The Yankees' belief is that their current three-year, $45 million offer is fair, and that by offering arbitration to Jeter, they essentially would bail him out after a down year. Jeter might make between $22 million and $23 million through arbitration. The Yankees feel that in the past, Jeter has fairly negotiated from his standing in the marketplace -- when he went to arbitration in 1999, when he negotiated a 10-year, $189 million deal in 2001. And now the Yankees feel these talks should reflect Jeter's place in the market; they also believe that no other team would be willing to pay him what they have offered.
Here's one big factor working against Jeter in this negotiation: While the Yankees want him and are offering him above what his market value is, they operate in the knowledge that if Jeter doesn't re-sign -- if he actually walks away -- then his departure would not be a mortal blow to their pennant hopes in 2011. If Jeter walked away in 2001, that would have been different; he was an exceptional player then.
Now he is a good player, but far from irreplaceable.
--ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney
No comments:
Post a Comment