By the winter of 1998, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera had established themselves as integral parts of what was then the Yankees’ embryonic dynasty. Jeter had won Rookie of the Year and Rivera had mastered, if not invented, the role of bullpen set-up man for the 1996 world champions. They each followed with superb seasons in 1997, Rivera as the closer, for the club that lost the ALDS to Cleveland.
Surely each merited significant raises off the $550,000 for which they had both played in 1997. The problem was that second-year players had no leverage whatsoever under the terms of Major League Baseball’s collective bargain agreement. As such, the Yankees renewed each contract for $750,000 apiece for 1998.
That meant that in 1998, while starring for the team that went 125-50 in winning the World Series, Jeter earned less money than utility man Luis Sojo, who played for $800,000, and Rivera earned less money than matchup reliever Graeme Lloyd, who was in at $875,000.
Said Jeter in spring training upon his contract being renewed: “I can’t negotiate.”
Said Rivera: “I’ve got to wait for my turn.”
A year later, Jeter was earning $5M, Rivera was at $4.25M. Neither ever looked back, and neither ever exactly found himself wanting for subway fare.
Memo to Brandon Dubinsky: if Jeter and Rivera could wait their turn, so can you; if Jeter and Rivera could understand and live within the terms of their respective sport’s labor agreement, so can you.
If that means that Dubinsky, now entering the fourth day of his Ranger training-camp holdout, plays for less money this season than Enver Lisin, who is in for $790,000, then so be it. Jeter didn’t take it as a personal insult that he played for less than Sojo.
Players and management each own tools under the CBA. They are there to be utilized; no apologies necessary.
A Group II free agent coming off Entry Level without arbitration rights such as Dubinsky, has no leverage absent an offer sheet. Dubinsky, who recorded 41 points last season and 40 points as a rookie, was not able to attract an offer sheet. If he had, he would have owned the hammer. One can be quite sure Dubinsky would not have apologized if a competing club’s offer sheet had backed GM Glen Sather into a cap corner.
Sather thus owes Dubinsky no apology for using the CBA to his advantage. The Rangers have offered Dubinsky $700,000 on a one-year deal when, indeed, Sather could have stood on a qualifier of $522,500.
The Rangers now could reduce their offer to Dubinsky, who is seeking $1.4M, to the league minimum of $500,000 if they so choose.
Could Sather come up to, say, $850,000?
Sure he could and he probably should if that would get the deal done immediately. Let’s not pretend that the Rangers wouldn’t be better off with Dubinsky in camp. But there is no indication that Dubinsky, who is seeking approximately $1.4M this year, would accept that offer. And the Rangers have no reason to negotiate against themselves.
Fact is, under terms of the CBA, the Rangers are under no obligation at all at this stage of the process to offer Dubinsky a one-year deal of any kind that would serve as a bridge to salary arbitration next summer, when the center could be in line to get $3-3.5M off a good season.
Sather could pull his one-year offer at any moment and present Dubinsky with a two-year, take-it-or-leave it contract worth, say, $1.1M total. That, of course, though would set off a chain of events that would lead to Dubinsky’s departure from Broadway. But if this current stalemate persists, it is likely to lead to Dubinsky leaving the Rangers in a trade, probably sooner rather than later.
By the way, pay little attention to head coach John Tortorella’s take on things. Of course he’s going to attempt to apply pressure by whatever means necessary to get an important player into camp. If it means calling Dubinsky and agent Kurt Overhardt, “stupid,” well, that’s what it means. But it doesn’t mean Tortorella’s voice is constructive in the process.
Indeed, it’s at least equally as “stupid” for the Rangers to have rejected Dubinsky’s request to borrow his own equipment so he could use it while training on his own, as The Post has learned that they did yesterday, though perhaps Sather would have been more amenable had the request come from either the player or his agent, and not through a third party. But still.
The Blueshirts don’t have a first-line center. They want to give Dubinsky, who did not have a particularly impressive sophomore season last year, the first chance to grab that spot and make it his own. Dubinsky is going to have to decide, and pretty soon, whether he’s going to accept it.
Derek Jeter waited his turn. So did Mariano Rivera. They had no choice. Neither does Brandon Dubinsky if he wants to be a Ranger.