With Victor Martinez (likely) out for the season with a torn ACL, the Tigers must now try to find a bat that can replace a fraction of what he would have produced in 2012. One guy the Tigers are seriously looking at is Johnny Damon:
@jonmorosi
Jon Morosi #Tigers are indeed pursuing Johnny Damon, source says. At this point, he's a stronger possibility than Derrek Lee.
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The Tigers are obviously familiar with Damon, as he played for the Tigers two years ago. He's been a model of consistency in the pros and one would think you know what you're getting. But that wasn't the case for Damon the first time he signed with the Tigers.
With Detroit, Damon had a line of .271/.355/.756 with eight home runs and 51 RBI in 145 games. He hit .261/.326/.743 with 16 home runs and 73 RBI in 150 games with the Tampa Bay Rays last season. In Damon's 17 seasons, he's only had three seasons (two coming early in his career) with a slugging lower than what he slugged in Detroit in 2010. His eight homers were the least he's had since 1997 and even his 11 steals were his lowest total since his rookie season in 1995 when he only played 47 games. Damon, entering his age 38 season, is not getting any younger, either.
Now, I thought he was an adequate replacement for Placido Polanco in 2010, and I was satisfied with his production despite otherwise having a down year, but I saw enough -- the Tigers should try to find another bat in attempting to replace Martinez.