Derek Jeter’s Other Offers: Where Are They?
December 3, 2010 · Carl D. Carlucci · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
This is going to sound mean.
In fact, it will be in tune with the entire Yankees game plan this offseason.
Derek Jeter…where are the other offers that you’re looking for to make the Yankees increase their three-year, $45 million offer?
Oh, they’re nowhere to be found? How long has it been since Brian Cashman told you to go look for a better offer? And how long has it been since we’ve heard from your camp other than to talk about offers from the Yankees?
Methinks you need to recognize that nine days is an eternity when it comes to playing a game of chicken. If that is the case, then you and your agent have driven the car so far off the cliff that you’re now languishing in the passenger seat burning to a crisp while Brian Cashman sits in the front seat of his Camaro sporting his leather jacket and smoking his fifth victory cigarette.
Victor Martinez has been signed. Adam Dunn has been signed.
Newsflash Derek, both of those players are better hitters than you at this point in time.
The only positional players left on the free agency market are career scrubs and forgotten sluggers; oh, and a third baseman that likes to perform well in his contract years (go ahead Boston, re-sign Adrian Beltre, I dare you).
So where are these other offers, Derek?
Who is offering you more than the three years and $45 million that the Yankees offered you?
Who is going to be as nice as the Yankees and offer you more than those three years at $45 million?
The answer is nobody.
When weighing your value as a player against your legacy as a player, no club is going to clamor for you as much as the Yankees will. It’s just not going to happen.
The sooner you come to this realization the better.
Of course the small matter of pride strikes at your heart and brings forth bile in your stomach when you observe Alex Rodriguez’ contract, but remember that you have always and will always be a Yankee in the hearts of Yankees fans.
Both of you can attend “Old Timer’s Day,” but you will be the only one who has earned and will receive the unwavering support of the Yankees fans.
Make no mistake, Rodriguez might make more money than Jeter in the coming years, but that doesn’t change who is No. 1 in the heart of Yankees fans.
And that’s why Jeter should not fret about making what seems like an insignificant amount of money for the remainder of his career. He will be infinitely more valuable as a Yankee than Alex Rodriguez will after their careers are over.
For that matter, he is infinitely more valuable attaining his 3,000th hit as Yankee then he is donning any other uniform.
Rodriguez will probably get 3,000 hits and maybe the home run record, but he will never get 3,000 hits as a Yankee and about half of those home runs will have come as a member of the Mariners and Rangers.
Consider this a perversion of a love letter, Derek. Sure anybody could argue that the very facts listed right above this sentence entitle you to more money than the Yankees have offered you, but at the same time this ensures you will be invaluable to the Yankees down the road.
And then there’s always the rude, mean side of the argument that most Yankees fans don’t want to recognize: Where are the other offers, Derek? Who is going to give you a better deal than the Yankees?
Chances are the team did not want to enter into this mudslinging affair. Chances are they met with you and told you that they were not going to overpay you for past services rendered. Chance are they offered you this three-year, $45 million contract in private to avoid this whole mess.
But your pride got in the way of things. Pride stings, as Butch says in Pulp Fiction. Now the Yankees are offering you more without another competitive offer on the table, all to help you save face.
Don’t be foolish and let your pride destroy the end of your career, which should be magnificent, Derek. Re-sign with the Yankees and put yourself in position to win a World Series ring for your other hand.
Realize, like Mariano Rivera did, that extra money, even though it’s not there in your case, is not worth ruining your legacy as one of the greatest players for one of the greatest franchises in all of sports history.
And as far as I can see, most of the mainstream media is trying to be nice to you by holding back on the lack of other offers that are pouring in for your services because you are who you are.
After all of this, Yankees fans will still love you specifically because you are who you are.
Alex Rodriguez will always be a second-rate slugger in Yankees lore, Derek. There will, for the foreseeable future, only be one five-plus-time World Series champion and 3,000-hit Yankee.
That’s worth more than money (that isn’t really on the table) and faux-pride.
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