We’re still waiting to see the puffs of white smoke eminating from Yankee Stadium, but at least Jeter and his agent Casey Close are sitting down and chatting:
The two sides had not spoken in several days. The Yankees have made Jeter a three-year, $45 million offer. Jeter, according to the New York Times, wants a four- or five-year deal worth $23 million to $24 million per season.
The extent that each side is willing to compromise is not known, but the expectation throughout the industry is that Jeter will remain with the Yankees.
No word if the “reality juice” was served but “sources close to the negotiations” indicate graham crackers and Hi-C were offered.
/cue the Gregorian chanting
From all-around good guy and fellow ‘Cuse grad Jeff Passan, some interesting stuff out of the Greinke-land:
Though Kansas City starter Zack Greinke has a no-trade clause in his contract that includes the Yankees and other big-market teams, a source close to the right-hander suggested he would happily pitch anywhere that would provide a winning team.
“I wouldn’t put it past him to go to New York,” the source said. “I don’t think he’d rule out anybody. He says he likes New York. Especially because they’re winners. He wants to go to a team that wins.
“He’s got a list, but in the process, a lot of people have lists.”
It’ll be tough now that the team has effectively decided that the starting catcher’s gig will be Jesus Montero’s to lose, but if the team loses out on the Cliff Lee money dump, there’s a Plan B out there. What, you were thinking Pavano, Part Duh?
Me, I’d rather just see the Brinks truck arrive in Arkansas, dump a pile on Lee’s front lawn and say: “Does this do it for you?” and have Cashman in the passenger seat, contract in hand. Better than trading the farm. It’s just money, afterall.
I just might have to attend this personally*:
Cashman is scheduled to rappel from the 350-foot Landmark Building in Stamford, Conn., Friday and Sunday as part of the Stamford’s Heights and Lights event as a celebrity guest elf.
Wearing a full harness and dressed in an elf costume, according to Stamford Downtown president Sandy Goldstein, Cashman will jump off the 22-floor building. There is no protective netting, a spokesperson for the event said.
Can I give a pre-emptive complaint from Yankeeville: “What, Cash? You’ve got extra time on your hands? Get Lee, Mo, Pettitte and Jeter signed already!”
*who’s with me?
[picture courtesy of NYMag]
Elf yourself here
I included a photoshopped Jeter in a RedSox jersey earlier today here.
If you want to see the rest of the brilliance featuring Jeter in every other uniform, have a look here. Worth a chuckle as you end your miserable work day and get started on your equally miserable commute.
This has absolutely nothing to do with any of the contract machinations going on or, quite frankly, anything whatsoever related to the news of the moment. It is simply a note my dad received from the late Hank Bauer back in 1985 after attending the Mantle/Ford fantasy camp. Maybe there’s something to the “good old days” after all, besides grainy black and white footage and Mel Allen.
I just love me some Big Red Dan Shaughnessy. His overblown, well-past-its-time obsession about the Yanks/Sox feud never gets old. It only gets stupider-er:
Suppose the Red Sox step up and shock the world? There is simply no downside to making Jeter a massive offer. In the worst-case scenario he calls your bluff and you get the Yankees captain.
I don’t care if Jeter is way past his prime or if the Sox would have to wildly overpay a player of his diminished skills.
I say offer him the world. Forget about Jayson Werth. Blow Jeter away with dollars and years. At worst this would just mean the Sox would jack up the final price the Yankees must pay. It could be sort of like Mark Teixeira-in-reverse.
And if Jeter actually signed with Boston, the damage to the Yankees’ psyche would be inestimable.
Um, no it wouldn’t, Big Red. We, the Yankee fans, would be intially pissed about Jeter bailing for Boston, but ultimately, wins mean the most and for the Sox to redirect their resources towards an aging shortstop instead of an impact player would be beyond foolish for them. Beyond dumb. Only someone with a lack of grasp on what the fans would want (or not want, in the Yanks’ case) would have the nerve to type something like the blockquote above.
(click “view full post” to read more)
Take a trip in the way-back machine back to the offseason of 2000 when a then-26-years-young Derek Jeter signed a whopping ten year, $189 million contract. And ten years ago, a young kid by the name of Troy Tulowitzki was already a Jeter fan. Tulo would go on to forge quite an early career for himself and now appears, also at the age of 26, to be on the verge of his own ten year contract:
Insider’s Keith Law reports Monday night that the club is nearing a 10-year contract extension with Troy Tulowitzki.
The 26-year-old shortstop is in the middle of a 6-year, $31 million contract he signed prior to the 2008 season, but put up MVP-caliber numbers while continuing his strong defense at a premium position on the field. The new deal would presumably take effect immediately, tearing up the current pact which would have paid him $5.5 million in 2011.
Of course, this would scuttle my dreams of having Tulo join the Yanks after his contract (and option) were completed after 2015, after Jeter himself retired. Oh well.
An early congrats to Tulo if he indeed signs a 10-year deal. He’s got a heckuva role model to follow, on and off the field.
(click “view full post” for a bit more nostalgia)
If I don’t do another Jeter + contract posting until a deal is done, I’d be thrilled. But given the fact that the San Francisco Giants lost (one of) their shortstop today as Juan Uribe signed with the rival LA Dodgers, the San Fran connection is again worth mentioning:
One of the teams most often mentioned as a possible alternative destination for Mr. Jeter is the San Francisco Giants. They could be attractive in that they would give him a chance to win and play in a big market. And Giants general manager Brian Sabean was the Yankees’ vice president of player development when they drafted Mr. Jeter in 1992.
The Giants have been in contact with Mr. Jeter’s agent, Casey Close, who also represents their catcher, Buster Posey. But they are not seriously pursuing him at the moment, according to a person familiar with the team’s thinking.
Worth mentioning? Maybe. A stretch? Probably. Realistic? I doubt it.
(click “view full post” to read more)
Happy 41st to the Greatest Closer of All-Time!
Here’s to hoping your deal is as close as we’re hearing! Sure would make a sweet birthday present.
Executives involved in the bidding for Cliff Lee believe the negotiations will gather momentum in the week ahead, perhaps to a point where the All-Star left-hander will choose his next employer sometime during the winter meetings that start Dec. 6.
Lee, the 2008 American League Cy Young Award winner and among the most dominant postseason pitchers in history, is drawing interest from the Texas Rangers — who traded for Lee during the 2010 season and want to re-sign him — and the Yankees, along with other teams.
The agent for Lee, Darek Braunecker, indicated on Saturday afternoon that he and his client could meet with anywhere from one to three teams in the week ahead.
“We’ve got a fair number of teams trying to work through the process,” Braunecker said. “It’s probably fair to say we’ve got a half-dozen teams in the mix.”
That sounds about right. The winter meetings and the 2-3 weeks after it are generally where you see the big free agents sign, at it’s when the Yankees made their blitz of signings prior to the 2009 season. My guess is that Lee is signed with a team by December 15th, and he’ll probably get most of a deal done at the winter meetings. And while there may be 6 teams showing interest, I’d say the only serious candidates are probably the Yankees and Rangers, with the Nationals just on the outside of that.
The more interesting question is how much Lee will sign for.Most reports have the Yankees set to open with a 5 year, $120 million deal, though at least one person has reported that they’ll make Lee the same offer they made Sabathia: 6 years, $140 million. I’m not buying the latter offer at all, simply because Lee is older than Sabathia was, and because they aren’t nearly as desperate for pitching now as they were in 2008. I don’t think they’ll have a problem giving Lee his money, but I don’t think they’ll go to 6 or 7 years or anywhere near the total potential value of Sabathia’s contract to get Lee. The question is, will anyone else? And if someone like the Nationals are willing to outbid the Yankees, would Lee actually sign with them?
Two weeks ago, we looked at the Yankees’ budget: whether such a thing really exists (we concluded: “yes”), how large the budget might be (we concluded: in the range of $210 – $215 million for beginning-of-season player payroll), and whether a free agent like Cliff Lee could be fit within this budget (we concluded: no, not without increasing the budget).
The reaction to my post was interesting! Brian, a top poster and great friend to our site, wrote that “the Yankees true budget is… whatever it takes to make the playoffs.” New friend to the site Jim P commented that Yankees spending could conceivably bump up against “what are at some point limited resources”, but Jim seemed to imply that the Yankees were nowhere near that bumping point.
The comments here reflect comments elsewhere. A widely published article last week referred to the Yankees’ “money machine-gun”. ChicagoBusiness.com is one of many places you can read that the Yankees have “money to burn”. Craig Calcaterra (one of my favorite sportswriters) put it this way: “The Yankees basically print money.”
In short: my commenters and the baseball press do not take the Yankees’ budget seriously. The common view is that the Yankees might have a budget in the same way that Bill Gates might have a credit limit on his VISA card, the same way that Michael Bloomberg might clip coupons or Paris Hilton might buy a dress off the rack.
This common view is silly, of course.
(click “view full post” to read more)
Let it be known that this is NOT a Jeter apologist post. I feel like everyone has gone overboard in criticizing Jeter’s demands, and frankly assuming that a man and a team of intelligent, well-paid people have gone insane is … well … a little insane.
6 years and 150 million dollars. Let that sink in for a moment. 6 years and $150 million. That’s a lot of money and years for anyone, and it’s a lot for an aging shortstop. Whether you think Jeter’s actual demands were a little lower, 6 and 125 is still a lot, and 4 or 5 years at $23 million per (which is the lowest demand I’ve seen from that side) is still a lot. When it was revealed that one of these was Jeter’s asking price, the immediate reaction was one of shock and disdain. How he could he ask for so much? I mean 3/45 is maybe a little short, but 6/150? That’s insane. But is it?
First of all, this is the starting point. While 6/150 or 6/125 is entirely too much for Jeter, it’s not exactly outrageous. The Yankees have handed out contracts to Alex Rodriguez ($31 MM for next season), CC Sabathia ($23 MM), and Mark Teixeira ($22.5 MM) that are all right around what Jeter is asking per season, and when you ask who has meant more to the franchise, Jeter definitely wins in that competition. Jeter is at least at that level of stardom, and he has the right to ask for what the other stars on the team are receiving. But the key part of that last sentence is the word “ask”. We all know how negotiations work. One side, the paying side, offers a little lower than what they’re willing to pay, and the other side, the receiving side, asks for a little more than they’re willing to settle for. In this case, Jeter shot over the moon, but he, as stated above, has the right to ask for that price. Most of us understand that part, so the next question becomes why it is taking so long. We’ve established the sides, so let’s move towards the middle, right? Well, the quicker side to relent shows weakness, and Jeter, being stubborn, has refused to relent so far. Yes, he risks the Yankees simply pulling the offer, but we all know that the Yankees aren’t going to do that. Jeter knows that, too, and he can simply wait for a while. This doesn’t have to go down now. But it is essential that we remember that this is not Jeter’s final offer, just an opening bid. Starting out ridiculously high makes everything else seem “reasonable”, even a fourth or fifth year.
(click “view full post” to read more)
Some videos as a tribute to the great Leslie Nielsen who sadly passed away today. Thanks for the laughs!
(click “view full post” to watch the baseball-related videos)
