Derek Jeter and the Yankees could have a contract finalized by Saturday, according to Roger Rubin and Bill Madden of the New York Daily News. The reported deal would pay Jeter "in the neighborhood of $19MM annually" over three years, and there could be a fourth year that vests if Jeter meets certain "reachable parameters."
The $19MM annual salary roughly matches the average salary earned by the Yankee captain over the span of the 10-year, $189MM pact he signed with New York before the 2001 season, if a mild step down from the $21MM he earned in 2010. $19MM also happens to be about the midpoint between each side's demands — Jeter was reportedly looking for $23MM per season and the Bronx Bombers only offered a three-year, $45MM contract.
If Jeter signs by the weekend and Mariano Rivera's contract is soon finalized, the Yankees will reach their goal of having both franchise icons back in the fold before the start of the winter meetings on Monday.
Infield Fly
Good. Get it over with. It’s enough already.
thedocjon
Agreed.
Billy
Great news
CullVernon
Sucks for them!
bonestock94
They can certainly afford it and there aren’t any SS options with his upside/career numbers. Too much money and years but still the best option this offseason.
Dave_Gershman
The soap opera ends. So what are we supposed to do with the rest of the off-season?
Infield Fly
Concentrate on what really matters….the other transactions for the other 29 teams – remember them?!
😉
Dave_Gershman
Oh yeah! thats right!
But y’all know I was making a joke…I’m actually really glad that this madness is finally getting conclueded. He’s staying where he belongs and thats a good thing. The money, well thats another thing.
MB923
Try to get Cliff Lee and another left handed reliever, and hope Pettitte comes back.
Infield Fly
He may not know it yet but Andy will be back for another “last” hurrah for you guys…and why not?
flickadave
Yeah and Andy should ask for 3 years at $19m a year.
Andrew
Too much.
yankees_and_89_more
the late 30’s 19 mil shortstop who bats 270 with 10 homers and a “gold glove”… this is going to be such a bargain!
vinnieg
how bout u use career stats not just last years.
MetsEventually
That makes no sense. He showed he aged pretty bad last year.
iicristianii
Thats 2 down now to go after Lee!
jt24
still $143 million to go
Paul
As a hater of the yankees I love this deal. So great, 19 mil a year for a positional player way way past his prime. Unlike Rivera no other club would be willing to pay that type of money to Jeter so he really had no other option. The yankees should have offered him 4/40 and said take it or leave it.
Also all the drama has been ridiculous, no other team would be willing to pay for him at 23 or eve 15 a season! This guy is done, but what makes me love this deal even more is the fact that both arod/jeter will be 40 on the left side of that infield.
dickylarue
Ridiculous overpay if this happens. The Yankees front office and owners should all be ashamed of themselves if they give him this kind of deal. He’s not worth it. To let his celebrity push you to pay him these kind of dollars? What a mistake.
MB923
True, but oh well, if they are to win the WS 1 of the next 3 years, I’m sure the additional $4 million to the original offer annually to Jeter won’t mean a dam thing to them.
MB923
Be honest, would any of you really be that surprised if he hit .300 next year? I wouldn’t be. I’m not expecting .334 like 2009, but don’t be shocked if he hits .300…..People thought he was done in 2008 and had one of his best years in 2009, followed by his worst year ever in 2010.
Tripod
Pretty embarassing for baseball to pay an average player 19M for 4 years, who is an average hitter, and a terrible fielder.
This is the reason a salary cap is needed in baseball.
The Luxury Tax was a mandate to limit spending. But the yankees could care less.
27 very tainted world series wins… And NO ONE IS JEALOUS of TAINTED WINS.
jjs91
He’s actually an average fielder, just stop embarrassing yourself.
Ferrariman
average compared to who? you? The guy up there might be saying a lot of useless dribble but Jeter is anything but average defensively
jjs91
I think i posted in another reply where i’m getting he’s average from. But could be below average, though i believe it would be slightly i mean off the top of my head i can name 10 worse defensive ss so it’s not exactly a stretch.
dickylarue
While the contract is ridiculous I don’t see how their wins are tainted. You’re being a bit ridiculous calling them that. Are the Red Sox wins tainted too because they spend almost 180 million on payroll last year?
If anything this deal hurts the Yankees, not the rest of baseball. They’ll be spending close to 10% of their salary to pay a player worth half that amount and be locked into him during his final years. They need to get younger at SS and will be stuck with Jeter till the bitter end.
MB923
Says the Dodger fan whose team also overpaid for their own SS who is average at best as well.
And we can argue defense all we want. Arguably the worst defensive SS in baseball (Possibly worse than Jeter) is probably the 1 Shortstop almost all teams not named the Coloardo Rockies would like to have, Hanley Ramirez. I’d take Hanley over any SS in baseball MAYBE with the exception of Tulo
MB923
Sorry Tripod, wrong reply
Well nonetheless, your team has had 7 different SS’s the past 7 seasons, when are you gonna have one play for more than 3 years with the team? lol
MetsEventually
They won a bunch before the expansion area and their last one was the most tainted of all of them.
YanksFanSince78
What’s tainted about it? You’re acting as if they did something wrong.
YanksFanSince78
He was an average hitter once in his entire career!!!! You ppl are really dramatizing his demise.
Granted, at $18.9 avg he was overpaid. Understood. But it’s NY and he’s had a HOF career and was a marketing king in NY.
Granted he is a SS with good hands who doesn’t make mistakes but has well below average range.
But over the last 3 years he’s avg’d (roughly) .300/.370/.415 w/ 13 hrs and 20 SB. By SS standards how many players have done that in the last 3 years? Maybe Tulo and Hanley? Maybe you give Reyes a pass because of his other offensive abilities? Maybe you give Young some credit despite being moved to 3B? Even with a horrible 2010 Jeter still remains a top 5 offensive SS over the last 3 years. $15 mil or more is too much but like others have mentioned, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Jeter hit something around .300/.360/.420 w/ 15 hrs and 20 SB. The only thing he is less likely to improve is his range. Hopefully, his intelligence in positioning himself and his hands will save him from being more of a liability.
peterherman
I’m no Yankee fan (though God help me, I married one) but to say that all 27 WS wins are suspect is ridiculous. There’s perhaps a point about buying championships for 98, 99 and 2000 but even 96 and 2009 were won by mostly home-grown players.
I grew up rooting for the Phillies and spent 10 years in Massachusetts rooting for the Red Sox. I’m a big enough man to say it: I’m jealous as HELL of the Yankees’ record of success.
bbxxj
On the open market a .710 OPS, below average defense at short and an aging body gets you what Tejada got, 6.5M, since they are pretty much the same baseball wise. Looks like Yankee fame is worth 50M+ these days.
jjs91
Tejada is worse defensivly and may not even be considered a ss anymore so Jeter would probably get more than him.
Ferrariman
so jeter is considered a shortstop still? I agree he would get more than tejada, but its not for defensive reasons thats for sure…
jjs91
Yes for one he actually played there for the most part of the year and when he played it he did better than tejada, who played other positions to. Fielding Runs Above Average based on UZR Jeters in the middle of the pack of defensive ss.
YanksFanSince78
he does play SS right? haha…Silly ish.
grownice
hahah they outbid themselves, sweeeet!
Moebarguy
Jeter is such a joke.
Slopeboy
I guess he is. I mean if anyone can recognize a joke, it would be the fan of a team with Wright,Reyes and Castillo playing on their infield.
Moebarguy
Derek, is that you?
Slopeboy
Don’t you recognize me? It’s me Bill James with my Stats book and my reality serum.
Moebarguy
“and slow grounder past Jeter…”
Slopeboy
It’s tough fielding with that heavy wallet and a gold glove.
Slopeboy
I guess he is. I mean if anyone can recognize a joke, it would be the fan of a team with Wright,Reyes and Castillo playing on their infield.
patburn
yeah this reminds me of when A Roid decided to become a free agent a couple years ago and the Yankees bid high and against themselves then too. They may be a winning club, but are run by idiots. I do hope baseball adds a salary cap.
ShottyGabels
Before anyone here can tell me about how afwul this deal is kindly tell me the ballpark value of an extremely marketable player in the most massive baseball market in the world. The Yankees are an extremely successful franchise, both competitively and financially. Something tells me that there’s a few pieces of information that they have and you don’t.
Brian
Yes that is probably true. Doesn’t mean you have to pay an aging player twice his market value.. Yankees are just lucky it’s a 3 year deal and not more.
Brian
Yes, lets get this deal done. And then we can focus on teams that practice some fiscal sanity. He got paid double what he should have. So Jeter and his agent win this fight. A fight not among other teams, no just one team bidding against itself again! Well enough said..
Brian
briantebay
Wow, the Yankees are so stupid. Jeter has been one of the worst SS in the league for years, his offense is getting worse and worse, and they’re going to pay him about $20MM/yr?!?! Sounds like something really stupid that the Yankees would do. Have fun wasting even more money, morons.
Joe L
I hate the Yankees but I’m not going to criticize them for giving in a little to Jeter’s demands.
The same people that are criticizing the Yanks for giving into Jeter are the same people that would laugh it up and say what a huge mistake it was if the Yanks let him take a walk.
They HAD to re-sign him, get over how overpaid he is; we know it, the Yanks know it, and even Jeter and his agent know it.
YanksFanSince78
Why was my post taken down? I did a lot of research on it.
elmaschingon151
im tired of hearing that jeter isn’t worth the money. if you ever played baseball, great shortstops are hard to come by. and there hasn’t been a better shortstop than jeter even though he might be declining. idk about his offense, its going to be there, but his ability to make the routine plays everytime is unreplacable. i rather have a sure handed shortstop than a rookie who might hit the same but make way more errors.
Moebarguy
“There hasn’t been a better shortstop than jeter even though he might be declining.”
You basically contradicted yourself there. The fact that he is declining means he’s no longer the so called “best shortstop,” therefore the Yankees shouldn’t have to pay him like one. It’s as simple as that, yet people like you seem to make up rules for Jeter just because he’s Derek Jeter.
Moebarguy
“There hasn’t been a better shortstop than jeter even though he might be declining.”
You basically contradicted yourself there. The fact that he is declining means he’s no longer the so called “best shortstop,” therefore the Yankees shouldn’t have to pay him like one. It’s as simple as that, yet people like you seem to make up rules for Jeter just because he’s Derek Jeter.
$5474103
I’m getting really tired of hearing about Derek Jeter in general. So, I’ll be very glad when this whole thing is over with.