Johnny Damon

Johnny Damon has a chance to return to the one place he thought would never take him again. The Red Sox claimed the Detroit Tigers outfielder on waivers today, he said.

He found out about 3 p.m., when his agent called his wife.

Because of a no-trade clause in his contract, Damon gets to decide whether he returns to the Red Sox. The Tigers are allowed to trade him to eight teams without his permission, but Boston was not one of them. Damon has until Wednesday afternoon to decide whether to allow a deal to be made.

“I have to think long and hard if I’m going to be one of the nicest guys in baseball but, again, the most hated guy in baseball,” Damon said.

Damon left the Red Sox for the archrival New York Yankees after the 2005 season. He signed a one-year, $8-million contract with the Tigers this off-season, after four years in New York.

He often is booed in opposing parks even now and has said it wears on him. On the other hand, Damon said, if he allowed the trade, he would get a chance to repair his fractured relationship with Red Sox fans.

As this afternoon, Boston was 5 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay for a wild-card spot and 6 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees. Damon called that positioning “intriguing.”

“If, somehow, we (Red Sox) pulled it together and made the playoffs, that could mean a lot to people,” he said.

The Tigers reportedly placed Damon on waivers Friday. Damon figured he might get picked up by Tampa Bay or New York.

But by Boston?

“I thought that ship had sailed,” he said.

Though he enjoyed playing in Boston -- Damon became part of the self-described “Idiots,” a group of scrappy players that led the Red Sox to a World Series title in 2004 -- he said things turned ugly during contract negotiations following the 2005 season.

Damon, 36, said his preference is to stay in Detroit instead of packing up his family for what could be a five-to-six-week stop in Boston. He said he would like to remain a Tiger even next year. He said he loves the organization and that club officials have been “upfront and honest with him.”

However, he said if he did agree to go to the Red Sox, he could help the Tigers by bringing in a prospect.

Entering today’s game against Kansas City, Damon was hitting .270 with four home runs and 40 RBIs.

He said he's glad to have time to think about it because the decision will be tougher than when he chose to leave Boston for New York.

“It’s something I have to think about,” he said. “I promise I won’t think about it during the game.”

Damon was penciled into the third slot of tonight’s lineup against the Royals as the designated hitter.