Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter blasts MLB, players for ’embarrassing’ talks

Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter feels negotiations between both players and owners ‘disappointing’.

When current Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter was a player, he never leveraged the media to get his point across. Instead, most personal things — contract talks, relationship status, etc. — were kept close to the vest and the focus always remained on winning.

So, you would have to imagine that when players and owners went back and forth in the middle of a pandemic, each using the media as tools for their own personal gain, Jeter was out of his element.

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

Yesterday, for the first time since MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred mandated a shortened 60-game season, Jeter spoke and pulled zero punches. In fact, in “The Line Drive” podcast, he called the negotiations “disappointing’ and even ’embarrassing at times.’

Jeter went further, explaining that as a former player and current CEO, he can see both sides. He then went on to undress both sides by saying that the relationship between players and owners has “no trust.”

What bothered Jeter most, apparently, was how public the disputes were, especially at a time in which millions of Americans don’t know where their next check was coming from.

"“I get it,” Jeter said, “I feel as though players should fight for everything that they feel as though they should have. And I’ll always support them in that sense. But, in this particular case, I think some things should have been done behind the scenes. … There is no winner. It seems like sometimes people are trying to win a PR battle and ultimately it’s going to be the sport that’s going to suffer.”"

In speaking out, Jeter didn’t stake a claim for either side. Instead, he risks becoming a pariah both as a current owner and a former player.

However, this is precisely what the sport needs at this time. More transparency and more honesty will eventually lead to better relationships, and if the sport wants to continue to increase in popularity again, both sides will have to see each other as partners, not as arch enemies.

At the end of the day, you can’t have one without the other.

The owners need the product on the field, the players to continue to produce excellent content. The players need the owners in order to continue to get paid millions of dollars to essentially play a game.

So, I applaud Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter for his courage in speaking this mind. Owners and players should take notes, especially if baseball is to ever become America’s pastime again.