The Rodriguez contract is the difference in negotiation tactics between Steinbrenner and Cashman.

Interestingly, it seems as if Jeter and the Yanks have never had an easy negotiation since being signed out of high school. Guess we shouldn’t expect one now.

I can’t believe the starting offer was 3 years at $15 mil. That means the final could be as much as 4 years at 16 or 17, which seems like waaay too much. And I repeat, I’m a fanatic fan of Derek “can do no wrong” Jeter.

Like him or not, ARod has a chance to do what very, very, very few players ever have a chance to do. People still talk about Babe Ruth 80 years after he played, and if ARod passes Bonds, people might be talking about ARod in 80 years from now.

So comparisons to ARod (and his contract) just don’t hold water unless you have 600 HRs, and 6 good years left.

If some other team was pursuing these guys, bidding up the price, they wouldn’t have to go to the press to establish these “underappreciated” narratives. But since that’s not happening, their agents have to try to create a perception of “fair value” (ie the contract they want) without the evidence of an actual marketplace.

I think the Yankees should make their honest guess (however they do that) on what these guyswould get on the open market, and then bump it up a few million for old times sake.

Hypothetically like this:

Rivera – 2 yr 20 million on the open market? Yankee price = 2 years 24mill.

Jeter – 3 yr 36 million on the open market? Yanke price = 3 yr 42 million.

Also, the fact that they gave Arod that crazy contract is probably lurking in the back of these guys’ minds.

Why is it OK to be on the hook to Arod, who hasn’t done as much for the Yanks as these guys, long after he will be useful but it’s not OK to pay up for Jeter and Rivera in their twilight? I bet that has a lot to do with what they want.

[6] You don’t have to pay people for past performance when you paid them handsomely for and during that performance. The Yankees owe Jeter nothing for the last 10 years.

Statistically I don’t think any of the samples of age comparable players are really relevant to the next couple years. But I do think market value for his production must be the primary starting point for the negotiation (which Jeter’s agent strongly disagrees with).

For Jeter, the money is about his brand, it’s a signifier, it doesn’t actually have its own value or rather, that value will later be multiplied in other domains -it’s just a base for relative social value. His pay just positions him in team, celebrity, and social hierarchies. Can you imagine how much it will burn to have Arod getting paid more than double as much money for twice as long? Unbearable!

In the past the Yankees also engaged in the same concept of pay. It’s primary role was to establish the team in league spending tables. There is no reason for Steinbrenner to have personally conceded to some of the salaries he paid if it wasn’t for the social signifier: Giambi, Johnson, Sheffield, Clemens – the list goes on. I don’t think the Yankees want to play that game anymore. Paying the most is no longer an asset, like it was in the 90′s, now its a liability…

I’m a huge Jeter fan, what I don’t get is this, let’s say he decides to say “eff you Yankees”, I’m retiring or going elsewhere, what’s Cashman’s backup plan? It’s like he knew this day was coming for the last 10 years but he never bothered to put the Yanks in a position to succeed here.

I want Jeter signed and the $$ don’t worry me at all. Some people want to act all indignant, like the Yankees will take that money and do the right thing all of a sudden. They won’t. Yes, sometimes you have to pay people for past performance, actually all the time you have to pay people for past performance, it’s an investment and you hope to get more in return and sometimes it doesn’t work out that well.

The Yankees will make that money back in jersey sales, other Jeter specific merchandise, and the press around Jeter’s 3,000th hit, the first Yankee ever to do this too. Again, I don’t get why Cashman and co. are going to the press so often. It really bugs the eff out of me.

[0] Alex, perfect title too.

When it comes to Mo, pay the man.