36-year old lefty swinging LF Johnny Damon was coming off a great season with the Yankees into free agency.  He played in 143 games for the Yankees last season and he was 155 for 550 (.282 avg, .854 OPS) with 107 runs scored, 24 homers, 82 RBIs and 12 stolen bases.  He got too greedy for the Yankees’ taste when he said that he wanted $10 million bucks per year so they signed Nick Johnson for roughly half of that to DH for the Yanks in 2010.  Damon got kicked to the curb by the Yankees despite playing well for them.  He played in 576 games in his four years with the Yankees and he was 636 for 2,231 (.285 avg, .821 OPS) with 410 runs scored, 77 homers, 296 RBIs and 93 stolen bases.  His agent, Scott Boras, is not doing a good job for Johnny Damon as Coco Crisp will likely make more money that him in 2010.  Damon has now played in 2,131 games in his 15 years in the majors and he is 2,425 of 8,408 (.288 avg, .794 OPS) with 1,483 runs scored, 207 homers, 996 RBIs and 374 stolen bases.  Damon would like to play three more years in the majors as he would like to get into the 3,000 hit club.  But, he will likely have to swallow his pride in 2010 and take a contract valued at way less than he is worth.  Six teams could probably use Johnny Damon right now especially with his price likely dropping into the bargain basement level.  The team that makes the most sense to me is the Tampa Bay Rays.  The reason is twofold as 1.) He can sleep in his own bed often as he lives less than two hours away in Orlando and 2.) He can stick it to the Yankees and Red Sox all season long.  The Tigers are also very interested in Damon as it would allow them to DH Carlos Guillen full time in a effort to keep him healthy in 2010.  The Braves are also very interested in Damon and I think he’s a good fit there.  The White Sox (DH), Giants (LF) and Reds (LF) all would be much better teams if they added Damon to the team.  Damon could be the final piece for a team like the Rays and they should really consider bringing him in.