Damon finds home, Jeter still doesn’t have contract

Online betting players have been watching the MLB offseason news to see if any moves helped their team’s World Series for the upcoming season. It’s been a quiet couple of weeks as teams are beginning to report to spring training. There are a couple of stories worth watching this week, one pertaining to a former Yankee, and one concerning the face of the franchise.

Johnny Damon

Damon didn’t want to take a pay cut to stay in New York after helping the Yankees to the World Series last year, his second ring after winning with the rival Red Sox from Boston in 2004. Damon hit 24 homers, his third time with 20 home runs or more, and he had the second-best slugging percentage of his career, even though he struck more than ever before. But the Yankees weren’t willing to pay the $13 million a year Damon was charging, and apparently, neither did anyone else. So Damon took a pay cut of $5 million for one year in Detroit, a team in need of some veteran leadership. They’re also in need of an outfielder after the Yankees signed Curtis Granderson, their All-Star, and Damon wants to show that he is still an everyday player. He’ll likely bat near the top of the lineup for the Tigers, whose offense struggled last year, and Damon could be the spark they need.

Derek Jeter

US sportsboook odds (US sportsbook reviews) are backing the Yankees to repeat as World Series champions, and if they still have their captain, that’s a good bet. Jeter, who has been with the Yankees his whole career and the captain since 2003, was an MVP candidate, coming in third in batting average, fourth in runs scored, second in hits, and he was 20^th in walks drawn. It’s difficult to imagine Jeter, along with Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada (Andy Pettitte, the last of the “Yankee Four”, went to Houston for a couple of seasons) in anything other than pinstripes, and the Yankees would like to sign their captain to an extension as he enters the final year of a 10-year, $189 million deal. The Yankees have a policy of not discussing new deals until a current contract expires, and Jeter says he has no problem with that, being a student of Yankee traditions. But it’s not going to stop the media from speculating where Jeter will be in 2011, and you have to wonder if it will affect the team, particularly Jeter, who is famous for his ability to focus. We all know the Yankees have no problem paying whatever they have to, so it’s likely that Jeter will retire in pinstripes, meaning the Yankees’ baseball odds are safe for this year.