Last offseason I started — or attempted to start, really — a series looking back through the MLB Trade Rumors archives at some past Yankees rumors to see how things played out. I didn’t intend to mock anyone at MLBTR or anything like that. Rumors are fun and remembering how we felt at the time is an entertaining exercise, if nothing else. Did you know MLBTR turned ten last week? The site changed the way rumors and transactions are covered.
Anyway, I stopped the series at some point during the regular season because I simply forgot about it. That’s really all there is to it. The regular season can be sort of hectic and a monthly series like that — as opposed to a weekly series like the Fan Confidence Poll — can be easy to overlook. My bad. I’m going to revive the MLBTR archive series this offseason and hopefully keep it going. If the end of the month rolls around and you don’t see it, feel free to email me a reminder.
We’re going to go back five years, so this edition of the MLBTR archive series covers November 2010. The Yankees had just lost to the Rangers in the ALCS and the two huge stories that offseason were the Cliff Lee sweepstakes and Derek Jeter’s new contract. Everyone assumed Jeter would re-sign at some point, and those were still the “the Yankees will sign whoever they want” days, so many of us figured it was only a matter of time until they landed Lee. Those were the days, eh? Let’s dig into the archive.
November 1st, 2010: Odds & Ends: Long, Romanick, Falkenborg, Carlin
The Yankees and hitting coach Kevin Long agreed to a three-year deal, reports George A. King III of the New York Post. He’ll be getting a raise on his previous $400K salary.
Long took over in 2007, so he had just completed his fourth full season as hitting coach back in November 2010. During those four seasons the Yankees led baseball in AVG (.278), OBP (.355), SLG (.451), wRC+ (113 wRC+), home runs (826), and runs (3,531). They were third in walk rate (9.7%), sixth in steals (455), and sixth in strikeout rate (16.2%) as well. The Yankees were a powerhouse offense. There was no reason to want them to replace Long. A few years later, after the quality of the roster declined, so did Long’s skills as a hitting coach. Funny how that works, huh?
November 2nd, 2010: Steinbrenner: Jeter Deal Must Work For Both Sides
November 3rd, 2010: Heyman On Werth, Jeter, Mets
November 3rd, 2010: Odds & Ends: Indians, Jeter, Ellis, Giants, Chen
“There’s always the possibility that things could get messy,” Steinbrenner said.
The Yankees don’t expect talks to get ugly and they have been in contact with Jeter’s representatives because they want to reach a deal.
…
Some baseball people say they would not be surprised to see Derek Jeter seek a six-year deal this offseason. Heyman hears hints that the Yankees are thinking about offering a three-year contract.
…
Hal Steinbrenner’s recent comments about the Derek Jeter talks strike ESPN’s Buster Olney “as if he’s preparing the NYY fans for an ugly Jeter negotiation” (Twitter link).
We need to add some context here. Jeter was a monster during the 2009 season, hitting .334/.406/.465 (130 wRC+) with maybe the best defensive season of his career. He then dropped down to .270/.340/.370 (93 wRC+) in 2010, his age 36 season. His defense also took a step back. Jeter was a year removed from an MVP caliber performance but was also at the age where his subpar 2010 season may have been more of a blip on the radar.
As for the rumors … a six-year contract! That sounds absurd now and was ridiculous back then too. That said, there’s no harm in Jeter’s camp floating the idea of a six-year contract. You won’t get it if you don’t ask for it, after all. It’s only a starting point. In hindsight, Hal’s comments do seem like they were intending to send something of a message, with the message being “we’re not going to let Jeter walk all over us” during negotiations.
November 5th, 2010: Bidding For Iwakuma Closes, Mariners The Favorite?
The above reports indicate that Iwakuma prefers the West Coast, but neither the Angels nor Dodgers planned to submit a bid. Both the Yankees and Diamondbacks scouted him during the season, though whether or not they chose to pursue him remains to be seen. The Rakuten Golden Eagles were hoping to land $16MM-17MM in the posting process, though it appears they might fall a little short of that.
Hisashi Iwakuma was posted during the 2010-11 offseason. The Athletics won his rights with a $17M bid but failed to sign him during the 30-day negotiating period, so he returned to Japan for the 2011 season. Apparently there was some concern about his shoulder. To Oakland’s credit, Iwakuma did get hurt in 2011, missing six weeks with a sore shoulder. He became an international free agent during the 2011-12 offseason and signed with the Mariners.
I remember the chatter about the Yankees scouting Iwakuma but it didn’t sound like they were ever seriously interested. He did have a history of shoulder problems — it wasn’t just the 2011 injury, he’s battled them on and off all throughout his career — and he wasn’t considered a potential ace like Daisuke Matsuzaka, who at the time was the last big Japanese pitcher to be posted. The Yankees never did submit a bid for Iwakuma. Their interest seemed marginal at best.
November 6th, 2010: Odds & Ends: D’Backs, Red Sox, Simmons, Bush
Henry Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle speculates that the Giants will keep an eye on Derek Jeter‘s negotiations with the Yankees. GM Brian Sabean ran New York’s farm system when Jeter was drafted, so there’s a connection there in the unlikely event that he can’t work out a deal with the Yanks.
Gosh, this was so obviously a leak by Jeter’s camp designed to create some leverage. It was such a foregone conclusion that Jeter would re-sign with the Yankees that I’m not even sure any other teams bothered to contact his representatives. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of teams needed a shortstop, but how many were seriously going to make a run at Jeter? The loose connection with Sabean was about the best Jeter’s camp could do.
November 7th, 2010: New York Notes: Lee, Backman, Garland, Balfour
When Sherman polled eight executives about Lee’s destination, six predicted the left-hander would end up in a Yankees uniform – the Rangers got the other two votes. One AL exec’s thoughts: “Lee is all about the money. His agent is all about the money. And the Yanks have the most money.”
Oops. The Yankees offered Lee the most guaranteed money that offseason, a seven-year deal worth $150M according to Sherman. (They also proposed a six-year, $138M deal with a $16M player option.) The Rangers offered six years and $138M with no player option. The Phillies? They landed Lee with a five-year deal worth $120M guaranteed. That’s $107.5M in salary and a $12.5M buyout of his 2016 option, which was declined earlier this week. So much for that “Lee is all about the money” stuff.
November 8th, 2010: Yankees Likely To Offer Jeter $45-60MM
The Yankees are likely to offer Derek Jeter a three-year deal worth $45-60MM, according to Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com. One of Matthews’ sources, someone intimately familiar with knowledge of the team’s negotiations with agent Casey Close, says the Yankees are prepared to “overpay” the shortstop.
The Yankees eventually re-signed Jeter to a three-year contract worth $51M, so hey, I guess that $45M to $60M range was correct. It wasn’t that easy though.
November 10th, 2010: Cashman Meeting With Cliff Lee In Arkansas
Cashman informed Jorge Posada he’ll serve as the team’s designated hitter next year, report Sherman and his colleague George A. King III. Posada was told to prepare to catch, but the team hopes to find backstops out of Jesus Montero, Francisco Cervelli, and Austin Romine. Posada, who is having knee surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his knee today, is said to be fine with the plan.
Buried in a post about Brian Cashman meeting with Lee and his agent was this blurb about Posada transitioning to DH. The decision to move him out from behind the plate was as much about improving the team defense as it was protecting Posada. He had all sorts of concussion issues in 2010 and his baseline test results were “not good.”
Of course, Posada was not fine with the plan. “Being demoted from day one, I never got the chance to fight for my job. That’s probably the toughest thing as a human being. You want to be able to do your job,” said Posada during his retirement press conference in January 2012. Cashman admitted they “obviously had a rough patch with Jorge in transitioning from catching, but we fought through it.” So yeah. He was not fine with it.
November 11th, 2010: New York Rumors: Beltran, Lee, Jeter, Santos
The Yankees say they’re extremely unlikely to pursue a free agent catcher, since they want to give their young catching a real chance to emerge in 2011 as Jorge Posada transitions to DH.
The Yankees signed Russell Martin exactly one month later. To be fair, Martin had not yet been non-tendered by the Dodgers at the time of this rumor. Moral of the story: plans change.
November 12th, 2010: Yankees Interested In Jorge De La Rosa
The Bronx Bombers have expressed interest in Jorge de la Rosa, according to Mark Feinsand and Peter Botte of the New York Daily News. GM Brian Cashman did not confirm the club’s interest in De La Rosa, but he did acknowledge that he has made “a lot of phone calls” to free agents.
The Yankees have had on and off interest in De La Rosa over the years. I guess that makes sense. He’s left-handed and has a history of missing bats and getting ground balls, and at the time of this rumor he already had three seasons with the Rockies, so De La Rosa had experience pitching in a tough environment. De La Rosa eventually re-signed with Colorado, but this makes me wonder if he could be a salary dump trade target this offseason. He had a 4.17 ERA (4.19 FIP) in 149 innings around an Achilles injury this year and is owed $12.5M in 2016.
November 12th, 2010: Olney On Huff, Uribe, Upton, Buck, Downs
The Yankees are interested in John Buck, but the catcher could likely command a two-year deal (possibly from the Red Sox) and it seems unlikely that the Yankees would offer more than a one-year contract.
Two blurbs ago we heard the Yankees were unlikely to pursue a catcher. That report came out literally the day before this one. Buck signed a three-year, $18M contract with the Marlins during the 2010-11 offseason, by the way. What a country.
November 12th, 2010: Yankees Notes: Pettitte, Rivera, Jeter, Crawford
Andy Pettitte told Matt Musil of KHOU.com that at the moment, he’s leaning towards retirement. “Right now, I can tell you my heart’s right here in Deer Park,” Pettitte said. “If something happens and I play one more year that would be it. It would be one more year and that would be it.” The southpaw also confirmed that if he does return in 2011, he would only pitch for the Yankees.
And so began the Pettitte retirement saga. He flip-flopped quite a bit this offseason. There were reports he was leaning one way one day, and then the other way the next. Pettitte eventually announced his retirement in February 2011 … until he unretired the next offseason.
November 15th, 2010: Bartolo Colon Back On The Radar
Colon announced he was attempting a comeback to Yoel Adames of ESPN Deportes in late October while pitching for the champion Dominican team in the Pan-American Games qualifier. He said at the time that he “maintains conversations” with the Yankees, Rockies, Cardinals, and Tigers, though other teams approached him following his complete game victory over Nicaragua on October 10.
Remember when the Yankees signed Bartolo Colon to a minor league contract that offseason and the very thought of it was completely absurd? It’s five years later and the guy is still pitching. He was in the damn World Series this year. Colon did not pitch at all in 2010 and arm injuries limited him to 257 innings from 2006-09. He impressed in winter ball that offseason — Tony Pena was his manager — and the Yankees gave him a chance. We all mocked them. The Yankees are smarter than us.
November 16th, 2010: Yankees Interested In Pedro Feliciano
The Yankees expressed interest in lefty reliever Pedro Feliciano, tweets Ken Davidoff of Newsday. The rubber-armed 34-year-old figures to be popular this winter, with the Phillies, Angels, Mets, and others also seeking left-handed relief.
The Yankees signed Feliciano to a two-year contract worth $8M about a month later. He never threw a meaningful pitch for them. Feliciano blew out his shoulder in Spring Training, had surgery, and took nearly two full years to recover. Cashman hilariously blamed the Mets for his extreme workload — Feliciano appeared in 266 of 486 possible games (55%) from 2008-10 — saying his “use pattern was abusive.” Not Cashman’s finest moment.
November 16th, 2010: Diamondbacks Listening On Justin Upton
3:33pm: The Yankees talked to the Diamondbacks about Upton, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
Upton, then 22, hit .273/.356/.442 (109 wRC+) with 17 home runs during the 2010 season. That was actually a big step back from his .300/.366/.532 (130 wRC+) effort in 2009. Upton was not traded this offseason and he rebounded to hit .289/.369/.529 (141 wRC+) with 31 home runs in 2011. Arizona traded him for nothing in particular following the 2012 season. I wanted Upton so bad back in the day. I wanted him more than Lee during the 2010-11 offseason.
November 16th, 2010: Yankees Interested In Bill Hall
Now another AL East club is looking to bring him aboard, as FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal says the Yankees have interest in Hall according to major league sources.
“We have a good utility guy in [Ramiro] Pena,” said GM Brian Cashman. “We think Eduardo Nunez will be an everyday shortstop in the big leagues, but he very well could be a utility guy for us. [Brandon] Laird plays first base, third base and outfield.”
Ah yes, Bill Hall, one of the supersub guys who was never quite as good as people seemed to believe. The Astros gave him a one-year deal worth $3.25M that offseason, people said the Yankees were cheap and not committed to winning, then he hit .224/.272/.340 (66 wRC+) and was released at midseason. The Yankees are smarter than us. Also, remember Brandon Laird?
November 16th, 2010: Odds & Ends: Westbrook, De La Rosa, Papelbon
- Chad Jennings of The Journal News has a quote from Yanks GM Brian Cashman: “I’ve got a small player move that I’m working on that might get done at some point this week … But it’s small.”
- Meanwhile, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets that the Yanks are still waiting to hear whether Mariano Rivera wants a one or two-year deal.
Oh yeah, Rivera was a free agent this offseason. Those negotiations were much less painful than the Jeter negotiations. As for that “small player move,” the Yankees traded Juan Miranda to the Diamondbacks for minor league righty Scottie Allen two days later. Remember Juan Miranda? He did this once upon a time:
The Yanks are also working hard to find a setup man, calling on about a dozen free agents including Pedro Feliciano. They’ve checked in on Rafael Soriano “as a fallback position in the incredibly small likelihood that Mariano Rivera does not re-sign.” Sherman says to forget the idea of Soriano signing as Rivera’s setup man and closer-in-waiting. Neither side is interested in that scenario.
Yeah, the idea of signing Soriano that offseason to setup Rivera and serve as his eventual replacement as closer was so silly and ridiculOH COME ON!
November 18th, 2010: Yankees Likely To Sign DePaula
The Yankees are expected to sign Dominican right-hander Rafael DePaula for about $700K later today, according to Melissa Segura of SI.com (on Twitter). He reappeared on the market a week ago after facing age and identity fraud questions for a year. MLB suspended him in 2009 and he later confessed to using a false identity.
The Yankees signed DePaula that offseason but he didn’t get into actual games until June 2012 because of visa issues stemming from his false identity mess. All that missed development time was too much to overcome. DePaula had a 3.56 ERA (2.96 FIP) in 268.1 innings from 2012-14 but never improved his command or secondary pitches. He was the other guy the Yankee sent to the Padres for Chase Headley last July. DePaula, now 24, went unselected in last year’s Rule 5 Draft and had a 5.01 ERA (4.47 FIP) in 120.1 innings this past season. Prospects will break your heart.
November 19th, 2010: Yankees Interested In J.C. Romero
The Yankees are interested in left-hander J.C. Romero, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports … The Yankees are also interested in Pedro Feliciano and, potentially, Scott Downs. Teams will not have to surrender 2011 draft choices to sign Feliciano or Romero, but Downs may cost a pick.
This was back before the qualifying offer system and Downs was indeed a Type-A free agent that offseason, so it was going to cost a first round pick to sign him. He got three years and $15M from the Angels and was pretty damn good, pitching to a 2.27 ERA (3.35 FIP) in 142.2 innings over the life of the contract. Three-year contracts for relievers can’t work much better.
Feliciano didn’t pitch at all during his two-year deal and Romero took a one-year, $1.35M contract to return to the Phillies. He had a 4.01 ERA (3.96 FIP) in 24.2 innings in 2011 and was released at midseason. Somehow the Yankees managed to do even worse than Romero. Relievers, man.
November 19th, 2010: New York Notes: Jeter, Minaya, Rivera
The Yankees announced the hiring of Larry Rothschild as their new pitching coach today. Rothschild has been the pitching coach for the Cubs and Marlins, and was also Tampa Bay’s first-ever manager.
The Yankees needed a new pitching coach that offseason, by the way. Dave Eiland was let go for still unknown reasons. Rothschild came out of nowhere too. There were no rumors or anything. No one had even reported he was in the mix for the job.
I didn’t know this at the time, but Rothschild exercised an option in his contract with the Cubs for the 2011 season just five weeks earlier, per Paul Sullivan. Once the Yankees cut ties with Eiland, Rothschild asked then Cubs GM Jim Hendry permission to pursue the job in New York, which he obviously landed.
November 21st, 2010: New York Notes: Jeter, Rivera, Mets Manager
Jeter’s agent, Casey Close is baffled by the Yankees’ negotiating tactics, writes Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News. “There’s a reason the Yankees themselves have stated Derek Jeter is their modern-day Babe Ruth,” Close said. “Derek’s significance to the team is much more than just stats.”
Close was 100% correct. Jeter was one of the few players in baseball with legitimate marquee value that transcended his on-field production. He helped generate ticket and merchandise revenue. It’s only fair Jeter be compensated for that marquee value, but the argument can be made the team’s offers — at this point a three-year, $45M offer was making the rounds — factored in that marquee value.
November 22nd, 2010: Yankees Prefer To Offer Rivera One Year
The Yankees want to re-sign Mariano Rivera to a one-year deal, but the closer wants a two-year contract worth about $18MM per season, according to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan (on Twitter). Jon Heyman of SI.com reported on Friday that Rivera was looking for a two-year deal and it now appears that the 40-year-old wants a raise from his 2010 salary of $15MM.
Nothing too earth-shattering here. The Yankees wanted to limit their commitment to the 40-year-old Rivera to one year while Rivera wanted more security. All things considered, the negotiations with Mo went about as smoothly as possible. There wasn’t nearly as much friction as there was with Jeter.
November 22nd, 2010: Minor Deals: Mariners, Sutton, Braves, Burroughs
The Yankees signed Neal Cotts, the Marlins signed Josh Kroeger and the A’s signed Adam Heether and Anthony Lerew, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (all links go to Twitter). Cotts, a 30-year-old left-hander, has pitched parts of seven seasons in the majors, but he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2009 and didn’t pitch in 2010 because of hip surgery.
The Yankees agreed to sign Cotts but he didn’t pass his physical in Spring Training and was released. He had Tommy John surgery in 2009 and surgery to repair the labrum in his right hip in 2010. The hip got infected and he ended up needing three additional surgeries. Cotts did not pitch at all from 2010-12.
“If I put him on the 40-man roster, it could be a situation where I’m paying him workman’s compensation for the rest of his life,” said Cashman to Joe Bick, Cotts’ agent, according to Ken Rosenthal. Harsh business, huh? To his credit, Cotts kept trying, and he resurfaced with the Rangers in 2013, pitching to a 1.11 ERA (2.17 FIP) in 57 innings. He’s still kicking around, spending last year with the Brewers and Twins.
November 23rd, 2010: Cashman Encourages Jeter To Test The Market
The game of chicken between the Yankees and Derek Jeter continued today, with GM Brian Cashman making the latest move. Cashman told ESPN’s Wallace Matthews:
“We understand his contributions to the franchise and our offer has taken them into account. We’ve encouraged him to test the market and see if there’s something he would prefer other than this. If he can, fine. That’s the way it works.”
Now we’re talking. This is when things between Jeter and the Yankees started to get ugly. Years later — as in this past August — we learned Cashman also told Jeter he’d rather have Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop. Based on the way things played out, it appears Cashman was designated as the bad guy in negotiations. He’d do the dirty work and Hal would then swoop in to smooth things over. Something tells me Cashman enjoyed it.
November 23rd, 2010: American League Free Agent Arbitration Offers
The Yankees will offer arbitration to Javier Vazquez (B), but not to any of their other free agents, according to Ken Davidoff of Newsday on Twitter. Andy Pettitte (A), Derek Jeter (A), Mariano Rivera (A), Lance Berkman (B) and Kerry Wood (B) were the team’s other ranked free agents. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that the Yankees would offer Vazquez arbitration and noted that the right-hander has agreed to reject the offer, a common gentleman’s agreement that can take place with Type B free agents.
The old free agent compensation system was so silly. Offer arbitration to a Type-A free agent and you received the other team’s first rounder plus a supplemental first rounder. Offer arbitration to a Type-B free agent and you only received the supplemental first rounder. Type-Bs did not require the signing team to give up a pick.
Interestingly, Cashman said the Yankees were leaning towards offering Wood arbitration — “I’m thinking yes on Wood. We’ll do them a favor. If we put them into an arbitration setting, then we can take them out and make a fair market value offer to them,” he said that same day — but it didn’t happen. Offering Berkman arbitration didn’t make sense because he had a $14.5M base salary in 2010 and probably would have accepted. (He earned $8M with the Cardinals in 2011.)
The Yankees didn’t offer arbitration to Pettitte, Jeter, or Rivera because it there was no point. Realistically, it was Yankees or retirement for them. They may have accepted the arbitration offer and received outsized contracts for 2011, so why risk it? So despite having three Type-A and three Type-B free agents that offseason, the Yankees received just the one extra draft pick for Vazquez. They used it to take Florida HS 3 Dante Bichette Jr. with the 51st overall pick in the 2011 draft. Womp womp.
November 26th, 2010: Jeter & Yankees Are Far Apart
8:06am: Derek Jeter’s representatives are asking for at least $80MM more than the Yankees are willing to offer in negotiations for the free agent shortstop, according to Bill Madden of the New York Daily News. The starting point for Jeter and agent Casey Close was six years and $150MM, according to Madden, who reports that the Jeter camp is not budging from demands for a $25MM annual salary. Alex Rodriguez’s contract “is at the crux of Jeter’s and Close’s stance,” according to Madden.
Jeter wanted more money because A-Rod got more money while the Yankees didn’t want to give Jeter more money because they spent a regrettable amount of money on A-Rod. Even still, a six-year contract worth $150M was laughable at the time. Jeter could have repeated his 2009 performance in 2010 and I’m still not sure a contract that big would have been realistic. Jeter’s camp seemed to think the Yankees should and would pay him whatever he wanted simply because he is Derek Jeter, but the Yankees made it abundantly clear that wasn’t happening.
November 27th, 2010: Odds & Ends: Garland, Tigers, Manny, Astros
The Yankees have signed right-hander Brian Anderson and left-hander Andy Sisco to minor league contracts with invites to Spring Training, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). Anderson was recently cut by the Royals and is new to pitching after playing the outfield his entire career. Sisco threw 66.2 innings for the Giants Double-A affiliate this year after having Tommy John surgery in 2008.
I irrationally loved the Sisco signing. He was a big (listed at 6-foot-10 and 270 lbs.!) hard-throwing lefty who was once a top prospect. I thought he had a chance to help the bullpen at some point. Sisco appeared in 14 games with Triple-A Scranton in 2011 and had a 1.88 ERA, but he walked 12 and struck out 15 in 14.1 innings. The Yankees released him in May and he spent the rest of the year in the Mexican League. He’s pitched in Mexico, Korea, and independent leagues these last few years.
Anderson appeared in seven games for Double-A Trenton in 2011. He was released the same day as Sisco and spent 2012 in an independent league. Anderson has been out of baseball since that indy ball stint in 2012. Sisco was at least active in 2015, posting a 7.85 ERA in 39 innings for the KT Wiz in Korea. Every year I seem to get overly excited about one player the Yankees sign to a minor league deal. That year it was Sisco.
November 28th, 2010: Yankees Notes: Burnett, Jeter, Albaladejo
- Brian Cashman flew to Maryland this week to meet with A.J. Burnett, writes ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Insider required). While it’s not the first time Cashman has met with one of his veteran players during the offseason, the visit was more noteworthy because of Burnett’s disappointing 2010 campaign. The Yanks’ GM “made it clear” to the 33-year-old that the team still believes in him going forward.
- Within the same piece, King says the Yomiuri Giants sent the Yankees $1.2MM for Jonathan Albaladejo, who finalized a one-year deal with the Japanese club yesterday.
Ah yes, the annual “figure out what’s wrong with Burnett” summit. The Yankees tried everything to get Burnett on track, but he was dreadful from 2010-11 and eventually it became clear the best thing for both sides was to part ways. Burnett had a 4.04 ERA (4.33 FIP) in 2009, a 5.26 ERA (4.83 FIP) in 2010, and then a 5.15 ERA (4.77 FIP) in 2011.
As for Albaladejo, gosh that was a bad trade. He had a 4.70 ERA (5.21 FIP) in 59.1 innings spread across three seasons in New York while Tyler Clippard dominated for the Nationals. Can’t win ’em all, I guess. Albaladejo, by the way, had a 5.85 ERA in 47.2 innings pitching in Mexico this summer.
November 29th, 2010: Yankees Rumors: Jeter, Rivera
- Talks between the Yankees and Derek Jeter are “at a standstill until Jeter and his agent, Casey Close, ‘drink the reality potion,'” a source close to the negotiations tells ESPN’s Wallace Matthews. The Yankees are stuck on three years and $45MM, while Jeter wants more years and $23-25MM annually. Matthews says the Yankees are not budging from their offer, though SI’s Jon Heyman expects them to up the money but not the years this week.
- The Yankees and Mariano Rivera, on the other hand, are progressing smoothly in their negotiations according to ESPN’s Andrew Marchand. Rivera could be bumped to $16-17MM per year, but it’s unknown whether the Yankees will guarantee two years.
I wonder who in the organization came up with the “reality potion” line. That’s a good one. As for Rivera, things were going nice and easy. No issues there.
November 29th, 2010: Giants Contact Jeter’s Agent
The Giants have contacted Casey Close, the agent for Derek Jeter, according to Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal. However, the Giants are not seriously pursuing Jeter and there’s no evidence that a team other than the Yankees is bidding on the shortstop.
Well that attempt to create leverage backfired horribly, didn’t it?
November 30th, 2010: Yankees Rumors: Jeter, Chamberlain
Eduardo Nunez is the team’s Plan B if they are unable to re-sign Derek Jeter, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney. Rather than try to sign a veteran replacement, the Yankees would install Nunez and allocate the money elsewhere. Of course, Olney feels that the Yankees would remain flexible for potential upgrades if Nunez became their starting shortstop.
The Jeter situation got real pretty quick once Nunez was declared Plan B. Nunez made his MLB debut in 2010 and barely played, and while his bat rebounded in the minors from 2009-10, there was still not much evidence he’d be able to hit or defend well enough at the MLB level to play a position everyday. Plan B was scary.
The Jeter and Rivera negotiations continued into December, as did talks with Cliff Lee. The Lee market was very quiet for a few weeks in November. The Yankees and a few other teams were in the mix, but things didn’t really heat up until December. November 2010 was about the Jeter negotiations. Every day there was some sort of update.
