Yankees GM To Jeter In 2010: We'd Rather Have Tulowitzki
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It's no secret that Derek Jeter wasn't too pleased -- in fact, he was "pretty angry" -- with the New York Yankees after the 2010 season.
Now a 21-page profile of Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, authored by S.L. Price in this week's Sports Illustrated magazine, is shedding some light on just how contentious it got when Jeter was negotiating his three-year, $51 million deal.
"Cashman calls Jeter 'the greatest player I will have ever had,' but often admitted impatience with Jeter's divalike tendencies," Price wrote. "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.' "
According to Price, the relationship between Cashman and Jeter "never recovered."
"Sometimes honesty hurts," Cashman told Price. "But if you're being paid to do a job, do the job. You have to honor the job description; if not, you're a fraud or stealing money. You can't fake your way doing this. You either do it or you don't."
Cashman has earned a reputation for his no-nonsense approach as general manager of the Yankees, a position he's held since 1998. But it's not always a positive, like when he said Alex Rodriguez "should just shut the f--- up" during baseball's Biogenesis mess. Cashman admitted it was an embarrassing moment: "I conduct myself, for the most part, at a much higher standard than that."
"For certain players and people, it's too much candor," Jeter's agent, Casey Close, 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 he had no issues with the profile, though he distanced himself from some of the details.
"I didn't say (Jeter) had diva-like tendencies," Cashman told the newspaper. "It's a piece (Price) wrote. He put it together. You'd have to ask him about that. There's no quotes about that from me."
The 48-year-old also claimed the play-by-play of his conversation with the captain came from elsewhere.
"I didn't provide the information," Cashman said. "I didn't confirm it or deny it. (Price) asked me about it. I said it was a private meeting."
Jeter retired after the 2014 season.
