Derek Jeters Contract Status

The New York Yankees will come to a interesting place at the end of this season. Derek Jeters contract is up and they have will have to pay him. He will be 36 yrs old and is a shortstop which is a story for another day. Derek Jeter is the Yankees and will be for the next 50 or 60 years. He will eventually retire but will still be the one that comes out last at the Old Timers Days and will be the best known and most popular Yankee. The Yankees could never let him wear another uniform and he doesn't want to either. The debate will be how much will he get and how much should he get. Derek Jeter may want to act tough with the Yankees although I doubt he will and if he does then what happens. The reason I have brough all this up is because Derek Jeter had a one on one interview with Harold Reynolds. The interview ran on MLB Network last night and if you haven't seen it, it is a good one. Here is the video, enjoy it. Hank Steinbrenner after missing for months now resurfaced today. He had this to say: He like the Yankees move so far and thinks they have a good chance of repeating. Here is what he had to say about Derek Jeter and his contract situation " We will get into all of that eventually. Jeters place in Yankees history is obvious, so I think you can pretty much assume from there." A little side not to this, Jeter is already down in Tampa working out. Those quotes from Steinbrenner came courtesy of the AP and were posted on the great Lohud Yankees Blog by Chad Jennings and Sam Borden.

Non Tendered Free Agents

The non tender deadline for baseball was Saturday at midnight. If you don't know what that is it is players that were eligible for arbitration but the team decided to not offer them a contract making them free agents. The notable names that came out of this were Jack Cust, Matt Capps, Garrett Atkins, Clay Condrey, John Buck. There are some others too but these are probably the most well known players. I believe John Buck signed with the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend. It will be interesting to see if the Yankees would be interested in anyone, I would say no or more likely the Mets. The Yankees need a leftfielder but if they don't resign Johnny Damon they will most likely play Melky Cabrera in left and Granderson in center and probably bring Hideki Matsui back as the DH. I think the Yankees are pretty well set with even their bench, they have Francisco Cervelli as the backup catcher, Ramiro Pena or someone else from their minor league system as the utility infielder, Jamie Hoffman and Brett Gardner as the extra outfielders. It is interesting though with the economy the way it is that some bigger names weren't offered contracts and became free agents. I forgot the most notable from the Yankees Chien-Ming Wang who won 19 games in back to back seasons in 06 and 07. I wasn't suprised the Yankees didn't offer him a contract but am a little suprised that he refused a split contract. The Yankees apparently wanted to give him a minor league contract that could switch to major league if he made the team, considering he had major injuries the last 2 seasons I think it was nice of the Yankees to even consider that but Wang is still upset with the Yankees for taking him to arbitration over 600,000 in 2006.

The Derek Jeter problem

The New York Yankees have a upcoming issue with Derek Jeter. I am sure most of you are thinking what is this guy nuts, how could there be a problem when he is having one of his best seasons all around. The problem is this Derek isn't getting any younger, his contract is up at the end of next year. I would not expect a older Derek Jeter to play SS if his range is severely limited and he just can't play there anymore. Most SS that were offensive players also moved to another position, it is just too physically demanding of a position to stay there, Cal Ripken, Robin Yount and others moved. The problem is this Derek Jeter is not a willing participant if you read some of his comments he is hinting at it. Peter Abraham on his Yankees Lohud Blog had a quote from Jeter where he said he jokes around with Joe Girardi about being a DH in 5 years but then when asked by Peter Abraham could you see a 41 yr old Jeter at DH, he smiled and said you could see a 41 yr old Jeter at SS. The sunday NY post always has a Q and A with a sports star and a few weeks back it was with Jeter and he also said in there that he never thinks about another position because he is a SS and that is where he intends on staying. The problem for the Yankees is this, Derek Jeter is their captain he is beloved and should never be anything other then a Yankee so they may have to do whatever he wants not only with the postion but also his contract but they also have to do what is best for their organization and what they think will be most conducive to them winning. This is going to be a very hard thing to go through and I wouldn't want to be the one to have to go talk to Derek Jeter, stay tuned for the drama.

Yanks at Oakland

The New York Yankees will try and end their 2 game losing streak. CC Sabathia takes the mound back home, he goes to Oakland here he has season tickets to the Raiders games and says that he won't give them up at least going to a couple of games and then giving the rest to friends. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham. The Yankees have scored 3 runs on 13 hits in their last 18 innings. The Yankees lost three straight this year in Anaheim and also in Chicago. CC is 1-4 with a 7.12 era career in Oakland. He has 8 career starts at the Oakland Coliseum. Derek Jeter is 9 for 20 on the roadtrip with 5 rbi's. He is now batting 327. Jeter is batting 358 for his career in Oakland. Nick Swisher has reached base safely in 26 straight games. He once did it in 36 straight for Oakland in 2006. Robinson Cano is a 365 hitter with no one on base but 203 when there are runners in scoring position. Vinny Mazzaro who is from NJ pitched against the Yanks on July 23 and gave up 6 runs on 8 hits in 4 1/3 innings. Matsui is back and feels better, Gardner won't be back as quick as thought. He needs to keep the splint on for another week. Sergio Mitre will work out of the pen until he starts again. Joe Girardi claimed that Damaso Marte may be activated on Friday which is interesting since it seems the Yanks want nothing to do with him but he is under contract for this year and I believe next also. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF)

MLB News

Jeff Kent retired after a 17 year career, the last four spent with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is arguably the premier slugging second baseman ever but certainly of his generation. He retires with a career 290 batting avg, 377hrs, 1518rbis, 500 slugging percentage. He has 74 more hrs then the closest second baseman to him which is Ryne Sandberg. Foxsports.com Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Freddy Garcia will either choose the Yankees or Mets for his new team. He reportedly wants a guaranteed contract that way if he doesn't make the team he will still get money. It is assumed he is going to have to take a minor league contract. He has a 118-77 career record with a 4.07 era. I think the Yankees should sign him and hope it works out, this won't necessarily stop them from resigning Petitte. The saying is you never can have enough pitching and it is true especially with Joba being on a limit and AJ Burnett being an injury risk. Omar Vizquel has agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers and a invite to spring training. Brad Ausmus has agreed to a 1 yr 1 million dollar contract with the Dodgers.