Hank Steinbrenner (Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post)
TAMPA — George Steinbrenner is gone, but his legacy is alive and well at the ballpark that bears his name.
Owner Hank Stenbrenner, talking about how focused the Yankees have been compared to last year, when they were defending World Series champions, fractured the tranquility around George M. Steinbrenner Field.
“Sometimes you celebrate too much, players concentrating on building mansions and not concentrating on winning,” Steinbrenner said in a hallway following yesterday’s workout.
Steinbrenner said he wasn’t fingering Derek Jeter as the reason the Yankees didn’t reach last year’s World Series, but it was clear he didn’t have Ramiro Pena in mind.
Because Jeter recently finished building a colossal house in the Tampa neighborhood of Davis Islands, Steinbrenner was asked if any other player was doing the same.
“I am not singling anybody out, but maybe riding the wave of ’09 was too much,” Steinbrenner said of the aftermath of the Yankees winning their 27th World Series title by beating the Phillies.
What moved Steinbrenner to allude to Jeter?
A lack of concentration has never been a fault of Jeter, who had the worst season of his career last year when he batted .270. And it’s not like Jeter started building the house the day after the Canyon of Heroes parade in November 2009. In the spring of 2009, construction was well under way.
Tampa Bay Online reported the city of Tampa issued a certificate of occupancy on Jan. 19 for the 30,875-square foot home. The mansion, dubbed St. Jetersburg by locals, dwarfs the surrounding homes with its seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms and a reported construction cost of $1.75 million.
Reportedly the largest house in Hillsborough County, the waterfront mansion sits on what previously were three lots, totaling 1.6 acres, which Jeter purchased for $7.7 million. It features two three-car garages, an entertainment room, a billiard room, and a memorabilia room.
Whether the building of his home was a distraction or not, Jeter’s 2010 season was an anomaly. His track record in seasons after the Yankees won World Series prior to 2010 was excellent. In 1997, Jeter batted .291. In 1999, he hit .349. In 2000, it was .339. In 2001, he finished at .311.
Could Steinbrenner be holding a grudge against Jeter from their uncomfortable contract negotiations late last year? The back-and-forth had an edge for a while, and general manager Brian Cashman told Jeter that if he wasn’t happy with the team’s offer, he was free to look elsewhere.
“He is a free agent, he can talk to anybody at any time,” Cashman said in November. “What his market value is, we don’t know, but what we offered we are comfortable with.”
That attitude was called “baffling” by the shortstop’s agent, Casey Close. Jeter stepped out of character in December to tell the world he wasn’t happy with the way the talks were conducted leading to the deal getting done.
“I was pretty angry about it and I let that be known,” Jeter said after the club announced his three-year, $51 million contract. “I was angry about it because I was the one who said I wasn’t going to [look elsewhere]. To hear the organization say go shop it and I just told you I wasn’t going to. Yeah, to be honest with you, I was angry about it.”
Could Steinbrenner be borrowing a motivational tool from his father?
In December 2002, The Boss accused Jeter of partying too much and Jeter was not happy. Though the tiff eventually led to Jeter and George Steinbrenner doing Visa commercials together, those close to The Boss said he was testing the shortstop’s resolve because he was going to name Jeter the captain.
He did that in June 2003, and Jeter finished an injury-shortened season with a .324 average.
Now, one week into camp, Hank Steinbrenner said he believes the vibe around the Yankees is better than a year ago.
“From what I have seen and been told they have the determination they had in ’09,” Steinbrenner said. “I thought they felt embarrassed last year and it bothers them.”
By the time Steinbrenner’s words spilled out, Jeter had exited Steinbrenner Field. He loathes being the center of attention in situations like this, so don’t expect him to enjoy being surrounded by media this morning at his locker when he is asked for a reaction.
Speaking about his team, Steinbrenner said “they were hungrier” in ’09.
Now the feedback he is getting one week in, with no games played yet is that there is more dedication.
As for this year’s chances, Steinbrenner is bothered when people put too much emphasis on the Yankees not getting Cliff Lee because they landed reliever Rafael Soriano.
“People are missing the point, we didn’t get Lee but we got the second best reliever next to our guy [Mariano Rivera],” said Steinbrenner, who expects his rotation to be better than many believe.
“A.J. [Burnett] is making a comeback, [Phil] Hughes, we have already seen what he can do. CC [Sabathia] is an ace. The baseball people like [Ivan] Nova a lot and we have some other young pitchers,” Steinbrenner said. “We are going to be better than everyone thinks.”