Aww… Wittle Derek’s Feelings Got Hurt

Now before I get bombarded with Yankee fan e mails calling me a gutless, hating Red Sox fan, let me get a few things out of the way.

1) Derek Jeter is a great Yankee.

2) Derek Jeter has been a wonderful superstar.

3) Derek Jeter belongs in the Hall of Fame.

4) I would have loved to have seen Derek Jeter in a Red Sox uniform.

5) I have praised Jeter on this blog with this post, this post and this post. And I defended Jeter FROM Yankee fans on this post. So I’ve been as positive and fair minded as a lifelong Red Sox fan can be about #2.

Did you catch all of that?

Good.

Now let’s get to the heart of this.
He went from winner to WHINER with that press conference.

Ooooo… free agency was so tough.

Listening to him complain through that press conference was a little startling because he’s always played the media game so well. But this should have been the easiest press conference in history.

“All the business stuff aside, I am proud to be a Yankee and hammer this contract out. I know they wanted me back and I wanted to come back. It took a little bit of time but we’re here and let’s win number 28.”

Boom. Easy. Simple. Totally forgettable.

Instead we have tripe like “I was more angry at the process and how I was being portrayed.“

Really?
You mean being portrayed as someone asking WAY more than the open market would ever get you?

Because that’s what happened.

“I heard greed.”

It’s funny. So did we. We heard a guy who had already been paid incredibly well for his services and clearly well into the last half of his career essentially being asked to be paid AGAIN for what he did in the past.

But the worst thing was when he said “When the organization says, ’go shop’ when I said I wasn’t going to, yeah, I wasn’t happy about it.“

Sorry, but I have to call B.S. on this.

You weren’t happy about being asked to find what your actual worth on the open market was? You weren’t happy being told “Hey, before we keep shoveling more money to you, how’s about seeing what OTHER PEOPLE think your price tag is”?

I wrote that that was the only fair thing to do. To truly find the REAL market value of Derek Jeter and see if the Yankees would match it.

Guess what Derek? The Yankees wanted to make a decision on whether or not to keep you based on reality, not on Yankee prices.

And do you know what? When other teams do that, Derek Jeter has benefitted.

Other teams make decisions of whether or not to keep a player based on the actual open market price. And many times those decisions lead to teams saying “We’re not going to match the market price.”

And lookee here!
Jeter, did you like playing with John Wetteland?
Jimmy Key?
David Cone?
David Wells?
Roger Clemens?
Chuck Knoblauch?
David Justice?
Mike Mussina?
Jason Giambi?
CC Sabathia?

The Yankees got all of them either through free agency or salary dumps because their original teams didn’t ante up.

So you had no problem when OTHER teams made decisions based on costs.

But not when it came to you.
You had to be paid like an elite player, even though you are not anymore, for your intangibles, for which you’ve been made a millionaire nearly 200 times over.

And he STILL got paid at least twice what any other team would pay him. The Yankees raised the offer even though no other team was bidding on him.

If you ask me it sounds like an awesome process.

If all things were equal, Cliff Lee should be a Cardinal

Wherever Cliff Lee will sign, it will be for the biggest contract. And why not? Would YOU turn down the most dough?

And after being a Cy Young winner in 2008, he has played for four different teams. So why shouldn’t he go for stability in his life now?

And of course the Yankees are front runners.
The Rangers want him back and supposedly there are some other clubs in the running.

If it weren’t a money and budget factor, wouldn’t he fit perfectly with the St. Louis Cardinals?

He doesn’t want to go to New York!
He is a low key guy who just wants to pitch.

His wife doesn’t want to go to New York. She thinks they are all spitting scum bags.

And pitching in the Texas heat for 6 or 7 years will wear him down.

In St. Louis, the nice Arkansas boy will have a passionate Midwestern fan base cheering for him.
He’d be under the tutelage of Dave Duncan, the best pitching coach in the game.

And oh yeah, the Cardinals rotation would go “Lee – Wainwright – Carpenter – Jaime Garcia – Jake Westbrook.”

Um… hello pennants!

It would be like when Greg Maddux joined an already stacked Atlanta pitching staff in 1993.

Plug Lee into the Cardinals staff and they would be a terror in any short series.

Plus he would get all of those games against the Astros, Pirates and Cubs which is always good for the win/loss totals.

All things are NOT equal and the Cardinals aren’t even in the sweepstakes for Lee.

But they should be. It would best for ALL parties.

Red Sox get Carl Crawford! Two can play this evil game!

It’s starting to feel a lot like 2003, 2004 and 2005 in here. And your pal Sully couldn’t be happier.

As I wrote back in 2007, the Red Sox are an evil empire as well. And MAN it is fun to root for the bad guys!

The Red Sox picked up the best two left handed bats available and didn’t have to give up Jose Inglesias,, Ryan Kalish or Daniel Bard.

They’ve gone from having a rotation of Darnell McDonald, Daniel Nava, Bill Hall and the 14th caller on WEEI in left field to one of the best in the game.

And oh yeah, removed him from a rival.

EEEEEVIL!

Right after they picked up a home town San Diego hero who almost led a band of low paid misfits to the playoffs.

EEEEVIL!

And it is awesome.

I know the Yankees made two big signings, but let’s face it: Bringing back Jeter and Rivera isn’t exactly addition. It’s AVOIDING subtraction.

Now if Cliff Lee can sign with the Rangers, this Red Sox fan will be dancing like Papelbon circa 2007.

Get a healthy Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia. Add J. D. Drew on a contract year. Mix in the new left handed bats of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. And keep in mind Big Papi will be batting 6th or 7th!

And oh yeah, have Lester and Buchholz head up the rotation and Papelbon in his walk year eyeing the big bucks.

Forgive me if I don’t care if you hate the Red Sox.
I’m giddy for 2011 to start.

Cue the Darth Vader theme!

(And enjoy this odd video I shot at a John Williams concert in the Hollywood Bowl… lots of Star Wars geeks doing some conducting with light sabers.)