Brian Cashman told Derek Jeter in 2010 he'd rather have Troy Tulowitzki
New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Derek Jeter in 2010 that he'd rather have Troy Tulowitzki playing shortstop for the team, according to S.L. Price's story in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated.
Cashman told SI last month that he and Jeter, then age 36, sat down for a face-to-face meeting in 2010 during a dispute over the terms of the shortstop's next contract.
“Who would you rather have playing shortstop this year than me?” Jeter asked Cashman.
“Do you really want me to answer that?” Cashman replied. Jeter told him to go ahead, and he listed Tulowitzki, then the Rockies' shortstop who was in the midst of his first All-Star campaign. “We're not paying extra money for popularity,” he added, “We're paying for performance.”
Jeter ended up signing a three-year, $51 million deal.
According to the story, his relationship with Cashman “never recovered,” even after his retirement at the end of the 2014 season.
• Cashman: I blew my top with A-Rod comments
“Sometimes honesty hurts,” Cashman told SI. “But if you're being paid to do the job, do the job. You have to honor the job description; if not, you're a fraud or stealing money. You can't fake your way doing this. You either do it or you don't.”
“For certain players and people, it's too much candor,” Jeter's agent Casey Close says of Cashman in the story. “He feels the easiest way to deal with something is to punch it right between the eyes. For some that's the right mode. For players who need a softer approach, it's like, Wow, that guy just hit me between the eyes.”
The full profile is in this week's magazine.
• Brian Cashman almost got into a naked fight in high school
- Jeremy Woo
