Derek Jeter Has Hank Steinbrenner Green with Envy

Hank Steinbrenner, a co-owner of the New York Yankees, seemed to take a bizarre swipe at shortstop Derek Jeter today. Steinbrenner, who over the past couple of years has actually kept a low profile despite a personality that seems at times to be inherited from his bombastic father, the late George Steinbrenner, suggested today that the Yankees failure to repeat as World Champions had something to do with a lack of focus on part of some of their players.

Speaking to reporters at the Yankees' spring training camp in Florida, Steinbrenner said, "Sometimes you celebrate too much, players concentrating on building mansions and not concentrating on winning."

Jeter is in the process of building a 30,875 square foot mansion on the water in Tampa, and is the only Yankee believed to be in the process of building a mansion. Steinbrenner is from the Tampa area and lives there year round. Once completed, it is believed that Jeter's mansion will be the largest home in Tampa. It has been criticized by some in the area for being too big, and also, for featuring a six foot high wall around it.

As the captain of the team, Jeter and the Yankees organization have always seemingly enjoyed a good relationship. The last and only time a Steinbrenner criticized Jeter in public, in fact was eight years ago, when George Steinbrenner questioned Jeter's late night partying exploits. Jeter and Steinbrenner made the best of it later, however, when they appeared in a Visa commercial which poked fun at the incident.

By most any measure, Jeter had a difficult year last year. His .270 average and ten home runs represented the worst year of his sixteen year career. He was in the last year of his contract, and the somewhat tense negotiations between Jeter and the Yankees surprised many during the offseason.

At 36, Jeter is entering into the first year of a three year contract...a contract that may be small by his prior standards but that is still rich by industry measures.

But it is difficult to understand why Steinbrenner would take the opening of Spring Training as an opportunity to criticize, albeit in a veiled way, his team's captain. Jeter has shown resilience, through good and bad times, during his entire career. And the Yankees did, after all, go to Game Six of the American League Championship Series last year...it was hardly a lost season.

It should also be noted that Jeter has been building his mansion since 2008...which includes the time in which he had one of his best years in 2009 while leading the team to another World Championship.

All of this leads to the question as to whether or not Hank Steinbrenner might actually be jealous of Derek Jeter. Jeter has, after all, made more from the Yankees than Hank Steinbrenner has. He is more beloved, more famous and will go straight to the Hall of Fame. Steinbrenner's father, who passed away last summer, was said to love Jeter like a son.

There is really no rational explanation for attacking Jeter for building a mansion. Jeter has played in the post-season every single year except for 2008 with the Yankees, and his bigger moments always seem to come in the bigger games. He is an all time Yankee, never embarrassed the organization on or off the field, and is about to get his 3,000 career hit this season...and will be the first Yankee to ever do so.

So what is it that Hank Steinbrenner wants from Jeter, exactly? Or does Hank Steinbrenner just wish he was Derek Jeter?

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/yankeesblog/hank_tweaks_derek_over_yankees_captain_yWN0Zfbn4fAqeqLLcSiIoI