Money for nothing and your chicks for free…

Meh. Close would be the crappiest agent ever if he went in and said, “What kind of pay cut are we talking?” He’s supposed to start silly. If this accurate, however, the fact that Jeter is open to a four year contract this early in the offseason gives me hope that he’ll sign for three and an option when push comes to shove. I’m much more worried about the years than the AAV.

He must be sitting on a firm offer of $21M/yr from Boston.

[2] I’ve heard that thrown around a lot…that a good negotiation ploy is to start silly and then come down.  Does this actually happen in the real world, or are we conditioned by “the art of negotiation” books and movies?  I understand starting with the high end of what you’d accept and/or anchoring affects, but I think of my fantasy baseball experience.  When another GM starts so outrageously high, I don’t even bother continuing.  It makes me feel like the guy has no grasp of reality and that nothing to my liking will ever get done.

6/150 tells me that 1) Jeter’s never going to get close to reality and 2) even if we did sign him, it’s going to be a real pain to move him off of SS and/or drop him in the lineup.

[4] It depends on what each side’s options are and how willing they are to walk away. And who you’re dealing with.

The equally silly opening bid from the Yankees would have been based purely on his baseball value, at his projected decline.

But that’s not where they started, supposedly 3/45 was their start, which really should have been the ending point - 50% or so premium and an extra year at that.

Just imagine the howls if their opening had been 21/2…

At this point, they’re painted into a corner of either offering (more) stupid money/years, or standing pat “final offer, it’s a great offer, please take it because we have nowhere else to go and neither do you” and dealing with the fallout.

Now its a game of chicken.

i can kinda see jeter playing for the mariners.

[6] That would make a potential Nerdfest Pacific NW Edition next season very, very interesting. Jeter does fit the type of player the Mariners seem to covet as he can’t hit and is well past his prime (see: Griffey Jr., George Kenneth). Plus, they like to build around defense and Jeter just won another Gold Glove!

ichiro would make one hell of a wingman

[5] That point seems to be getting lost for the most part…3/45 is a significant overpay. No other SS makes close to $15 million.

If a player is asking for a multi-year contract at major money that really only makes sense if he can remain at his current position, there should be a reasonable chance that he can actually remain at that position for most, if not all, of the term of the contract. That’s probably not the case with Jeter.

Any outrageous demand that Jeter/Close make should be viewed in that context.

Fan opinion running 3:1 pro-Yankees in the NY Post poll.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/yankees/post_poll_nearly_out_fair_say_offer_edyGaDpru07frUa9LoutKM

Love you Jetes, but come on. This is a buyer’s market currently. And contrary to what your dumbass agent thinks, no one is going to pay you 23 per. NONE.

I am sure the Yankees would be open to a 3 year 50 million kind of a deal, but that is about it. Any further, and you will have more of Cashman’s “We have encouraged him to test the market,” which frankly benefits neither party.

Actually, Yankees did stick to their guns with Rivera the last time around, and got a 3/45 done. So who knows.

I was just looking at Cot’s and if their info is correct, Jeter and Close screwed themselves a decade ago—depending on how solid a “tentative” deal was.

According to them, he took a 1-year contract in 2000 to avoid arbitration and instead of a tentative 7/$118.5M deal.

He didn’t make that much over those years, and he would have come up for renewal after finishing #2 in he MVP balloting at age 32, and #10 the previous year.

It’s risky but Jeter should look into a deal with elevators or whatever.

For example, 2011 will be $15mil. If he hit’s .300 or get 200 hits or whatever other old school stats team/agents use for this stuff, his 2012 contract will climb to $20mil. If not it stays at $15mil. That way if he can still produce like he thinks, he will get the money he wants. If not, he’ll get the contract the Yankees are offering. So if he produces over the next three years, he can get paid a total of 55-70mil. If not, he’s stuck at $45mil and can’t complain.

To me it’s fair, but not realistic.

Close now saying that the $150M contract request wasn’t real

[14] - I’m fairly sure that the CBA forbids performance bonuses for stuff like that.  You can only get games played, IP, PA, or games finished as a performance metric.

[14] I didn’t think elevator clauses were allowed outside of PA/IP, awards, etc. That is POOMA, though.

Or what [16] said 16 seconds before me.

[15] That’s pretty vague.  Maybe they asked for 6/144 or 5/125.  Maybe they started at 6/150 but are no longer there, so that’s not their position (with a tacit “now”).  Anyway, whatever.

Derek can’t expect $23-$24. but there is no way that Derek Jeter deserves a pay cut.

maybe they should cut Cashman’s pay - he had a far worse 2010 than Derek did.

“Derek can’t expect $23-$24. but there is no way that Derek Jeter deserves a pay cut.”

I agree, he should be paid like a four win player as he becomes a zero win player.  It’s more important to keep rewarding Jeter for what he did in the past than put a winning team on the field.

And if you thought Cashman had a bad 2010, wait until 2012 and 2013 when he’s paying $20M a year for a replacement level SS and has to try and upgrade the team around that.

It’s not a regular job with a gradually increasing salary, george s.
It’s a series of separate contracts.
He doesn’t deserve a “pay cut” - right now, he’s unemployed and has no pay.
For his next contract, he deserves to get paid what he’s worth now.  Why would he deserve any more?

[20]“maybe they should cut Cashman’s pay - he had a far worse 2010 than Derek did.”

How is a GM getting an ALCS appearance worse than a SS with a 92 OPS+ and pitiful defense?

I was just looking at Cot’s and if their info is correct, Jeter and Close screwed themselves a decade ago—depending on how solid a “tentative” deal was.

According to them, he took a 1-year contract in 2000 to avoid arbitration and instead of a tentative 7/$118.5M deal.

I am fairly certain that Steinbrenner Père got cold feet and yanked (ahem) the $118.5M contract away, forcing Jeter into arbitration.  I believe that contract would have made Jeter the highest paid player in MLB, and Big Stein decided instead to wait a season and see what A-Rod got.

What’s the value of the first year of his last contract in today’s dollars?

George didn’t want to sign off on the 7 year deal until Juan Gone signed a larger deal with Detroit because he didn’t want to set a new salary standard. The Detroit deal was never signed so George waited. By the time the Jeter negotiations resumed, A-Rod had signed his contract with Texas, which ended up boosting Jeter’s ultimate contract.

Nonetheless, Jeter could have opted for a shorter deal if he wanted.

I also don’t understand why Cashman gets so little respect from some people. Granted, like any GM he has made mistakes, but he’s the primary reason that CC is a Yankee instead of Santana, which enabled Hughes to remain a Yankee. He forced Cano on Torre; he traded virtually nothing for Swisher; the Granderson trade looks pretty good at this point, and the farm system is in much better shape than it was before he gained control over it.

[26] That sounds right.
[27] People listen to Sports Talk Radio.

[26] - Rich, thanks for the history.

I’m really getting sick of this whole thing, especially since I had to explain it to my wife’s relatives at Thanksgiving. They were convinced (and pissed) that Cashman was low balling Jeter.

If Jeter doesn’t want to sign at the reasonable 3/45 or even 3/60 and he walks, the Yankees end up in the impossible situation of replacing his meager production at market rate, having a ton of money to spend elsewhere over the next 3-4 seasons, and having to deal with Mike Francessa.

I can think of a worse situation than that. How’s this - a $25M backup infielder.

Yeah, I was wrong you can’t give performance incentives. But they could go the A-Rod route with milestones. However much for hit 3000, hit 3250, hit 3500, etc. However much for run 2000 and so on.

[30] - I had to be the “spokesman” and explain things, similar to you, to my family this weekend as well.

Though I still think overall, if the leaked stories about the 5-6 year demands are true, and the Yankees hold the line (somewhat), and Jeter should choose to leave, it will hurt Jeter’s “legacy” (however you choose to define it) much more than it will the Yankees, assuming they can keep winning of course (which is true no matter who is on the team).

That being said, I still hope they can come to some sort of (reasonable) agreement.

Now I’m off to look for some healthy players for the Giants to play tomorrow, I’m too fat to play WR myself, so the search continues….

Anybody have any opinion on whether we might get lucky with Cotts or Anderson or Sisco?  Sisco has been throwing 95 in winter ball after recuperating from TJ.

Anybody have any opinion on whether we might get lucky with Cotts or Anderson or Sisco?  Sisco has been throwing 95 in winter ball after recuperating from TJ.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sisco turns it around and becomes a valuable arm.  Anderson, not so much.  Much less to go on though, so who knows.

[33] Eh, whatever.

[33, 35]
Clay’s right, bebop - what does that have to do with Jeter and his contract demands?

That’s what Kim Jong Ill said when they asked him about the possibility of a Korean War II(would that yield Mash II?)

[25] -  Just found <a >this cool tool</a> on BLS for calculating buying power.  $11M in 2001 has the same buying power as $13.5M in 2010. 

Funny thing is that the calculator will only do numbers up to $10M.

Ugh.  HTML fail.  Here’s the link

#23, a better year by Cashman may have meant WINNING the ALCS. Reasons why Cashman had a bad year:

1. signing Nick “Hospital” Johnson.  Cashman instead should have secured either Matsui or Damon.  having either DH against Texas would have been an improvement over Berkman/Thames. a few ABs by one of those guys may have made the difference. Very speculative obviously - but Damon/Matsui are excellent hitters, would much rather have had at least one of those guys in the lineup facing playoff-calibre pitching.

2. Granderson’s sometime shaky in CF.  The trade of AJax isn’t looking so hot so far.  (to be fair, this is the only move Cashman made that i agreed with at the time.)

3.  The Ajax trade also lost Coke, a useful lefty. if he’s available to pitch to Josh Hamilton, could’ve been a different series. 

4. Vazquez, Chan Ho Park, Winn, Nick Johnson - 4 predictable failures, $19.3 million down the tubes - could have been spent on better players.

5. Ian Kennedy in the rotation instead of Vazquez would’ve been nice to see.

Jeter, though having a bad year by his standards, still was above-average when compared to shortstops in 2010. Cashman had a replacement-level-GM season - i mean almost anyone w/a $210 million payroll should have a good chance to make the ALCS, so i can’t make that a metric of success. 

now it’s not fair to just evaluate Cashman on 1 bad season.  but these projections of Jeter - well, he had a great year in 2009, and it’s reasonable to project that his range of performance will not be a steadily declining trendline. between that and his brand value, and the fact that he’s 36 and not 40, yes he should not get a pay cut. something in the range of 3-4 years at $19 seems fair.

[40] Luck plays a huge role in postseason success. To evaluate a GM on that basis is to embark on a slippery slope, but even using it as a metric, what other GMs have been more successful than Cashman since he became the General Manager before the 1998 season?

Yes, Nick proved to be a bad signing despite the fact that he had 547 PA in 2009 and had a 122 OPS+, but as long as we are using hindsight, I think it’s pretty clear that Vlad would have been a better option than Matsui or Damon.

Granderson v. Jackson

2010

UZR/150
Granderson: 6.6
Jackson: 5.9

If Granderson was shaky, I guess Jackson was too.

OPS+
Granderson: 109
Jackson: 102

Post AS
Granderson: .253/.338/.523 /.861
Jackson: .285/.336/.397/.733

Taking offense and defense together, Granderson was an upgrade in year one of the trade and probably will be going forward as well, maybe by a lot.

The loss to lament, however, is not Jackson, it’s IPK, but since Granderson’s skillset (power and speed) is so rare, I think it was reasonable to include both IPK and Coke in the deal.

I was opposed to the Vazquez trade as well, but coming off of a 143 ERA+ season, was it really unreasonable to expect at least the 111 ERA+ that IPK put up?

Jeter’s 2008 OPS+ was 102 OPS+, so in two out of the last three seasons his production was at or below league average.

If that doesn’t merit a paycut, I’m not sure what does, except maybe market economics. Which other team is willing to pay him even $15m a year?

To be fair, if you want to focus on the $210m payroll, you should acknowledge that Cashman was against giving A-Rod and Posada their current contracts, but was overruled by ownership.

If he is overruled again and they overpay Jeter, would you be willing to subtract the amount of that overpayment (it could be as high as $10m a year) in any future critique of their payroll?

No way I wanted too see Coke face Hamilton. As for IPK, who knows, especially with Eiland doing the mentoring.  Javy didn’t figure to be as bad as he was.

Let’s also remember that Cashman offered a contract that Matsui turned down to take less from the Angels.

The pay cut issue is ridiculous.
This contract is not based on the previous contract - or they wouldn’t have to negotiate it again.
The question is: how much should they pay him.  To ask “does he suck and therefore deserve a pay cut” is to get it completely wrong.  The question is: how much could the team pay him before it becomes a bad idea to do it?
You’re treating the word “deserve” as though it’s a matter of morality.

#44, it’s not morality.  if moral ideals were involved, it unfair that anyone makes billions/millions when other people, willing to work, starve or are homeless or lack health care or whatever.

Rather, “deserves” means “fair” in this context.  it’s a matter of whether you subscribe to the notion that Jeter’s gonna be nearing a replacement level player soon. i do not; there’s a good chance he will hit at a level comparable to what, say, such as Paul Monitor and Pete Rose, hit at similar age levels. 

then there’s the value of being Jeter; for example, Vince Gennaro estimated that at $10 million in 2001.  so if you agree with all that, the position that Jeter should not take pay cut is reasonable.

...there’s a good chance he will hit at a level comparable to what, say, such as Paul Monitor and Pete Rose, hit at similar age levels.

OPS+ Age 36 season:

Molitor: 143
Rose: 115
Jeter: 90

When a movie actor stops opening movies with big box office receipts he no longer commands 20/25 mil per picture.  Same with Jeter.

[45] Before you make any claims about Jeter’s future performance, you might want to address SG’s projections, which, in apparent contrast to yours, are rooted in a tried and true method.

Speaking of moral even Arod at 30 mil per year earns a drop in the bucket compared to these hedge fund managers and what I don’t understand since I’m a long way from Eco 1 do these hedge fund managers, unlike Bill Gates, actually create any jobs or are they gambling on our dime and being taxed at 15% for part/most of their earnings which is a lower rate then most of us pay.

[47] So if Jeter is George Clooney, how do we deal with “The American” vs. the “Ocean’s” Series.

Jeter is more Stallone then Clooney who is still big and will work cheaper if its an Indie.  Clooney would take the 3/45 for the good of the team.

If you agree that Jeter will hit like Molitor and the Yankees should pay him for whatever extra value he brings to the team and that it’s that much, then - sure.
 
But whatever we think of the 2nd and esp. the 3rd points, I think you’re alone in believing the first.
From your keyboard to God’s screen.

Not that it’s impossible that Jeter could match Molitor at the same age next year, but that it’s the right projection, the one that Jeter & the team could reasonably make now?
No projection system I’ve seen comes anywhere close to suggesting that.

it unfair that anyone makes billions/millions when other people, willing to work, starve or are homeless or lack health care or whatever.

Not when you consider the amount of money the people making millions or billions make for other people.

[53] Molitor is a funny comp because he’s a DH. I thought we were signing a guy to play a premier defensive position. That’s most of the issue here.

[55]
Hey, don’t key that to [53], key it to [45], j!

[56] Yeah sorry - comment was meant in rebuttal of [45].

[54]  Although when you consider the increase in the ratio of executive compensation to that of ordinary grunts, and the stagnation of income for the middle, it is probably most accurate to say “Not when you consider the amount of money the people making millions or billions make for other people who already have a great deal of money.”

It is not unthinkable that Jeter (or his agent) would get so hung up on his ego that they’d make a stupid financial decision. The question isn’t so much whether Jeter *should/deserves to* take a pay cut, but simply whether he wants door number 1 at 3/45 in NY, or door number two, for 2/25 elsewhere.

This ought to be like the old joke of two guys hiking in bear country, one wearing hiking boots, the other in track shoes. He doesn’t have to outrun the bear, he only has to outrun the other guy.

The Yankees at 3/45 they have already outrun everyone. By a lot.

I wonder if Matsui ever reached the point where he regretted not taking the Yankees’ offer. Continuing my bear motif, some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you.

[59] The answer to this is rocket boots. 3/45 and rocket boots. Who could turn that down?

Some of those people who made millions and billions helped cause the housing and financial crisis yet walked away with net worth greater then Jeter can ever hope to attain and how exactly do hedge fund managers (unlike Gates, Jobs or Bezos) create wealth and jobs for others.

[61]
I considered responding to the post that begot your reply, bebop, but I strongly believe it would be better to let it go.

Let’s avoid politics, shall we?  Sex and religion should keep us occupied until spring.

I wonder if Matsui ever reached the point where he regretted not taking the Yankees’ offer. Continuing my bear motif, some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you.

I wonder the same thing about Damon.

2010: .271/.355/.401/.756
2009: .282/.365/.489/.854  
DNYS: .274/.380/.516/.896  

I think it’s likely that his 2010 SLG and OPS would be significantly higher if he had re-signed with the Yankees, even if meant swallowing his pride and accepting a little less in 2010 for a better chance at a larger contract in 2011 and beyond.

Is it even conceivable that we could sign Magglio on a one-year deal to be the next Thames?  Or is he looking for a multi-year deal of Borassholean proportions and does he still think he can play the outfield every day?

Vegas should make an odds line on whether Jeter signs and for how long and how much he signs for if he signs.  I’d like to see that morning line.  Good point WP, BTW why Wombat?  How about that new Cardinal Rilke.

65 Manny???

[67] would you rather have manny or magglio?

[65]
He may not be able to play the outfield every day, but how about SS? After all, for that you don’t have to be able to move much at all, at least to one’s left.  Or - as I recall Rafael Santana - at all, really.
[66]
Rilke was signed by St. Louis?

[68] Neither?

[69] Or was Rilke signed by the Vatican?

Manny, a problem child, is useless defensively; my guess is Magglio plays average defense.

[70] prolly, but who then?  Is there a glut of right-handed outfielders on the market right now, making filling the position a lower priority for us?

I could see Manny putting up big FU numbers with a one year contract in search of more next year.  Could Magglio even be had for one year?  However as long as we have Jorge and need to give Arod time off and will sign Jeter I can’t imagine Cash going after either but it sure would be fun seeing Manny booed at Fenway after going deep on one of their 8 HOFers.

Is Frank Francisco’s true name Francisco Francisco?

Does “he wear some flowers in his hair?”

[63] I have some nice topless pics of Mother Theresa circa 1940. I have no idea whom she voted for nor do I care.

I recently saw Five Easy Pieces again and am totally enamored with Susan Anspach 1970.  Looking forward to your PIX OTF.

[76]
We’ve all seen those, I think.

[76] Is that what they call the original MILF ?

For a feelgood baseball movie to help get through FA Signing season, check out Brewster’s Millions.

Bull Durham my second favorite sports movie.  Angels in the Outfield is not my first speaking of Mother T.

Oddly there are about a thousand comments at RAB about Jeter, quite a few about Nunez, and none that I’ve seen about how Jeter and Nunez project over four years.  I need to cut way back.

Have you tried JA

JA?

Jeter Anonymous?

Yep

[81] How much can we rely on projections for someone (Nunez) who has hardly played in the majors?  MLEs are a tricky business.  Additionally, is not Jeter tough to project because he’s an all-time great?  Not that SG’s projections are wrong, but shouldn’t we take both those of Jeter and Nunez with a larger grain of salt than usual?

Well you guys have all been busy since I’ve last checked in.  Think I’m all caught up, and I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving break.

Always problematic working off of rumors, b/c they can give false impressions.  Another rumor I read today - not sure if it was the NYPost or ESPN - is that the Yankees first offer was *not* 3/45.  That was their first “official” offer - official offers I believe need to be filed with MLB, which is why everyone knows about them - but they had initially floated a lesser (unknown) proposal.  If true, then the complaints about, “this shouldn’t be their initial offer”, well, it wasn’t.  They already came up.  Which also makes more sense for why Cashman is saying the ball is in Jeter’s court now.

And the 6/150, the first time I read it, was in an article with Close refuting it (yeah, I’ve been out of the loop).  I read a lot of anger/confusion here about it, but apparently wasn’t ever a real request/demand.  Is 4/92 still ridiculous?  Yes, but 4/92 you can negotiate off of, 6/150 you can’t.  Sometimes when I’ve negotiated my contract, the question comes up, “what’s more important to you, the money or the benefits?”  Similar then for Jeter - Yankees may be willing to move on one or the other, the extra year (4/60), or the extra $$‘s (maybe not 3/69, but…). 

Hopefully any news we hear in the next week is good news, like, “Yankees, Jeter, agree on years, still talking about $$‘s”.  Or, “Yankees trade Nunez+ for Tulowitzki”.

Looks like the Yankees will be able to recoup some of their investment in Vazquez.  Even if they “only” get the same value Joba has given them, this may actually end up being a win of a trade for the Yankees.  Depending on Vizcaino of course.

I’ve heard that thrown around a lot…that a good negotiation ploy is to start silly and then come down.  Does this actually happen in the real world, or are we conditioned by “the art of negotiation” books and movies?

I’m sure it’s not always true, but in my experience this is indeed the general rule (and I’ve been involved in, if not in control of, many negotiations).

You start out offering/demanding a “home run” for you.
The other side starts out with the same, from their perspective.
Each side makes moves and ultimately reach a deal that is acceptable, if not ideal, for both.  Or, alternatively, no deal at all.

Starting a negotiation by offering what you think is a reasonable compromise as your opening offer is usually stupid.  The other side will most likely interpret this as your “best case” scenario and assume you will move toward them.  This encourages them to hold out for more. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s possible to poison things from the get-go by proposing an insulting low-ball offer. 

In my opinion, 3/45 wasn’t a low-ball.  It was the “reasonable compromise” that will screw you.  YMMV.

[89] I’ve conducted a lot of negotiations too and agree with Rob in CT. I’d underscore that while the initial offer can represent you home run scenario, it can’t be so absurdly high or low as to make the other party think you’re acting in bad faith, and the difference between home run and outlandish isn’t always so clear cut.

Right, that’s the tricky part.  You have to show that you’re no pushover, but also that you’re not just playing with them.  In my experience, the best way to do this is to base your offer on some kinda of logical formula, to the extent possible.  The other side won’t just swoon and say “oh, wow, you’re so right!” and accept, but it can help convince them that you’re not just pulling numbers out of your ass.

Happily, baseball has lots and lots of handy numbers that can be used for such a purpose.

[91] Agreed.  It’s always better if your offer/counteroffer is grounded in a rationale of some sort.

I hate the screamers, the ones who act as though they can get over with a display of testosterone. 

A lot of negotiations I’ve engaged in have five moves—offer, counteroffer, counteroffer to the counteroffer, counteroffer to the counteroffer to the counteroffer, and then maybe you’ll meet somewhere near the middle.  Sometimes this process goes on sort of mindlessly.  But when negotiations are as transparent as possible and based on the merits, you’re less likely to get stuck because you’re 5k apart or whatever. 

One other thing I’ve noticed happens sometimes is that opposing counsel and I are on the same side and have to cram an agreement down our client’s throats.

“Negotiations between the Yankees and Derek Jeter are at a standstill until Jeter and his agent, Casey Close, ‘drink the reality potion,’ according to a source close to the negotiations.

According to the source, a baseball industry executive who has knowledge of both sides’ position, the Yankees are not budging from the three-year, $45 million offer they made to Jeter earlier this month, nor has Jeter moved off his demand for a longer contract believed to be in the area of $23-$25 million per season.”

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5862839

I wonder how reality potion tastes.  Probably not good.

The Yankees’ negotiations with closer Mariano Rivera are progressing much smoother than the rancor-filled struggle with Derek Jeter.

“Night and day,” said one baseball official with knowledge of both talks.

While the Yankees and Jeter are reportedly tens of millions of dollars apart, the Yankees and Rivera are said to be closer on financial terms. A second official with knowledge of the Rivera talks said the reliever is looking for a raise from the $15 million he received last season, but the Yankees view his demands as much more reasonable than Jeter’s.

Rivera likely will get a slight bump to $16 or $17 million. The question that still needs to be fully ironed out is if Rivera will receive one or two years. Rivera has asked for a two-year contract but he turned 41 on Monday. A one-year deal with a vesting option could be a way to bridge the gap.

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5862998&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines

I wonder how reality potion tastes.  Probably not good.

I wonder about the role Close is playing in the process. Is he putting unrealistic expectations in Jeter’s head, or is trying to get him to understand the cold, hard reality of the consequences of a career worst season for a SS who will turn 37 next season.

[95]  Seems more like the former based on this snippet from the same article, though who knows for sure:

“The baseball industry source said the Yankees have provided Jeter and Close with detailed statistical and market analysis to support their contract offer, including comparisons between Jeter and other shortstops and middle infielders throughout baseball.

That is the way Jeter’s last contract, the 10-year, $189 million deal that expired with the end of the 2010 World Series, was negotiated, based on Jeter’s contention and the Yankees concurrence that Jeter was the second-best shortstop in the game, behind Alex Rodriguez, who had just signed a 10-year, $252 million deal with the Texas Rangers.

This time, the Jeter side is said to not want Jeter’s value to be judged against that of other shortstops, preferring to base his worth on his legacy as an all-time great Yankee….

‘They’ve changed the rules this time around,’ the source said of the Jeter camp.”

Sometimes it’s hard to tell a client something he doesn’t want to hear but it’s a duty, imo.

[93, 94, 96] Beat me to it - I had just copied those links and the first quote from [96].

“shouldn’t we take both those of Jeter and Nunez with a larger grain of salt than usual?”

Sure, but the projections should at least inform the discussion.