Jeter didn’t want an upset star on team

Yankees deal came together after two other deals failed

LAKE BUENA VISTA — Giancarlo Stanton’s divorce from the Marlins began over the summer, when the team was losing a lot and nobody knew who the new owners would be and a rebuild began to look inevitable. That was when he first warned them he did not want to be a part of the organization starting over again.

Months later, Stanton and the Marlins discovered their irreconcilable differences in the form of big-picture team philosophy and direction. Stanton, pointing to the Marlins’ high-end position players, wanted the team to add pitching and give it another shot with this core group. The Marlins’ new management, led by CEO Derek Jeter, did not want to do that.

And so they agreed: The Marlins would try to trade Stanton, the NL MVP, face of the franchise and perhaps the best player in team history. They found a match with the Yankees in a deal that became official Monday, the opening day of the Winter Meetings.

“One thing that I understand is that you don’t want to have someone that does not want to be with your organization,” Jeter, who is not at the Winter Meetings this week, said during a teleconference. “We talked to him [about] our plans of moving forward in the future, and he wanted to continue his career elsewhere.”

Jeter and Michael Hill, the Marlins’ president of baseball operations, painted the trade as one of a series of moves that will help the club inch toward its overarching goal of deepening their talent pool and being perennially competitive. In getting rid of Stanton, the Marlins acquired second baseman Starlin Castro, pitching prospect Jorge Guzman and shortstop prospect Jose Devers.

Miami also received financial relief, which is significant as it tries to stop bleeding tens of millions of dollars annually. The Yankees will pay Stanton $265 million of the $295 million he is owed over the next decade. The Marlins will pay the other $30 million, but reportedly only if Stanton does not opt out of his contract after 2020.

“The one thing that everyone needs to realize is this is an organization that has not been successful,” Jeter said.

“From the fans standpoint, I get it, they’re upset, they’re passionate. That’s what makes them fans,” Jeter continued. “But the bottom line is the fans want to see a winning product on the field. They haven’t seen a winning product on the field, and in order for us to do this were going to have to make some moves. This is minor leagues, this is a pipeline of players, this is player development and scouting. We need to have a strong organization from the bottom up.

“That’s what I would tell the fans, be patient. They have been patient because they not won for a long time — but what has been in place has not been working. We need to fix that. We can’t just continue to build ourselves a bigger hole.”

The Marlins were working off of a list of pre-approved teams from Stanton, who with a notrade clause had the ability to veto any deal to trade him.

Hill said the Marlins first called the teams on Stanton’s list, reportedly the Yankees, Dodgers, Astros and Cubs.

“But at the beginning there were no deals for him with his requested clubs,” Hill said.

So the Marlins engaged other teams, with a hope that Stanton would be open-minded and perhaps join a team he initially didn’t OK. Throughout the process, Hill kept Stanton and his agent, Joel Wolfe, updated on the negotiations. Jeter said he also talked and met in person with Stanton.

Miami had deals with the Giants and Cardinals, two traditionladen and historically successful franchises in reputed baseball cities, and Stanton took meetings with their executives to hear out their pitch.

“I really just wanted to learn what another organization is like,” Stanton said. “All I’ve experienced is the Marlins and basically one way of going about things. So I wanted to see how other organizations went about their business and how the city and everything would appeal to me if that was a way that I wanted to go.”

Wolfe said the Marlins suggested to Stanton that if he turned down San Francisco and St. Louis, he would be a Marlin for the next decade. Days later, Stanton refused to go to those cities, anyway.

Hill said talks with the Yankees gained momentum after the Giants and Cardinals announced Friday that they were out on Stanton. New York and Miami agreed on a deal less than 24 hours later.

Jeter said the Yankees’ offer was the Marlins’ best option.

“We wanted to get the best deal,” Jeter said. “Contrary to popular belief, we were not stuck with this deal. This was the best deal out of the three for our organization. It was the best deal for us.”