Girardi: Jeter will always be a Yankee in his heart
BOSTON — Derek Jeter will “always be considered a Yankee” to Joe Girardi — even if The Captain becomes The Owner of the Marlins.
“It seems odd, yes, it does,” Girardi said Tuesday of Jeter potentially becoming part of another organization. “But the feeling was that it was a desire of his to maybe own a club one day, and he didn’t really see the Yankees coming up for sale anytime soon, so he took the first opportunity, and I think he’ll always be considered a Yankee.”
Still, it could become pretty awkward if the Yankees and Marlins ever meet in the World Series one day. Not that Jeter would have any trouble rooting against the team he cheered for growing up and played his entire career with if that happens.
“We all know how competitive he is,” said Girardi, who both played with and managed Jeter in the Bronx. “But in other circumstances, I think he’ll always root for the Yankees.”
Girardi believes Jeter would make a great owner, but acknowledged there would be a transition period.
“When you’re playing, in a sense, you’re only in charge of yourself, what you can do,” Girardi said. “You’re not responsible for others, and when you get on the management side, you become responsible for others — to answer questions for what everyone else does — so I think it changes drastically.
“It’ll be interesting to see how he handles it, because as I said you don’t necessarily have a part in it — you don’t have an at-bat, you can’t make a play. I’m sure he’ll find it much different when he does it on a full-time basis.”
Former teammate CC Sabathia is curious to see how Jeter would do as an owner.
“Great players don’t always translate to great executives as we’ve seen, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens to him,” Sabathia said. “He’s wanted to do this, he’s very capable of doing this, so I think it’s good for him, and I think he’ll be good at it..”
Said former teammate Brett Gardner: “It doesn’t surprise me that he has the aspirations to be involved in something like that. He’s a guy that, no matter what he’s involved in, he’s going to be successful doing it.”
The Yankees had hoped Jeter would be around as a special instructor during spring training when he retired, but that didn’t happen. “He did do other things, he spoke to the minor-league kids, he had dinner with the guys and sometimes it just didn’t fit his schedule,” Girardi said. “And sometimes it’s not easy to come back. Maybe he just wasn’t ready to do that, but he’s always welcome — even if he’s the owner of another club.”