Jeter: "This is where I want to be"

by Ed Valentine on Feb 25, 2010 8:20 AM EST in News Comment 19 comments

You probably know by now that Derek Jeter addressed his future with the New York Yankees on Wednesday. Tyler Kepner says Jeter would have a lot to lose if he ever did leave the Yankees.

Jeter would have a lot to lose if he left the Yankees after this season, when his 10-year, $189 million contract expires. He understood the team’s history long before he was part of it. Most of the Yankees’ icons never wore another major league uniform. Gehrig. DiMaggio. Mantle. Mattingly.

Jeter’s name fits beside them, with his teammates Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada. Putting Jeter at Wrigley Field or Angel Stadium would be as incongruous as relocating the Statue of Liberty to Boston Harbor.

Jeter without the Yankees, though, is somewhat harder to fathom. He would be just another mercenary star — Pete Rose with the Phillies, Rod Carew with the Angels, Paul Molitor with the Blue Jays. He could still win championships and chase milestones, but something important would be lost.

Jeter said he would not think about his legacy until his career is over. But there is value in preserving that legacy and all it represents.

Remember how weird it looked when Jeter was wearing the Team USA uniform in the World Baseball Classic? ESPN's Jayson Stark, and several Yankee players, can't even picture the possibility of Jeter wearing another major league uniform.

"Some things in life are impossible," Javier Vazquez said. "And that's got to be impossible."

"Come on, man," Andy Pettitte said. "He won't be in another uniform. Never. Him or Mariano Rivera. That can't happen."

"That would be weird," Joba Chamberlain said. "Really weird. You see guys like Johnny Damon who weren't with this team anywhere near as long, and it looks weird with them. So if it happened to [Jeter], it would be really, really weird."

Yeah, no kidding. Try, we told Chamberlain, to even envision the sight of Jeter running around a field wearing a Royals uniform. Just try.

"I can't," Chamberlain said. "He'd look so out of place. If you ever saw him in anything other than pinstripes or the grays, everybody'd be looking at him, going: 'Who is that guy?'"

Just a couple of other notes this morning.

Curtis Granderson will wear contact lenses this season for the first time in his career.
Minor-league pitching coordinator Nardi Contreras is touting a darkhorse candidate for the Yankee bullpen.

0 recs | Comment 19 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Good stuff.

I’m sure most people don’t doubt Jeter comes back but its great to hear some reassuring words. The article does put up a good point with guys like Griffey Jr., but I think Jeters case is special because of how well the Yankees have been under his leadership all these years (not to mention Griffeys fall from grace)

Hopefully Grandy finds it easier to hit with the lenses in.

by Gelatin on Feb 25, 2010 11:30 AM EST via mobile reply actions

The difference is that Griffey grew up a Reds fan. That’s the team his dad played on when he was a kid. Jeter, on the other hand, grew up a Yankees fan. Think about if you were playing baseball. Personally, I wouldn’t want to play for another team. I would take less money to play for the Yankees.

by Wraithpk on Feb 25, 2010 3:17 PM EST up reply actions

Unless something unexpected happens Jeter will be a Yankee for the rest of his career(and life) .

by slantman on Feb 25, 2010 11:48 AM EST reply actions

Jeter

I think Jeter is a guy who might actually want to buy a franchise some day. I have heard that discussed before. He’s a rich dude, of course, but I don’t know that he will ever have the resources to buy the Yankees from the Steinbrenners. In that case, he might be tempted to buy another team.

by Ed Valentine on Feb 25, 2010 12:06 PM EST up reply actions

Maybe...

He’ll buy a team like the Marlins one day and teach the state of Florida what good baseball management looks like.

by Gelatin on Feb 25, 2010 1:10 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

FL knows what good baseball management looks like...

That’s why they do well with payrolls a fraction of the size of other teams.

Baseball management is more than just shelling out cash…(even though the Marlins are pitiful in this regard and should be made to expand their payroll).

by upCHUCK on Feb 25, 2010 5:04 PM EST up reply actions

Do well.....?

the management knows what they are doing…… they use profit sharing to pay their players and pocket everything else.

by Gangsta Yanksta on Feb 25, 2010 8:40 PM EST up reply actions

Thank God someone got the joke.

by Gelatin on Feb 25, 2010 11:14 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

LIfe time Yankee ..

When the time comes, Jeter will ink a deal. Any talk of letting him go would be a PR disaster unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Cashman is too smart and savvy to let that happen.

"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will

by Ronster22 on Feb 25, 2010 1:23 PM EST reply actions

+1

Had I seen that you had written basically exactly what I wrote, I wouldn’t have bothered commenting below.

This sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love Fig Newtons.

by Lord Duggan on Feb 25, 2010 1:37 PM EST up reply actions

forget cashman

jeter is way too smart and way too classy. this guy is the definition of a true baseball player. he handled the situation perfectly. a-rod could certainly learn from jeter. jeter’s not going anywhere. he would be lost without the yankees and they would probably lost without him. its scary to imagine life without the captain. who will fill his shoes??

by Jersey Pinstripes on Feb 25, 2010 7:19 PM EST up reply actions

Cashman would never risk the absolute PR disaster that would be Jeter leaving

to save a few bucks.

0% chance.

This sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love Fig Newtons.

by Lord Duggan on Feb 25, 2010 1:36 PM EST reply actions

Who is Tyler Kepner?

Non-story, Jeter and Mo aren’t going anywhere, next.

by Great Gatsby on Feb 25, 2010 1:44 PM EST reply actions

Tyler Kepner is the NY Times Yankees beat writer

This is the time of year non- stories get published. Jeter needs the Yankees, the Yankees need Jeter (as long as he can play), they will do a deal, and I’m not the least bit worried about it. It’s a case of publish this story, or one on how some reliever is developing a change-up, or the other guy is throwing without pain, or that guy lost weight.

Please wait a week for the exhibition season to start and the stories to become marginally less meaningless.

by designatedquitter on Feb 25, 2010 1:52 PM EST reply actions

Jeter and Rivera

will never leave the Yankees, and they never should. Especially Jeter, who is the captain and face of the franchise. They CAN’T let him go. He won’t be nearly as valuable to any other team, and not nearly as liked by any other team, and frankly won’t be as good on any other team, than he would with the Yankees. If you ask a non-baseball fan- someone who knows NOTHING about baseball, to name a player on the Yankees, they probably can name Derek Jeter.

Jeter is a Yankee. He’ll always be a Yankee. You can’t picture him anywhere else. And the Yanks will overpay to bring him back, something other teams won’t ever do for a 36 year old shortstop. But like I said, Jeter wouldn’t be as valuable to those other teams.

If Jeter ever leaves the Yankees it will be a sad day for Yankees fans, and for baseball fans. I hope it never happens, and it probably won’t ever happen. Jeter is a unique case. Not even Rivera will is like he is, despite all that Mo has done for the team. Jeter will be brought back.

by nyyrocks29 on Feb 25, 2010 2:49 PM EST reply actions