burns, if you read what RSP just wrote, you'll understand why the Yanks "overpaid" for Jeter. Having been a Yankee fan all my life, I don't know of any other modern day players other than two of the three I mentioned(Ripken/Chipper) who have the same connection to their city/team as Jeter does to NY. The Yanks brass knows this. They played a little hardball in the negotiation, for the reason you stated, but they weren't letting him go to some other team for 3/50 and an option. And, as I've insisted, they aren't going to release him after the season.
rsp, I stopped banging on your boy around mid-season. Despite catching the ball with his face in ST, he was an adequate 3B. I also insisted that he was the MVP over Trout for about 40 pages.