There are three reasons why we can’t rationally like this move.

The first one is his future spot in the lineup. For a reason I have never really understood, everybody thinks Derek Jeter is not a Natural Leadoff Hitter™, and it appears the same people are now saying that the Yankees just bought the best Natural Leadoff Hitter™ in baseball. Sadly for us, Joe Torre is probably one of these people and every one of our major hitters is going to be bumped down a spot because of this absurd thinking.

Why is this thinking absurd? Let’s look at the statistical evidence :

Derek Jeter 2005 line : .309 / .389 / .450,  .839 OPS, 121 OPS+, .305 EqA
Johnny Damon 2005 line : .316 / .366 / .439,  .805 OPS, 113 OPS+, .280 EqA
Derek Jeter career line : .314 / .386 / .461,  .847 OPS,  121 OPS+, .301 EqA
Johnny Damon career line : .290 / .353 / .431,  .784 OPS, 102 OPS+, .265 EqA

Please stop listening to the media and all the traditional talk about grttiness, speed and how a player “makes things happen” (if that expression even has a meaning), then look at these four lines one more time and answer this question: in what demented world is Johnny Damon a better leadoff hitter than Derek Jeter?

What are the magical Natural Leadoff Hitter™ qualities that Damon would possess and not Jeter?

•   On base ability (that is, the notion that the guy you give the most at-bats to shouldn’t make outs)? Try again, because Jeter has been repeatedly and consistently better at that than Damon. Actually, they are in two very separate OBP leagues : the league of the decent OBP (slightly over .350) and the league of the very good OBP (close to .400 which is elite).
•   Speed and baserunning? Can people really say that Damon is a greater threat than Jeter on the basepaths and keep a straight face? Because from whatever way you look at it, Jeter is at least as good a baserunner as Damon.

So here we have a guy who is at best as good a runner as our current leadoff man, actually gets on base much less, and for some reason, he is the Natural Leadoff Hitter™. I don’t get it and to be honest, when I look at the following evidence:

•   Damon 2005 home / away splits : .334 / .391 / .440  vs.  .298 / .342 / .438
•   Damon 2002-2004 home / away splits : .318 / .388 / .448  vs. .278 / .340 / .433

I see a hitter that could have seen his recent numbers inflated by the “lefty playing 81 games in Fenway” factor. Not that Yankee Stadium is going to Petco his numbers, but a rational point could be made that Johnny’s numbers might go down a little bit, and if his OBP comes too close to his .340 away number, there is absolutely no reason to bat him leadoff.

I’ll go further than this and say that, despite the fact that there have been studies that a lineup construction doesn’t affect run production that much, there is no reason to give Johnny Damon more at-bats over the season than Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, and Hideki Matsui. There is just no reason. I dare anyone to give me one that makes sense.

So here you have the first rational argument against Johnny Damon: because he is considered a Natural Leadoff Hitter™, he is going to be awarded the most at-bats on a team that includes at least five better hitters than him. That’s a disgraceful misuse of resources, and we at NoMaas are not happy with it.