Yanks Sign Damon: Time to Celebrate? Not So Fast.

Johnny Damon had a choice on how he wanted to spend the next four years: $40 million richer with long hair in Boston or $52 million richer with short hair patrolling centerfield for the New York Yankees. Damon may be a self-proclaimed "idiot" but he's not stupid -- he took the cash. With Scott Boras as his agent, you really thought loyalty would even be factored into the equation? Think again.

So how does this impact the greatest rivalry in sports? In the short-term, it clearly improves the Yankees and hurts the Red Sox. So Yankee fans should start celebrating, right? Not so fast. On the plus-side, Johnny Damon is a very good ballplayer and he's a clear upgrade in CF over any combination of Bernie Williams and Bubba Crosby. So what's the problem? The problem isn't Damon. It's that CF and the leadoff slot in the batting order are NOT the reason that the Yankees haven't won the World Series in any of the past five years.

Yankee fans are drooling over the thought of Johnny Damon at the top of the batting order. Yes, the batting order is impressive but scoring runs hasn't been the problem -- New York scored the second most runs in baseball last year WITHOUT Damon. And Damon's on-base-percentage last season (.366) would have only ranked him sixth among Yankee regulars. It's not like Derek Jeter (.389 OBP) wasn't getting the job done at the top of the order.

Bottom-line: Damon is a good signing. However, the Yankees were going to make it to their 12th consecutive post-season in 2006 with or without Damon. And once they get there, it's going to be the pitching - not the centerfielder - that determines whether or not they can win their first World Series since 2000. In other words, the most critical off-season signing for the New York Yankees isn't Johnny Damon ... it's Kyle Farnsworth and Octavio Dotel and Mike Myers and Ron Villone. Still feel like celebrating?