Worried about Jeter, Rivera, & Girardi?
Well you shouldn’t be! Over the past two weeks, there has been a lot of talk about the contracts ending for 3 key Yankees at the end of the 2010 season. Come November, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera will become free agents, and Joe Girardi’s contract will be up. Brian Cashman has repeatedly informed the media that the Yankees do not negotiate with upcoming free agents until after the season. He has made it clear that this is a policy that the team has always followed. Yankee fans need not fret. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera both had one of the best seasons of their respective careers last year, and there is really no need to fear about losing two of the greatest players to ever where the pinstripes. Jeter and Mo are two player who will end their careers in pinstripes. There is not a single doubt in my mind about this.
I know questions are constantly lingering, especially with the way the Yankees and Bernie Williams parted ways. Any of my friends will tell you that I think it was a very disheartening the way the two said goodbye, especially since Bernie Williams helped build them from a 4th place team in the early 90′s, into World Series champions. Not to knock Bernie, as he was always one of my favorites, but he is no Jeter or Rivera. All you Yankee fans reading this post should not worry whatsoever about the team ‘losing’ these guys.
Jeter is in the great shape, and actually improved, that’s right, improved at shortstop last year from the previous season. He had a fantastic year at the plate and has shown absolutely no sign of decline. He had by far one of his best offensive AND defensive seasons in 2009. He hit a solid .334, with 30 stolen bases, and 212 hits (the 7th time he has had 200+ hits in his career). Not too shabby. Oh… and he also broke Lou Gehrig’s all-time hit total as a Yankee by ending the 2009 campaign with 2,747 career hits. Derek is not a stupid person. He is very much aware of how much longer he can go both physically and mentally. There is absolutely NO doubt in mind that Derek Jeter will sign a new contract by th
e holiday season for what I think will be 4 years.
Mariano will also be back; however, in order to make the big bucks like he has in the past, I do feel he will have some convincing to do. I am not ignorant, I know he has convinced us his entire career, but we can’t forget that Mo will be turning 41 around the time he will begin negotiating a new contract. I am slowly beginning to think that Mariano is not human. The numbers he put up last season were incredible. I mean he only had an ERA of 1.76 and saved 44 games in 46 opportunities. Oh, and did I mention that despite the fact that his fastball has significantly decreased in speed, he still managed to strike out an impressive 9.8 hitters per 9 inning? He will not, I repeat will not, go to any other team. The Yankees will offer him a contract at the end of the season, and I believe it will be roughly a 2 year contract.
Joe Girardi is a little different. He is still a young manager, with a long career ahead of him. After leading the Yankees to a 3rd place finish in the AL East in 2008, he came back strong in 2009 and as we all know, led the Yankees to their 27th World Championship. As we know from 2008, having a team full of great players, does not necessarily guarantee a playoff appearance. Unless the Yankees completely tank this year, I don’t see any reason why Joe Girardi would not get a new contract come next off-season.
What are your thoughts on the Yankees negotiation process with upcoming free agents? Do you think they should start the process now rather than later?
Photos courtesy of Zimbio.com
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[...] Yankees will be able to focus explicitly on baseball. Brian wrote a nice post on the subject of Jeter, Rivera, and Girardi yesterday and he seems to feel that the “issue” is really a non-issue. I happen to agree [...]
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