Derek Jeter won’t be copying The Boss’ style.
Jeter plans on significantly slashing the Marlins’ payroll once he takes over as the team owner, a potential investor told the Miami Herald. Jeter also will be paying himself $5 million per season to recoup the $25 million he put in to to buy the team alongside businessman Bruce Sherman.
Jeter, who will oversee the Marlins’ baseball decisions, plans to cut the payroll from $115 million down to $80-85 million if they retain Giancarlo Stanton and all the way down to $55 million if they deal the slugger. Stanton is owed $295 million over the next 10 years in his backloaded contract.
The sale of the team has been agreed upon but has yet to be approved by MLB owners. That vote is not expected to come until the first week of October. ESPN’s Darren Rovell confirmed the details of the Miami Herald story and said he “wouldn’t be surprised if [Jeter’s bid] gets rejected.”
Stanton’s epic second half, in which he has hit 26 home runs, has carried the Marlins to the periphery of the NL wild-card playoff race. That run could complicate Jeter’s plan or at least the fans’ perception of it. According to the Herald, the Jeter-Sherman group was hopeful that fans would be understanding of a teardown given the team’s lack of competitiveness this season. That won’t be an easy sale, particularly if it includes trading Stanton — the team’s only marketable star.
The group is taking over a team that has been questionably run by Jeffrey Loria and will lose $70 million or more this season, is $400 million in debt and has an attendance that ranks 28th in the league. Jeter’s group could be partially handcuffed by the high salaries that Loria pays the Marlins’ front office, including the $4.7 million going to outgoing president David Samson next season.