Fifty-one million dollars over three years and a very creative option produced by the club for the fourth year was enough to bring Derek Jeter back to the Yankees.
According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Jeter and the Yankees finalized the deal yesterday and ended a month of negotiations that at times were testy.
Jeter will earn $17 million in 2011, 2012 and 2013. There is a player option for the fourth year that if Jeter picks up is worth $8 million. The guaranteed part of the deal includes a $3 million buyout if the option is nixed. Should Jeter accept, the contract is worth $56 million across four seasons.
VACCARO: DEAL SAVES JETER FROM BECOMING CAPTAIN CROOK
There is deferred money in the deal and the all-important AAV, which means a lot in luxury-tax circles, is $16 million. That makes Jeter the highest-paid middle infielder in baseball, but represents a cut from the $18.9 million he averaged for the past 10 seasons and the $21 million he earned last year when he batted a career-low .270 but was an All Star and won a Gold Glove.
During the first three years, Jeter can earn points (at $1 million each) toward increasing the option for winning the AL MVP, finishing second through sixth in the MVP voting, winning the Silver Slugger, Gold Glove and being the MVP of the ALCS or World Series.
The max on the player option is $17 million.
The deal came together yesterday when the camps talked for the third straight day.
As for Mariano Rivera’s two-year deal that also includes deferred money, the AAV on it comes out to a shade under $30 million.
Jeter, who is 74 hits shy of becoming the first Yankee to reach 3,000 hits, was looking for a four- or five-year deal for $23 million per at the beginning of the process. That was met with resistance from the Yankees who felt that Jeter’s age (37 in June) and his off-year at the plate required no more than a three-year deal.
As late as Monday, the sides were far apart. But a face-to-face meeting with Jeter and his agent Casey Close talking to Hal Steinbrenner, general manager Brian Cashman and president Randy Levine Tuesday night in Tampa was the first sign of progress.
Thursday, the Yankees upped their offer. Friday night’s talks produced “significant progress,” according to a source.
With Jeter and Rivera done, the Yankees can concentrate on bagging free agent pitcher Cliff Lee during the Winter Meetings that open tomorrow in Florida’s Disney playground.
The Yankees are talking to free agent outfielder Carl Crawford but that appears to be a backup plan if Lee remains in Texas and to help drive up the price on the Red Sox who are chasing Crawford with the Angels and Rangers.
So, after a month of negotiations that at times became testy, Jeter remains with the only team he has ever played for.
Jeter received a taste of what hardball negotiations are about. A decade ago when Jeter inked a 10-year, $189 million deal the talks never reached the testy level these did.
From the start, Hal Steinbrenner said he appreciated what Jeter meant to the Yankees but was quick to say he and his brother, Hank, were running a business. The next day Jeter, through agent Casey Close, agreed the face of the franchise was also viewing it as a business.
When Close called the Yankees’ negotiations “baffling” Cashman fired back that there was nothing baffling about it. The next day Cashman challenged Jeter to shop his services to other teams.
From the beginning the talks had two colossal situations that couldn’t be ignored: Jeter had nowhere to go; the Yankees would have had to turn to neophyte Eduardo Nunez if he left.
Jeter wasn’t going anywhere else and the Yankees don’t have to ask a rookie to play short on a team that always is expected to go to the World Series.
george.king@nypost,com
You said it
Here’s what readers are saying about the Derek Jeter deal at nypost.com:
Jeter is God! It’s fun to watch him play. He’s the No. 1 ambassador in this game. The guy always has good-looking women around him, too. I mean, God bless him.
Margaret Hamilton
Once again the Yankees have overpaid for a past-his-prime athlete with decreasing numbers. At the end of this contract, the Yanks will once again have an anchor around their neck.
— Gradeschoolcop
Jeter should have gotten a 5 year deal for $21 million a year. The Yankees are getting a bargain. I’m sure Jeter will finally get MVP in 2011 and win the World Series.
— DOUBLE_CHINNED_PUPPETEER
(Bleep) Another few years of watching him ground into rally-ending double plays. Guess Girardi will put him at leadoff until the Yanks are a solid 3rd place team. Wow did they blow it this offseason.
— yagottabekidding