That said, his decision to stay with the Tigers is downright idiotic . . . or there is some larger force at work.
I keep playing this out in my head, and none of it makes any sense. Why would Damon want to stay with the moribund Tigers when he had a chance to join the Red Sox for 5 1/2 weeks of stretch-run fun? Why try to keep hitting at cavernous Comerica Park when he could return to friendly Fenway? Why play games that don’t matter when you can play games that still matter?
– Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe.
There are a lot of things about Dan Shaughnessy that don’t make sense to me, but one thing I’ve never understood is questioning a player’s motivations when he is unwilling to waive his no-trade clause.
He has a no-trade clause! There’s got to be a reason he got it put in there and if I had to take a guess, I’d bet it’s because he doesn’t want to be traded.
And look, you can say whatever you want about Johnny Damon’s desire to win or whatever just like I can go to my grave maintaining that he’s a huge sellout just for shaving the beard and going to the Yankees after 2004, even if I understand full well that baseball’s a business and he was just doing well by his family and everything. That’s all within our rights as fans.
I have no inside information or anything, but I’d bet Johnny Damon probably didn’t waive his no-trade clause because being traded is a huge pain in the ass and something he doesn’t want to deal with at this point in his career.
Hat tip to Can’t Stop the Bleeding.
Tedquarters 
Moving is not fun. And from the quotes I’ve read it seems like there are still some hard feelings about how he felt the Red Sox had a “you are easily replacable” attitude. He’s human, has feelings, and maybe he doesn’t want to go through there because there is still a bad taste in mouth.
Yeah, for serious. Moving sucks. What incentive does he have to uproot his family for 6 weeks? Probably none.
I also love the arrogance of “OMG you must be CRAZY not to want to come back to BOSTON.” Maybe he doesn’t want to go back because the a******* fans booed him like they do to any player who has the gall to leave Boston.
It seems as though “Red Sox Nation” has a short memory. I’ve lived in Massachusetts for the past six years, but being a Mets fan have watched the sports culture around here with a mix of fascination and revulsion.
The fans and the media here were downright awful to Damon during the free agent negotiations (when they sided with the team), when he signed with the Yankees (when they spent the whole time talking about what an over the hill traitor he is) and after he left (the endless booing, the “looks like Jesus, throws like Mary, acts like Judas” t-shirts).
Johnny Damon, for his part, displayed extraordinary class by taking out a full page ad in the Globe thanking the Red Sox fans for their support during his time with them.
In return, he gets nothing but insults and spite. And they wonder why he wouldn’t want to return?