TAMPA — Hank Steinbrenner yesterday said he whiffed on trying to portray a lack of concentration on the 2010 Yankees by tying Derek Jeter’s name to the deal.
“It was a bad choice of euphemism, but a euphemism,” Steinbrenner said. “Derek has five rings. You don’t get five rings by being complacent.”
Steinbrenner linked Jeter building a mansion in Tampa, where work started in 2008, to the Yankees not getting to the World Series last season.
Yesterday, Steinbrenner sent word through a person to Jeter.
“He knows I wasn’t talking about him,” Steinbrenner said.
Jeter acknowledged hearing from Steinbrenner through a third party but refused to discuss the details.
Earlier in the morning, Jeter was in a jovial mood when asked about Steinbrenner’s Monday words.
“I have no problem with Hank — he didn’t say it to me. I don’t think my name came out of his mouth,” Jeter said before a workout at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “Don’t make it out that I have a problem.”
In other instances, Jeter has been asked about touchy subjects and he has been very serious. Yesterday he was the opposite.
“This is a first,” Jeter said about the building of a house. “The house I don’t understand. I understand other things.”
Steinbrenner said he saw a lack of concentration in 2010 that could have been due to the players riding the wave of ’09.
“When you don’t win, people say you lost your hunger,” Jeter said. “We got beat by a better team [Texas]. That’s why we lost.
“We can have a difference of opinion. Guys were ready to play and we got beat by a team better than us.”
Jeter said there wasn’t bad blood between him and the Steinbrenner family over the latest incident, which followed a testy contract negotiations.
“Owners can have opinions. I respected The Boss’ opinion even if we always didn’t agree. The same thing with Hank and Hal. They can say what they want.”