Opinion

Typically, I am not one to preach the use of stopgap players to make a bad team slightly better. It's a waste of money and almost always doesn't work.

But for the 2011 Baltimore Orioles, stopgap players are the way to go.

Considering this offseason's free agent market is so thin, that's almost the only option. That, or unloading the farm system for a big-name player, something we all know isn't likely to happen.

If you’re going to write anything this month about Derek Jeter and his current negotiations with the New York Yankees, you need to begin by weighing in.  So, for what it’s worth:  No, Derek Jeter is not worth six years at $25 million a year.  It is also fair to say that he is worth more than three years at $15 million per season.

The tension between the New York Yankees organization and Derek Jeter is palpable.

The Yankees have offered the 36 year old shortstop a three year deal worth 45 million dollars. This is a significant pay cut from his last contract which paid him 189 million dollars over 10 seasons. At the time Jeter signed the contract he was the second highest paid player in Major League Baseball trailing only Alex Rodriguez.

Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees have been going back and forth in negotiations that don't look like they are going to end anytime soon.

There doesn't appear to be a large market for a shortstop that will turn 37 years old next season. The Yankees are still by far the most probable team that Derek will play for next season.

However, since he is a free agent, anything is possible. If Derek Jeter is not in Yankee pinstripes next season, what uniform could he be wearing?

Maybe that of the Tampa Bay Rays.

I am going to have to admit, I didn’t see this signing coming at all.

I thought if Jon Garland was going to sign with a team over the Thanksgiving weekend, it would have been with the Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres or even the New York Mets. I didn’t see him signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers at all, but he did.

In the 2009 MLB draft, the New York Yankees selected Slade Heathcott in the first round, 29th overall.

It was not surprising to some as the Yankee were known to like the toolsy outfielder.

And in the recent Baseball America (BA) Top 10 New York Yankee prospects, Heathcott ranked No. 9. BA also projects future lineups and Slade was projected to be the starting center fielder in 2014.

I'm confused. It isn't the first time I've been confused, of course, because I'm blonde.

I don't think of myself as a ditzy blonde, though. I think I have a good grasp on most things, although I still can't quite figure out why anyone older than 14 would consider Adam Sandler a funny man. I mean, Sandler is funny like Tiger Woods is a virgin. But the mystery of a non-funnyman's appeal to the masses is not the source of my bafflement. Derek Jeter is.

Derek Jeter will be a New York Yankee next season. Let's just get that out of the way.

Both sides have been a little wrong and a little right in the ongoing negotiations for the free agent and future first-ballot Hall of Famer.

The Yankees' original offer of three years, $45 million wasn't good enough. Jeter reportedly is seeking an annual salary of $23-24 million for a four or five-year contract, but New York GM Brian Cashman laughed that one off the table.

You have to hand it to Hal Steinbrenner: He's more than just a man with a outstanding wave of auburn hair. There are some serious brains under that Superman coif.

Imagine if someone asked you, in one word, to describe the last week of As The Jeter Negotiations Turn. Now throw out "stupid", "awkward", "embarrassing", "unnecessary", and"distasteful". What are you left with?