As much as I don’t want to I’m compelled to throw my paltry two pennies into the fray regarding Derek Jeter and his demand for $23 million per season to come back to the NY Yankee’s in 2011. He’s a free agent now and the negotiations have started but as of this writing no other team has shown any interest in him. I know it’s early and several teams would love to have a guy like that but he doesn’t want to go anywhere else. His legacy (unlike Brett Favre who apparently doesn’t understand the meaning of the word) is with the Yankee’s. The Yankee’s want to pay him $13 million per season and the two are pretty far apart in the early stages and tempers are flaring.

Hmmmm! Now don’t get me wrong, I like Derek Jeter. As far as an athlete goes he is a class act and a first round Hall of Fame player for sure, but, he’s a 37 year old base hitter and had a terrible year last year and he’s not the first name you think of when you think about the Yankee’s. Of course, Jeter doesn’t see it that way, which is why the gulf between him and the Yankees remains so wide. He considers himself a generational superstar, the Michael Jordan of baseball, an integral part of five championship seasons and he as clean as a sports superstar can get. However, lets not forget that the Yankee’s have paid Jeter $205 million in the past ten years so they know he’s worth the money.

Jeter has two or three years left, tops to play at his own set of high standards for calibre of play but age and history are ganging up on him fast. He’s in decline and the Yankee’s know it. When you hit 40 everything goes to hell in a hurry.

Jeter is great and everyone knows it but $15 million is all he’s going to get. I’m not sure he can live on that. It’s $92, 500+ per game! Poor bastard!

Jim

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