Having spent his entire professional playing career with the world’s most famous franchise, Derek Jeter is in his last year of his current contract and has the option to become a free agent at the end of this budding new season. The face of the Yankees is pushing 36 and at an age when baseball players generally start to break down… unless they are taking steroids (Bonds, Sosa, McGuire et al) and there is speculation that if the Yankees do resign him he will have to learn how to play the outfield as the shortstop position may be a bit harder to play.

Shortstop, Left Field, Right Field… it matters little when the Yankees put a contract in front of New York’s most famous eligible bachelor. He should command somewhere in the 20 million dollar range and will probably get a three or four year deal. Here we have a guy that is approaching the twilight of his career, one who has won several world championships and earned over 200 million dollars in salary and bonuses, makes huge bank with endorsement money and is going to make another 50 to 60 million dollars guaranteed.

That’s good work if you can get it.

Part of the salary will be based upon his current ability and what he brings to the team and part will be as a reward for being a good Yankee since being drafted out of Kalamazoo, MI.

Does he deserve that kind of jack?

He does if the Steinbrenner hierarchy says so.

He does if you are a Yankee fan.

He does if you are a baseball fan.

He brings a quality to the field and to the game that can overshadow the whole steroid era and is one of the guys that brings a lot more than physical ability to the field. He has baseball smarts that makes even the most intelligent and crafty manager envious. His leadership skills rival that of President Reagan and his ability to keep the Yankee baseball club united is on a par with Oprah.

So, some day in November or December of this year, Brian Cashman is going to sit down with Jeter, ask him how much and for how long, and we will see this multi-millionaire sign a contract that will keep him a Yankee for the rest of his days.

If there ever was a solid business move, this would be it.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 11:48 am and is filed under Sports Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.