker Eric Naposki will go on trial starting Monday in the 1994 shooting death of Southern California multimillionaire Bill McLaughlin. Prosecutors say Naposki’s ex-girlfriend, Nanette Packard, convinced Naposki to kill McLaughlin so she could collect $1 million in life insurance. Packard also had been dating McLaughlin. In 1996, she pleaded guilty to stealing $500,000 from McLaughlin before and after his death and served a year in prison.

Naposki attended UConn and was on the Patriots roster in 1988 and 1989. He joined the Colts in 1989 and later played four seasons for the Barcelona Dragons of the World League of American Football. He was a personal trainer and nightclub security guard at the time of the crime. In 2009, when prosecutors finally determined they had enough evidence to press charges, Naposki was serving as a personal trainer in Connecticut and engaged to a schoolteacher.

♦ Johnny Damon‘s solid season for the Rays has revived talk about the former Red Sox outfielder having a shot at the Hall of Fame. Roger Mooney in The Tampa Tribune looks at Damon’s candidacy and quotes the player as saying: “I think I can [get in] now. … If you ask a lot of former teammates, they would believe so.”

♦ Johnathan Taylor, the paralyzed University of Georgia outfielder who was drafted by the Rangers, met the media at a Saturday press conference along with two other draft picks. Jeff Schultz in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes about the inspirational day.

♦ ESPN.com NBA writer Chris Sheridan filed suit against the New York Post and columnist Peter Vecsey, accusing the paper of publishing “a maliciously false article” that impugned “Sheridan’s veracity and competence as a journalist.” It’s based on a Dec. 14 article in which Vecsey wrote: “No doubt the same fountains of misinformation that frequently play make-believe with ESPN’s Chris Sheridan, whose latest fairy tale had Carmelo Anthony notifying the Nuggets he won’t accept a trade to any team but the Knicks.” Anthony, of course, eventually was traded to the Knicks.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On June 20, 1955, the Red Sox signed which local high school star who would go on to pitch eight seasons for the team?

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Welcome to Monday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.

WHAT’S HAPPENING LOCALLY MONDAY:
MLB: Blue Jays at Red Sox, 11:05 a.m. (NESN; WEEI)
NHL Playoffs: Bruins at Canadiens, 7:30 p.m. (NESN)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ In what is believed to be the highest price paid for a piece of football memorabilia, an autographed Houston Oilers helmet was auctioned for $2 million late last week. Houston lawyer Steve Mostyn outbid his wife Amber for the helmet signed by coach Bum Phillips and players.

♦ Manny Ramirez was a bust, but the Rays hit it big with Johnny Damon, their other major free agent signee with a Red Sox connection. Damon has two walkoff hits already this season, and he helped Tampa Bay beat the Sox twice last week. In the St. Petersburg Times, John Romano writes that Damon is the Rays’ first rock star.

♦ With Barry Bonds‘ trial over and Roger Clemens‘ trial upcoming, Katie Thomas in The New York Times compares the two and ponders whether Clemens will have a tougher road because of the situation in which he is accused of lying.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On April 18, 1966, Red Auerbach named Bill Russell as his replacement as coach of the Celtics (Russell also continued to play). How many seasons did Russell go on to coach the C’s?

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Once it starts to go all together, it’ll be scary.” — Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, after the Red Sox beat the Jays on Sunday for their second straight win

STAT OF THE DAY: 1-for-11 — Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony‘s shooting numbers in the second half of the Celtics’ 87-85 victory Sunday

‘NET RESULTS: A member of the Mariners grounds crew fell victim to the tarp roller at a game last week.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Three seasons, of which two ended with NBA titles

SOOTHING SOUNDS: Country Joe McDonald turns 70 Monday.

Johnny Damon and the Rays are closing in on a deal, according to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports. Brown says there is still some work to be done, though.

Damon hit .271 with eight home runs, 51 RBIs and 81 runs scored in 145 games with the Tigers last season. He made just 36 starts in the outfield, as the bulk of his time came as the team’s designated hitter.

According to Newsday, which cited four sources, free agent Johnny Damon is in talks with the Yankees about a possible return to the Bronx. According to the story, the two sides are discussing a scenario in which the 37-year-old would get “occasional at-bats” as a designated hitter and left fielder, spelling Jorge Posada as a DH and either filling in for Brett Gardner in left or permitting Gardner to slide to center on days when Curtis Granderson gets the day off.

While the article suggests that Damon would prefer a job that had more certain playing time, making it unclear whether there is a deal to be struck, it also notes that “neither Damon nor the Yankees are thrilled with their other options.”

Damon spent the 2010 season with the Tigers, hitting .271/.355/.401/.756. That followed four years with the Yankees (.285/.363/.458/.821) from 2006-09 and four years with the Sox (.295/.362/.441/.803) from 2002-05.

Damon told WEEI.com earlier this month that he would welcome a return to the Red Sox, but the team has subsequently signed Carl Crawford, leaving it without an outfield need.

According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, the White Sox are considering making offers to Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui as they search for a left-handed bat. The report indicates that the team likely will wait until next month before making a decision. Damon played for the Tigers last season while Matsui played for the Angels.

According to the New York Post, outfielder Johnny Damon has been told by the Tigers that he is not in their plans for the 2011 season. Damon signed a one-year, $8 million deal with the Tigers last offseason. In August, the Red Sox claimed Damon on waivers, but the former Boston icon said that he would exercise his right to veto a deal rather than come back to the Sox.

At the time, Damon cited his loyalty to the Tigers, and his hope that he would be a part of their plans for both 2010 and beyond. But, according to the Post, the Tigers have informed the 36-year-old that they will go in a different direction.

“They told me they are looking for a prototypical type DH like Adam Dunn,” Damon told the paper. “They said they need that type of bat in the middle of order. I am a No. 1 or 2 guy.”

Damon sounded enthusiastic about the possibility of returning to the Yankees, for whom he played from 2006-09 after his four years in Boston.

“I would love to have that as an option,” Damon told the Post of the possibility of returning to the Yankees. “It would be very exciting to go back there.”

Damon hit .271 with a .355 OBP, .401 slugging mark and .756 OPS while serving as the DH and left fielder for the Tigers.

Welcome to Thursday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:
MLB: Angels at Red Sox, 7:10 p.m. (NESN, WEEI)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ Johnny Damon‘s return to Yankee Stadium as a Detroit Tiger this week turned ugly. In the ninth inning of Monday night’s game, Yankee Brett Gardner slid into Tigers second baseman Carlos Guillen on a double play and sent Guillen to the disabled list. Wednesday night, Gardner was one of three players hit by a pitch, and Damon called Gardner’s play “dirty” and accused the Yankees of throwing at Miguel Cabrera, which led to Tigers manager Jim Leyland‘s ejection.

♦ To no one’s surprise, Brett Favre is back. At the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Jim Souhan writes about the ego-fest that was Favre’s press conference Wednesday and notes that what drives the quarterback is his fear of failure. Michael Silver at Yahoo!Sports.com cautions that this return could be a disaster. Gary Myers in the New York Daily News writes that Favre’s “act has gotten so old and tired it’s comical,” and revisits the QB’s forgettable season with the Jets.

♦ At SportsIllustrated.com, Joe Sheehan writes that the time has come for the Dodgers to trade Manny Ramirez.

♦ Kevin Arnovitz at TrueHoop interviews NBA schedule-maker Matt Winick and gets some explanations about quirks in the schedule.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Aug. 19, 1986, which two players acquired from the Mariners made their debut for the Red Sox?

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’ve done it all. There’s nothing left for me to prove. I’m here to have fun, help these guys win. I really enjoy this group of guys like you wouldn’t believe. I think the feeling is mutual.” — Brett Favre, upon returning to the Vikings on Wednesday

STAT OF THE DAY: 5 — Consecutive seasons at the start his career with 30 or more saves by Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, a major league record (No. 30 came Wednesday night vs. the Angels)

‘NET RESULTS: Four European golfers try to hit a ball 200 yards into a pond and skim it into a gong set up in the middle of the water.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Spike Owen and Dave Henderson

SOOTHING SOUNDS: Johnny Nash is 70 today.