Jeter To The Red Sox?

The biggest story of the baseball offseason so far has been the brewing Cold War between the Yankees and free agent Derek Jeter. The 36-year-old Jeter is a free agent for the first time in his career and wants a better offer than the 3-year/$45-million deal that the Yankees currently have on the table. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is on record as saying that Jeter is welcome to test the open market and take a better offer if one presents itself.

I for one would love to see Theo Epstein and the Red Sox get involved in this potentially bitter divorce. Watching the Red Sox play the role of Angelina Jolie to the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston of Major League Baseball would benefit them on two levels.

First, adding Jeter as a third baseman would protect against the possibility of losing Adrian Beltre to free agency. The alternatives for replacing Beltre if he were to bolt Boston are Jed Lowrie and Kevin Youkilis. I like Lowrie but I'm not 100% sold that he can stay healthy for an entire 162 or if he can hit enough to justify being an everyday third baseman. Youkilis is obviously a great player but by moving him across the diamond, the Red Sox create a large void at first base. Unless they have a deal for San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez in the works, I would rather keep Youk at first and shell out $54-million over three years for Jeter to play third base.

The Red Sox would also benefit from pushing Jeter to want to prove the Yankees wrong for not paying him top dollar. He is coming off his worst year since 1995 but that does not mean he is done as an effective player. The great ones - and Jeter is a great one - love to prove people wrong when they say they are finished. If he does leave the Yankees for the Red Sox (which is highly doubtful) than Jeter would also have the additional drive to help Boston defeat New York. George Steinbrenner would come back from the grave to hold a midnight meeting in the Yankees offices in Tampa Bay following a 4-for-5 night from Jeter in a May game in the Bronx to disown his sons and fire Cashman.

The odds of Jeter leaving the Pinstripes are very small and I doubt that he could pull a Roger Clemens or Johnny Damon and switch sides in baseball's nastiest rivalry. However, it wouldn't kill the Red Sox to kick the tires on Jeter and see if he would be willing to become the Benedict Arnold of the 21st Century and come play third base at Fenway Park.