Damon texts he's excited about Indians; however, deal isn't done yet

Johnny Damon sees retirement as something that's a long time away, and he's anxious to get playing again, so anxious that he texted back at 1 a.m. in answer to my question about whether he's going to the Indians, "Cleveland has always been great to me. And I'm looking forward to reuniting with a few teammates.''

He can hardly wait, and in fact he expressed his excitement about the move to Cleveland and rejoining his old red Sox teammate Derek Lowe before there is an actual agreement. Word came a bit later that there isn't quite a deal yet with Cleveland, which definitely is interested. The sides are in serious talks at the moment, and judging from Damon's responses, his bags may already be packed.

It appears that there is still a monetary gap in talks, which didn't stop Damon from answering my follow-up about how long he'd take to get into a major-league game by texting, "3 days of shagging and hitting but they probably want at least a week.'' Damon, who had 16 home runs, 19 stolen bases and a .261 batting average for the Rays last year, always has been the optimistic sort.

Damon went on to say he's been playing soccer and rated his last performance as "smooth'' but said he felt sorry he had to leave his soccer teammates, meaning for the Indians. Ken Rosenthal of Foxsports.com first reported late Tuesday night that Damon was signing with the Indians, and perhaps Damon reads the internet.

Damon does, in fact, appear likely to eventually have a new deal with the Indians, who could use him to play left field, where Shelley Duncan currently mans the position (Travis Hafner is their DH), after coming very close at one point to trading for the Angels' Bobby Abreu before a difference in dollars halted that trade. It just hasn't happened -- not yet, anyway.