Major League Baseball

Jeter puts anger toward Yanks in past

Published Feb. 7, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

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Derek Jeter's anger with the Yankees was visible at the December press conference to announce his new contract. But Monday morning at the Yankees' minor-league complex, Jeter said he's over the hurt feelings he had from his negotiations.

"It's over with, done with," Jeter told three reporters. "You can't change the past."

The Yankees captain was out early Monday morning taking batting practice, playing catch and fielding some grounders at shortstop. That's right, grounders at short — not fly balls in center field.

Jeter said he didn't pay much attention to the controversy caused last month when Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke hypothetically about a move to center field for Jeter in a few years.

"I've been here long enough to not really pay attention to everything," Jeter said.

Asked about the possibility that the issue of him changing positions could linger for the remainder of his career, Jeter said he's not concerned about it.

"I don't even think about it," he said. "I have a job to do. My job isn't to try to tell the future. I wish I could, but I can't. I'm not a fortune teller. I don't have a crystal ball at my house. My job is to do what my job is and that's to play shortstop."

Jeter signed a three-year, $51 million deal with a player option for 2014 with the Yankees in December. This came after a few weeks of back-and-forth between the Yankees front office and Jeter's agent.

The negotiations also brought up issues of how long Jeter can play shortstop and if the 36-year-old is in decline.

Last year was Jeter's worst statistical season since he became an everyday player. He hit .270 and had a .340 on-base percentage.

Jeter said he is not dwelling on 2010.

"I've always been pretty good in my career in terms of forgetting about previous seasons whether it's a good season or a bad season," Jeter said.

"I mean that from a team standpoint. Whether you win or you lose you don't go into spring training walking around just because you won thinking it's going to be easy. You have to forget about, you have to move on. It goes that way when you're talking about personal as well. You have to be able to put previous seasons behind you and focus on the one that's coming up."

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