Some compromise: Derek Jeter and his Neiman-Marcus negotiating style

After Bill Madden leaked the "$25 million over six years" figure that Derek Jeter wanted from the Yankees, it took all day for Casey Close to deny the number, finally saying at 4 p.m., "The recently reported terms of our contract proposal are simply inaccurate." Then  it came out, according to the New York Times, that instead of $25 million, Jeter "only" wanted between $23-24 million over 4-5 years. Whoopee.

Instead of focusing of how out of line Jeter's demands are, the Times' Michael G. Schmidt thinks this shows an area where the they cans split the difference:

"Still, the current offers — three years at $15 million a year by the Yankees and a maximum five years at $23 to $24 million by Close — suggest an obvious compromise in which the two sides would settle at four years and, say, $19 million a year."

Puh-lease. What a deal -- for Jeter. He's still be in the top-10 highest paid players, when he's barely in the top-10 most-productive shortstops, let alone players, any more.

This reminds me of my experience shopping at any Neiman-Marcus store. The prices are so high for most of the items, like $1100 for a dress, that when you see a markdown, like in one of the Neiman-Marcus Last Call stores, you start to think "oh, $250 for a pair of jeans isn't quite so bad." It is, but when you're seeing so many ridiculously-high prices, it distorts your idea of what you should spend, and what is reasonably priced.

I wonder if that's the Jeter/Close strategy here. Remember, Bill Madden said he got his figures from sources in the Jeter/Close camp. Did they want this to leak out, so they could deny it,  and then leak more "reasonable" figures? It sounds like a dopey strategy to me, but given how poorly the Jeter camp has handled this so far, it wouldn't  surprise me in the least.


It's amazing how much the most popular sports figure in the city has taken such a tumble, due to his greed. Today's New York Posts has a poll where almost 3/4  of their readers say that the Yankees' current offer is "fair." And Daily News readers in their site's poll aren't exactly supporting the captain in overwhelming numbers as well -- only 26% support Jeter, with 44% against him, and the rest blaming both sides equally.

At any rate, I never want to hear Yankee fans tell me again about how Derek Jeter is all about the team, and  A-Rod is all about money. If the pinstripes really meant so much to Jeter, he would have signed that very generous offer already, instead of being fixated on being paid like A-Rod.


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