Fire Jeter Complaining About Contract Talks

Jeter needs to move on.

In a soon-to-be-released book by ESPN's Ian O'Connor, details have emerged regarding Derek Jeter's contract negotiations with the Yankees. In the book, Jeter was very angry with the way the talks were handled and he should be fired for thinking the Yankees mistreated him.

According to the book, which also details Jeter's strained relationship with A-Rod, Jeter walked out of a 4-hour meeting with Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner after 45 minutes in part because he was angry about leaks to the media. Cashman reportedly asked Jeter to stay and said: "'You said all you wanted was what was fair. How much higher do we have to be than the highest offer for it to be fair?'"

The Yankees were more than fair. Everybody knows Jeter had his worst season in 2010, and few players in the history of the game who didn't take steroids (and Jeter doesn't) have avoided rapid decline as they approached age 40. The Yankees offered him $45 million for 3 years but eventually agreed to pay him $51 million for 3 years with a 4th-year option even though Jeter hit .270 last year with a .710 OPS.

Jeter sought something along the lines of $80 million over 4 years, which was completely unrealstic, and it seems like he's bitter someone finally said no to him. Jeter had no other offers, he's become a mediocre SS and his hitting will never again be as good as it was. So far this year, Jeter is hitting .257 with a .601 OPS. That can be dismissed as meaningless in April, but there is a disturbing trend. Of Jeter's 19 hits, just 2 have gone for extra bases. That's 11% of his hits, compared with 24% of his hits going for extras last year, which of course was a down year. The Yankees signed on for 3 years of declining productivity, and they will probably regret it whether or not Jeter remains an everyday player.

While George Steinbrenner would have kissed Jeter's feet and given the Captain whatever he wanted, this is a new New York Yankees. Jeter had never dealt with the new New York Yankees, which seem committed to overpaying by less and doing it less often. Jeter couldn't take that reality, and he has no right to be angry about his contract because the Yankees were more than fair. Jeter is still the highest-paid SS in the game even though he is now far from the best. By comparison, Florida's Hanley Ramirez is scheduled to make $11 million in 2011. He hit .300 with an .853 OPS and 21 home runs in 2010, which for him was a down year. Jeter has no right to be upset, and his resentment should be fired.