To Sign Jeter Or Not!!

[trsent]

Yes, what a silly argument to compare Jeter to Jordan or Montana.

Class is playing your entire career with one team. Jordan and Montana's legacy was ruined by the fact they changed teams at the end. Rice, Favre, list goes on.

Play for one team and you are the cream of the crop. The Yankees and Jeter have too much class. I hope the Captain stays and is the legend in the end.

[legaleagle92481]

Saying the Yankees owe him nothing may be right in the short run, but not the long run. One of the things about the Yankee tradition is that a number of players like DiMaggio, Mantle, Ford, etc. played their whole career with NY. The Yankees could have let Mantle go after the 65 season and saved money. But you would have a different legacy and memory if they had. And some players simply ought to be remembered as playing all their career with one team, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Cal Ripken, etc. Jeter is in that group. And the Yankees aren't going to be stopped from signing a Lee and/or a Crawford by keeping Jeter, unlike a lot other teams.

Would you really? Who is the greatest Yankee ever? Babe Ruth hands down. Started as a Sock ended up let go and playing in the NL when he could no longer produce. Who is the greatest living Yankee? Yogi Berra most would say. He was let go and spent part of a year with the Mets. Which former Yankee great is currently most involved with the team? Reggie Jackson is and he left them as a player and started elsewhere.

[cjclong]

Obviously a player doesn't have to play with a team the whole time to be associated with the team or be considered a star player as Ruth and others attest. The Hall of Fame routinely has to make decisions of which uniform a player is to be inducted in. However the end of Ruth's career was sad and its not a happy chapter in the story of his life. The O's probably could have cut Ripken several years before he retired, but part of his legacy and theirs was that he played for the O's his entire career. Mantle would be regarded as a beloved superstar player if the Yankees had cut him when his numbers dropped after the 1965 season. But the fact he played with the Yankees his entire career makes the story better. I think it is good if a star player who has gained the affection of the fans can play his entire career with one team. This isn't always possible for various reasons, but when it is possibhle it makes a great story like Ripken, Musial, Williams, Banks, etc. Some people don't care if players who have played with a team their whole career and earned the affection of the fans are tossed off like dirty dishwater. Maybe that has to be the way sports works sometimes, but I think it is great if a player can play his whole career with a team and I suspect most fans feel that way. The Rangers made a huge mistake when they let Pudge Rodriguez go when he wanted to stay in Texas. He promptly took the Marlins to the World Series the next year and helped Detriot to the Series several years later. Pudge should have been a Ranger for life. When a player stays with one team his entire career it special. That's why I hope the Yankees and Jeter can work out something so he ends his career with them.

[yankees506]

There is no way jeter is in any other uni for hit number 3000. Its not like the yankees are offering him a bag of chips, the are/will offer him more than any other team will. Point Blank

[BULBUS]

The deal WILL get done. There's no way these 2 part. Jeter will be the first to reach 3,000 as a Yankee and he will be overpaid for his on-field performance. Jeter does have more to lose if he leaves though.

[mbenga28]

Yankees are just doing this to prevent the Mets from making headlines in the backpage.

both sides probably already agreed to a new contract.

[trsent]

The deal WILL get done. There's no way these 2 part. Jeter will be the first to reach 3,000 as a Yankee and he will be overpaid for his on-field performance. Jeter does have more to lose if he leaves though.

Finally, after many years you and I finally agree on something!

[OaklandAsFan]

He is not worth the 3/45 they just offered him IMHO. His stats declined tremendously last season and he isn't getting younger. Lets see just how bad he wants to stay a Yankee.

[xpress34]

If he squeezes the Yanks and they don't get a deal done, it would just add to the baseball mystique and lore of the most storied franchise still never having a 3,000 hit club member...

Although (and I have brought it up before) there is ONE player who was a member of the 3,000 hit club that did wear the Yankees pinstripes as a member of the 3,000 hit club. And I'm not talking about guys who passed through NY and THEN made the 3000 hit club (Winfield, Boggs, Henderson, etc)

Anyone want to make a guess?

- Smitty

[allstarsplus]

He is not worth the 3/45 they just offered him IMHO. His stats declined tremendously last season and he isn't getting younger. Lets see just how bad he wants to stay a Yankee.

Yep, that is way overpaying him for what he can do on the field. If Jeter works the Yankees over for more, they should let him test Free Agency and get a dose of reality on his true value as a Free Agent.