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New contract for the Captain

The Yankees can cross Derek Jeter off the offseason to-do list, as they announced Friday afternoon that the captain will return on a one-year deal worth $12 million.

Jeter had a $9.5MM player option for 2014, as he was on the final year of a three-year $51 million deal this past season. The Yankees, in an effort to prevent drawn out negotiations to start the offseason (remember his 2010 negotiations?) gave him a raise of nearly $3 million. Why? Well, his name is Derek Jeter.

If Jeter had exercised the option – according to Joel Sherman of the Post – his salary, because of how the luxury tax is calculated, would have been nearly $10.75 million. Now, it’s $12.81 million. Pretty puzzling for a team trying to get under the $189 million mark as every dollar counts.

Jeter, who turns 40 next June, is coming off a nightmare season in which he only played in 17 games thanks to various leg injuries. A raise of $2.5 million from his player option is puzzling, but the Yankees missed his bat in the lineup. Yankee shortstops (including Jeter’s 73 at-bats) combined to put up a slash line of .228/.283/.308 in 2013.

Jeter and the Yankees hope that with a full offseason of leg workouts, he can come back and be a useful piece next season. However, there are doubts on whether he can play shortstop full-time at the age of 40. The Yankees will likely add another shortstop as insurance. Free agents Jhonny Peralta and Stephen Drew figure to be targets. With Jeter out of the way, GM Brian Cashman can now focus his attention towards Robinson Cano‘s impending free agency.