"I Know He's Pissed!": CC Sabathia Says Jeter Quit Marlins In Squabble Over This Particular Free Agent

As many have suspected, Derek Jeter left his lofty position with the Miami Marlins over a squabble on free agent spending. One free agent in particular. Former Jeter teammate CC Sabathia confirmed this today on his always revealing  "R2C2 with CC Sabathia and Ryan Ruocco” podcast.

Sabathia said that Jeter tried to sign free agent power bat Nick Castellanos, a Miami-area native, but Marlins ownership wouldn't cough up the cash. 

"(Castellanos is) a beast,” Sabathia said. “I know Jeter wanted him bad."

“The Marlins are the Marlins,” continued Sabathia. “No matter what you try to do to make them better, at the end of the day there’s just always been bad ownership. Jeter did everything he could... he built a really good team. The minor league organization is great, but it’s just time to spend money."

And the Marlins couldn't bring themselves to do it, leaving Jeter no choice but to move on. 

“I just feel bad for him because I know how much time he put into that and how serious he took that job and I know he’s pissed. Yeah, it sucks, but the Marlins are the Marlins.”

The team did sign free agent outfielder Avisail Garcia to a 4-year, $53M contract before the lockout, but Castellanos is likely to cost twice that, and team chairman Bruce Sherman wouldn't give Jeter the funds to go there. 

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