In 2010, Derek Jeter was already a New York Yankees legend, and he expected to be treated as such. But apparently Yankees general manager Brian Cashman thought Jeter needed to be taken down a notch or two.
According to a piece by S.L. Price in this week’s Sports Illustrated, during contract negations between Jeter and the team, Cashman told Jeter he wasn’t the club’s preferred option at shortstop.
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Price wrote:
“Cashman calls Jeter ‘the greatest player I will have ever had,’ but often admitted impatience with Jeter’s diva-like tendencies. He likes being one of the few to tell the Captain no. During one of their last face-to-face meetings, in 2010, Jeter asked Cashman, ‘Who would you rather have playing shortstop this year than me?’
“‘Do you really want me to answer that?’ Cashman said. Told to go ahead, Cashman instantly named the Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki and was ready to list a few more. Wiser heads stepped in, but not before Cashman could say, ‘We’re not paying extra money for popularity. We’re paying for performance.”
This is the same Cashman who said Alex Rodriguez “should just shut the f— up” in 2013 when he tweeted about his rehab from hip surgery.
Price said Cashman and Jeter’s relationship never recovered after their exchange, even after the two came to terms on a three-year deal worth $51 million that would take Jeter to the end of his career.
“For certain players and people, it’s too much candor,” Casey Close, Jeter's agent, told Sports Illustrated. “He feels the easiest way to deal with something is to punch it right between the eyes. For some that’s the right mode. For players who need a softer approach, it’s like, 'Wow, that guy just hit me between the eyes.'”
Cashman told the New York Daily News that Price “did a lot of homework” for the story, but said he never said Jeter had “diva-like” tendencies and that he did not provide the account of his conversation with Jeter. However, he didn’t deny it.
“If players ask me questions, I’ll answer directly and honestly,” Cashman said.