Major League Baseball

Jeter learns how Yanks do business

Published Dec. 7, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

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Bob Klapisch

Everyone made sure to smile for the cameras because, after all, that’s what press conferences are for — especially when the subject at hand is a brand new, three-year, $51 million contract that finally has Derek Jeter’s signature.

But that’s not to say Jeter is happy at the way the Yankees conducted themselves during a month-long negotiation.

The captain, who’s been programmed for stoicism throughout his career, admitted he was “angry” that the talks ended up in the newspapers. He appeared to single out GM Brian Cashman, who at one point said that if Jeter didn’t like the $45 million that was on the table, he was welcome to test his worth on the open market.

“For me it wasn't a good experience. How this became so public ... was uncomfortable and I got angry at times,” Jeter said to reporters at Steinbrenner Field on Tuesday. “When the organization says, 'go shop' when I said I wasn’t going to, yeah, I wasn’t happy about it.”

The Yankees’ response? Cashman effectively said, that’s life, that’s business, and insisted everyone had made peace and moved on.

True or not, it’s a good bet Jeter will never see his bosses in the same light — certainly not after he was forced to take a $4 million pay cut. If Jeter didn’t realize this has been a business relationship since his rookie year in 1996, he certainly does now.

All the great Yankees eventually came to the same conclusion at some point in their respective careers. All of them — including Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle ... even the beloved Bernie Williams in 2006.

Jeter’s turn came three weeks ago, when his agent Casey Close complained that the Yankees’ stance towards his client was “baffling.”

That was all the Bombers needed to hear. They considered a $15 million annual salary more than fair for a 36-year-old player coming off the worst offensive year of his career.

That’s when Cashman suggested Jeter go look for a better deal — knowing full well none existed. The GM said he had “no regrets” at having made the remark. He instead stood his ground, saying, “I was angry that I was put in a position that I had to respond.

“(Jeter’s camp) took a position and we responded to that position,” Cashman said. ”Sometimes it spills over into the public arena; a lot of people are watching and sometimes the whole world gets let in. That’s life.”

Cashman made sure to say there were no hard feelings, and to be fair, Jeter said likewise.

Jeter now has to prove his critics wrong in 2011 and beyond. He needs to seal up the hole in his swing that made him vulnerable to power fastballs up in the zone last year. He needs to see more pitches per at-bat. He needs to hit more line drives and reverse a trend line that’s turned him into a ground ball machine.

All that is possible, says Jeter, who believes his .270 average last year was merely a “hiccup” in a Hall of Fame career. Next up is 3,000 hits (he’s 74 shy) and 1,700 runs (15 away), a combination achieved by only 11 players in the game’s history.

By any other logic, Jeter should be energized and empowered for the final leg of his brilliant career.

We’ll see if the shortstop is serious about not holding grudges.

But Jeter’s reaction to the Yankees’ tactics suggests A) he was naïve to think a player of his stature could negotiate a huge contract in utter secrecy, and B) that he wasn’t indirectly responsible for the talks going public.

It was Close, after all, who challenged the Yankees in the New York Daily News, the nation’s largest tabloid. This is what Jeter’s agent told Mike Lupica:

"There's a reason the Yankees themselves have stated Derek Jeter is their modern-day Babe Ruth. Derek's significance to the team is much more than just stats. And yet, the Yankees' negotiating strategy remains baffling. They continue to argue their points in the press and refuse to acknowledge Derek's total contribution to their franchise."

When asked about those comments, Jeter chose to distance himself, saying, “that was Casey’s opinion.”

When it was pointed out that Close works for Jeter — that the agent’s voice is essentially the same as the client’s — the shortstop again pushed back, saying, “(you) don’t have to agree with everything that’s said about you.”

Surely Jeter can’t believe that; he’s paid Close five percent of the $200 million he’s made in the big leagues to articulate precisely how he feels. In this case, Close was Jeter’s advocate in a fierce struggle to wrangle a new contract out of the Yankees.

Jeter can’t have it both ways: He can’t send his agent to war against professional sports’ greatest monolith and pretend to stand on the sidelines.

Maybe Jeter was afraid of soiling his image, getting dirty in the fight that turned unexpectedly fierce. He paid lip service to being part of a “happy family,” but he knows better now: Baseball is big business, even for a star like Jeter.

Or, shall we say, especially for a star like Jeter.

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