Well, my fellow Damon fans, the sad fate we knew we were likely facing has come to fruition. The Yanks signed fellow - but much cheaper - veteran Randy Winn today for $2 million to be their fourth outfielder, shutting the door on any hopes of a Damon return. Joe Girardi confirmed the news on Mike Francesa's radio show tonight, saying he called Damon to wish him well and that he "is going to be missed".

As I explained last week, with an already incredible lineup and Brett Gardner available to play left field, investing in a pricey free agent like Damon really didn't make much sense. For just $2 million, Randy Winn actually fits the bill for the Yanks pretty well. He's a switch-hitter with a career .286 batting average (although he had a wretched 2009 - let's hope that was a fluke),, can run okay, and will almost certainly mis-play 90% fewer balls than Damon.

And if he sucks, Gardner will still be there.

In short, signing Winn was a generally wise move: why pay big bucks for a star when others are available to do 70% as good a job for 20% of the price?