Serves “Great Guy” Damon right for leaving Boston over a half mil a year.
My recollection is that Johnny Damon’s departure was basically a function of Lucchino’s general arrogance and incompetence in the negotiation process as he attempted to low-ball the new contract deal with Damon. The Yankess slipped in and stole one of Boston’s most important (IMHO)players while Lucchino was parading around with his jaw stuck out trying to show how tough and clever he was.
Theo Epstein had quit before the Damon debacle due to Lucchino’s continual interference in the office. After Epstein’s departure, the general management situation got so stupid so fast that it induced John Henry to force Lucchino to swallow his ego (no easy feat considering its size) and hire Epstein back on Epstein’s own terms.