Yankees play dangerous media game with Jeter

The New York Yankees are playing a dangerous media game with Derek Jeter.

It hasn’t escalated to the point of a media war, but it's starting to feel like it's heading in that direction. Perhaps that's the fault of the media itself, with sportswriters under pressure to write the most sensational news stories from the tiniest of scoops. But the Yankees are contributing to the atmosphere by publicly commenting about the shortstop. They give reporters something to work with every time they open their mouths. Whatever happened to "No, comment," Yankee brass? Just stop talking.

If you even believe the media reports, the Yankees are positioning themselves to use their leverage: that no other team will make a substantial offer for the captain or even bid for his services based on the assumption that he is destined to return to the Yankees. But publicly questioning the iconic shortstop's value is a hell of a risk. No matter how much they praise Jeter's career and his contributions to the franchise, all anyone will hear are the negatives.

Jeter is the most media-savvy athlete in baseball, perhaps in all sports. Except for a brush-back by his agent in response to Hal Steinbrenner's initial comments, Jeter has not been seen or heard from much this offseason. But if he finally gets tired of the Yankees playing games in the media, he's going to hit back in such a subtle way that the Yankees won't know what hit them or how to respond.

Any attempt to disparage Jeter will alienate many Yankee fans, including myself. I'm already getting tired of hearing people like Yankees president Randy Levine talking about how this is a different negotiation that it was 10 years ago on Jeter's last deal and how he's been so great for the Yankees, but they have been just as good for him. That is all obvious and doesn’t need to be said. So why say anything at all, especially when what you're saying can be easily misconstrued or completely blown out of proportion?

The Yankees need to just shut up and focus on getting Jeter's deal done. It's the best outcome for everyone and doesn't leave any messes to be cleaned up.

Keep baseball postseason expansion short

Major League Baseball is considering expanding the playoffs, possibly with two wild card teams duking it out for the right to keep playing in October. It’s a good idea, but MLB has to do it in a way that doesn’t drag the season out any longer than necessary.

It's bad enough that the baseball playoffs already last a month, with the World Series played in November and the risk of more cold, disruptive weather that comes with that. The worst thing baseball could do is create a system that draws the postseason well past that one-month mark like the basketball playoffs, which are tedious and dull for all but the most die-hard fans. Seriously, I can’t even tell you when I last watched a full basketball postseason. Patrick Ewing might have still been wearing a Knicks uniform.

The possible changes to the baseball system are definitely intriguing, have numerous potential advantages and merit further consideration. I really like the idea of rewarding division leaders with a first-round bye for playing well during the regular season. Why not? It works for football.

For the record, I didn't think the American League East division race between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays this year was as lackluster or non-existent as most people claim. But such a change would definitely spice up the division races and motivate teams to play well (and put all their best players on the field rather than resting people in September) to avoid an early exit.

If MLB wants to add another round of playoffs, that’s fine. Bud Selig and Co have plenty of time to figure out how to make it work. But it has to be done in a way that keeps the postseason as short as possible. It’s more fun that way and they don’t risk losing our attention.

Pay up New York Yankees fans!

Here's a reality check for any fans who want the New York Yankees to get Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford AND Jayson Werth.

The Yankees are increasing ticket prices, ostensibly to help offset the cost of having baseball's highest payroll. Despite the still-sluggish economy, the team will raise the prices of field-level seats (which I don’t care much about since I can’t afford to sit there at current prices) by about $10 or $25 and for bleacher seats without blocked views (which I care deeply about since I often sit there) by $3.

I am often amazed when I travel to other cities how much cheaper game tickets are. My last trip to Toronto, I got three tickets for roughly the same price I paid for one ticket to my last home game. But then the Blue Jays are not paying their way into contention so that's to be expected.

But for the record, I don't have a big problem with the Yankees raising their prices. If we want them to keep putting a competitive team on the field, spending big is the way they are going to do it and we have to live with that. Do I wish the tickets were cheaper? Of course. But I don't relish paying $13 to see a movie either, which is why I usually wait for them to come out on DVD. It's the same reason I watch most Yankee games on television.

I would like to see Brian Cashman & Co make better investments with my money. The Yankees are usually the only team that can afford to eat bad contracts such as the one they gave to Chan Ho Park, who was eventually replaced with the more expensive and much-more effective Kerry Wood. It was an easy call to keep Javier Vazquez off the roster for the playoffs despite his $11.5 million salary, but he wasn't a bet Cashman should have made in the first place. Let's hope he learns from that experience.

Bottom line: You get what you pay for. And Yankees fans will be paying more if they want to personally watch the most coveted free agent on the market pitch in Yankee Stadium next year. Imagine how much ticket prices would have gone up if Yankee officials were targeting all three of the top guys available. Personally, I can live without Crawford or Werth since it probably saves me some dough.

Learning about the next Yankee (hopefully) pitcher

The Daily News did fans of the New York Yankees a great service by going to Cliff Lee's hometown in Benton, Arkansas and speaking to everybody who knows him.

Okay, maybe they didn't speak to everyone, but it sure seems that way from the extensive profile they produced chronicling his life from talented kid to superstar pitcher and premier free agent. We now know a lot more about the guy who would be the next (hopefully) Yankee superstar.

I especially love the opening anecdote about Lee being afraid of speaking to a friendly crowd of 500 people because I can relate to that fear. I recently participated in a panel discussion in front of about 150 people and was terrified. I'm far more comfortable behind a computer instead of in front of a microphone, just like Lee is far more comfortable throwing a baseball, which he does better than everyone, except maybe 5 to 10 pitchers in baseball.

The story doesn't give us insight into whether Lee will ultimately sign with the Yankees or choose to stay closer to home by continuing his career with the Texas Rangers. But it does a great job in helping us understand what makes Lee tick.

Thanks to Red3biggs via Wikipedia for the photo.

Give us one more year Andy Pettitte

Andy Pettitte hasn't decided whether to pitch again for the New York Yankees or go back home to Texas for good, but if he does come back it will only be for one more year. We'll take it.

The Yankees really need Pettitte to decide that he still has one season left in him. Even if they sign Cliff Lee, they need Pettitte in the rotation to provide another dependable arm if he can remain healthy. That would ease the pain of being forced to keep AJ Burnett and his unmovable contract in the rotation. It would also give the Yankees one more year to look deep into their farm system and see if they have a young pitcher that looks nearly big-league ready, to scour the trade market for a starter without having the pressure of a must-make deal or to wait until next offseason and hope for a better crop of starters entering free agency.

But if the veteran lefty calls it quits, the Yankees will be stuck handing a starting job to a kid such as Ivan Nova, who showed glimpses of promise, but is untested. They could try to sign someone on the free-agent market, but starting pitching, unlike reliever help, looks pretty thin this year and any starter who signs after Lee might be command a king's ransom from baseball teams looking for starting pitching. Not that the Yankees can't pay a fortune, but we have seen that they sometimes make bad choices on pitchers when they feel they desperately need to go get someone.

Give us one more year, Andy. We'll be grateful for that. So will the Yankees.

Mariano Rivera flying under the radar

In the midst of all the speculation about Derek Jeter's next contract, it's easy to forget that Mariano Rivera, another iconic member of the New York Yankees, is also looking for a new deal.

It seems funny to me that the greatest closer in baseball history and a surefire Hall of Famer is flying under the radar, but that probably is a direct result of Mo's low-key, gentlemanly personality. He's not one to seek attention or participate in a war of words with anyone, particularly his employer. Rivera quietly and efficiently goes about his business during the season and then pretty much disappears for the winter, surfacing only for important charity events like former skipper Joe Torre’s annual Safe at Home Foundation dinner.

But we're starting to get some clues about what he's looking for. Initially it was thought that Mo would go year to year, much like Andy Pettitte is doing, because of the possibility of imminent retirement. But signs now point to Rivera wanting a two-year deal from the Yankees. I think that's completely reasonable.

Despite his rough September, Mo had another good year in 2010 and a great postseason. He would have to falter for a lengthy period of time before any of the young studs truly replace him as the guy you most want to hand the ball to with the game on the line.

Moreover, the Yankees have no one to replace him. Kerry Wood will likely seek a closer's gig somewhere else. Joba Chamberlain has not shown he can step up and be the 8th inning guy, let alone the man in the 9th inning. David Robertson has flashes of brilliance, but has been inconsistent in big spots.

For the Yankees, there is really little choice but to give Mo what he wants, which is pretty fair considering that there aren’t many questions about him aside from his age (granted that could be a big question but Mo has not shown any physical signs of slowing down). Since it seems like Mo is not quite ready for retirement, there should be nothing standing in the way of him returning to the Bronx to finish his career in pinstripes.

Yankees, Jeter playing nice again

By all accounts, the New York Yankees and Derek Jeter had a civil, face-to-face conversation in Tampa yesterday. That bodes well for the chances of quickly reaching an agreement for the Yankee Captain to remain in his pinstripes.

Although I think there is no chance of Jeter playing for another team next year or ever, I was getting concerned that the negotiations were going to degenerate into a free-for-all, with both sides waging battle in the media after last week's exchange instigated by Hal Steinbrenner. But it seems that the two sides had a nice meeting, hopefully agreeing to resolve whatever differences they have in private rather than airing their dirty laundry.

It's important that things remain civil for both the Yankees and Jeter. The captain is the face of the franchise and it does absolutely no good for the Yankees to belittle or demean him in public. For Jeter, maintaining a solid relationship with his employers will help him keep the good will and nice-guy persona that he has spent 15 years of his baseball career developing.

Jeter and the Yankees reportedly didn't talk dollars at the meeting, but they played nice, which in the grand scheme of things bodes well for figuring out a way to move forward together.