i’m not sure what to make of the most recent chapter in derek jeter’s contract negotiations with the yankees. make no mistakes about it — i’m a pay on performance type of guy. however, i believe that certain players transcend their capabilities and results on the field. their impact can be felt directly on the business front via merchandising, ticketing, broadcasting, and other fronts. they become one with the brand of the team who employs them. to imagine either without the other is nearly impossible. such is the case with these negotiations. that’s what makes the latest chapter even more baffling.
i get that the yankees want to send a message that there’s a limit to the spending they can justify. i get that they’re taking an objective, hard line approach to the fact that his performance on the field declined last year — that this trend could easily continue given his advanced age at 36. i do find it convenient that they’re quick to forget that the 2009 season prior to this was a championship season. jeter’s stats were some of his best. i dare say that the yankees may not have won the ring without jeter leading as he did. so why are the yankees parading around the tough rhetoric? why are they leaking ugly talk to the media — that jeter needs to “drink the reality potion” or that he should test the market as a mean of comparison-shopping? these moves don’t just harm jeter. they also harm the yankees.
interesting side note here. while jeter’s negotiations have been headline sports news, teammate mariano rivera has purposely kept his offseason negotiations as quiet as possible. he and his agent, fern cuza, believe that is the best way to get a deal done. well, that contract is reported to be near completion.
