This article could not be more moronic:
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/columns/story?columnist=matthews_wallace&id=5896517
Of course Jeter has a right to be angry, especially because his anger was directed at the way the Yankees went so public with some of their statements regarding the negotiations. I thought that was unprofessional and out of character with the front office. Basically this guy is saying because some dipship past owner of the Yankees basically blackmailed Mickey Mantle during negotiations, that Jeter should be glad his only went the way it did. Really, really stupid. I can't believe people get paid to write this.
-Ronjaya (12/8/10)
Response 1:
I don't have the same affinity for Jeter that Yankee fans have. Heck, there's even something wrong with me where I don't even respect him as much as a baseball player as I probably should as a baseball fan. However, I agree with much of what Wallace Matthews wrote. And, remember, Jeter's agent opened up the "public negotiations" with: Jeter's value to the Yankees "cannot be overstated." Sounds like he was asking for the big buckos. Anyway, I did disagree with Matthews writing:
So when Jeter says he is angry that some of the details of his negotiation with the Yankees went public -- a negotiation, by the way, that he won even bigger than the Patriots beat the Jets on Monday night -- all you can do is scratch your head.
Jeter did not win the negotiations "bigger than the Patriots." That part is bull. He got slightly more than the Yankees initially offered him. I did agree with this, though, and think it makes a good point:
These are not criticisms of Jeter or insults aimed at his ability. They are merely cold-eyed observations of the natural progression of the human body attempting to perform incredibly difficult athletic feats at an advanced age.
There were several occasions in which Matthews praised Jeter and his career. I don't think Jeter will hit .270 this season. I'd venture to guess .290+
-Stan0 (12/8/10)
Response 2:
I agree with RonJaya that this article was crap. I don't even know what the point of it was. As Sam's first quote demonstrated, this guy's similes are more stretched out than (wait for it) the taffy president wilson used to pull on his ol' farm ranch in Virginia. Where the hell is he going with this quote:
Thankfully, the robber barons who owned and ran baseball teams until Marvin Miller -- and tell me again why he isn't in the Hall of Fame? -- tore down the reserve clause the way liberated Germans tore down the Berlin Wall can no longer treat ballplayers like chattel. The balance of power has shifted, thankfully, from the old, rich guys in the office to the young guys in the uniforms, the ones we all pay to see.
Miller might deserve to be in the HOF, but Matthews uses "robber barons," "liberated Germans" and "chattel" (not to mention the Berlin Wall) in a statement about...owners not having the same power they used to?
What he described about Mantle's negotiation process was interesting, but it has as much to do with the Cold War as Jeter's relationship with Brian Cashman and today's Yankees.
Maybe Jeter should be angry. RonJaya's points about why he should be angry is way more intelligible than Matthews's nonsense. In fact, rather than quote Matthews I'm gonna use one of RonJaya's lines: "I can't believe people get paid to write this. "
If you want my opinion of the situation, Jeter was saying that the negotiations shouldn't have gone public, not that he had "disturbing conversations with the Yankees." I tried finding an actual quote from Jeter in the article. He quotes that Weiss character but not a single quote from Jeter. That's cuz all Jeter ever said he was angry about was the way it got publicized. For all we know Jeter agrees with the final contract - in fact, his signature means he agrees with it - but it was the publicizing of the contract he minded. Weiss never went public with the blackmail against Mantle - here's the kicker - cuz that's what makes it blackmail. Maybe you could say Mantle would only wish he could've had Jeter's problems, as they were much less severe than his own. But you can't say Jeter's situation is at all related to Mantle's! Matthews entire argument is irrelevant to the current events.
Jeter's getting old, but I don't think his bat is all of a sudden done. He's always had an old-man's, inside-out swing, so I'd actually be surprised if he were. But he should probably switch from SS even before this short contract ends. Other positives can be made about Jeter's ability/likelihood to bounce back. Moreover, the fact that the Yanks give everyone else so many years and money, not just in the past but i mean recently too (CC, AJ, ARod, possibly Lee) they coulda at least signed him til his age 40 season.
But forget the contract details. The argument Matthews is trying to debate, I think, is whether Jeter is right that the negotiations should have stayed private. And on that point, Matthews is incoherent, while I think that yea, of course Jeter should be angry that the process went so public.
PS This is exactly what I mean:
"Jeter is coming off the antithesis of Mantle's transcendent 1956 season...Yet The Captain still walked off with a deal that keeps him the highest-paid middle infielder in the game with the potential to earn as much as $65 million over the next four years."
Jeter hasn't said he was angry about the money or years, just the publicizing!
-Natron (12/8/10)
Response 3:
Sam, actually it was Hal Steinbrenner who started the public words for this negotiation by saying that things could get ugly. I'm pretty sure Cashman even chimed in before Jeter's agent said anything.
Nate, I can't find a link but in the same press conference Jeter said he was kind of angry about how public the negotiations got, he did say that he was happy with the contract itself just not how public the Yankees made certain parts of the dealings.
Also as an aside, Paul Molitor hit .270 at 36 years old as well...same as Jeter. The following year he hit .341 and led baseball with 225 hits. Not saying Jeter's gonna do that, but I would bet he hits above .300 next year.
-RonJaya (12/9/10)
Response 4:
Good points, y'all. And - I think, no, pretty sure - it was Boomer and Carton who said that Casey Close started with the "overstated" comment. If that is not the correct sequence, then I am disappointed in how Boomer and Carton presented their info. That was my "source" for saying that Jeter's agent started it all...
-StanO (12/9/10)
Response 5:
Well whoever "started it," we can all agree that Jeter never once griped about it during the process. Only after all was signed and done did he say he was angry about it going public.
-Natron (12/10/10)
Response 6:
On a side note: is it just me or does Lebron James go farther and farther off the deep end every day?
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/LeBron-James-bashes-Trent-Dilfer-on-Twitter?urn=nfl-293762
-RonJaya (12/10/10)
Response 7:
Dude, if a player plays poorly (especially one with superstar ability), it warrants mention. Especially when it's coming from a commentator of the sport! I'd have a hard time railing Manning overall, but he deserves it for his recent play (8 picks; 3 games? Blech!). What is LeBron's problem? It's the freakin' NFL - has nothing to do with LeBron's profession.
Ronjaya, I had actually read that article, too. I thought some of it was well-written and some of it not-so-much. But apparently it was good enough to spark debate :)
-StanO (12/10/10)
