Damon could have stayed if he so desired

The Tigers' Old English "D" looked just fine on him Monday, and Johnny Damon threw verbal bouquets all over the place, saluting his new employers.

Jim Leyland? "A Hall of Fame manager. Wow. I get to play for him now."

Team owner Mike Ilitch? "What a great guy."

Detroit? "Great city." Lakeland? "Great city." The team as a whole? "The sky's the limit."

As coincidence would have it, Damon even loves the Detroit Red Wings, also owned by Ilitch.

Yes, he laid it on thick, which is great news for Tigers fans. And, for New Yorkers, leads us to this conclusion:

It's a good thing Damon wasn't that important to the Yankees. For if he had been, this would go down as one of the uglier divorces in team history.

"I did what I could," Damon said, reflecting upon his largely successful four years with the Yankees. "I recruited for these guys. I did everything. I just let Scott [Boras] do his work. That's why he's there.''

Then, a Damon smile, followed by: "Every time I'm a free agent, I'm always on a new team."

Yes, Damon and Boras will continue to argue that the Yankees blindsided them this past offseason, and the Yankees will contend that Damon and Boras attempted to strong-arm the club and simply misread both the Yankees and the market.

I buy the Yankees' side more on this one. For instance, here's what Damon said Monday about the mudslinging: "There's so much false stuff. Unless it comes from my mouth, don't believe it, I guess."

But Boras speaks on Damon's behalf - Damon reiterated that Boras did a "great job" for him this winter - and when reporters mentioned to Damon that Boras himself told the Yankees not to make an offer featuring a pay cut from last year's $13-million salary, the 36-year-old sort of shrugged. "Coming off a great year," he said, it was "a little humbling" to realize that a pay cut was likely.

He spoke as if he still felt regret for the way things worked out, even if he didn't admit to such. He'll take the bigger hit in this split-up. The Tigers could contend, after all, and the fan base there is underrated. Yet Damon would be the first to tell you how much he loved being part of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry the past eight years.

The Yankees? They really should be fine. Replacing Damon and Hideki Matsui with (payroll-wise) Curtis Granderson, Nick Johnson, Javier Vazquez and Randy Winn represents a smart, solid bet. Really, if you compare divorces, Damon hurt the Red Sox much more four years ago, because a) he was more valuable then as a 32-year-old centerfielder, and b) he bolted for the hated Yankees.

Damon said, that at the urging of Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia, he held another round of phone calls with Yankees officials in mid-January. One could argue that it was Damon who wanted to make such calls, rather than the other way around. In any case, Damon said, he had a brief conversation with Hal Steinbrenner that concluded with the Yankees' managing general partner saying, "We just can't do anything."

From there, he had another month of round-and-rounds with the Tigers, trying to wrangle a two-year deal, until he finally surrendered for the one-year, $8-million package.

Detroit is "the place I wanted to be, from day one," he said, quickly amending that to mean "after the Yankees signed Johnson." Whatever.

Yes, this could've been a far uglier parting. But then again, if the Yankees desperately wanted to retain Damon, then, you know, they would've just paid to do so.