Derek Jeter finally traded his cash cow for some magic beans, sending J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies for a couple pitching prospects and catcher Jorge Alfaro.
But the Marlins CEO wasn’t above asking for a king’s ransom from his former team early in the process, according to The Post’s Joel Sherman.
Word came out in early December the Marlins, Yankees and Mets were in talks on a potential three-way trade that would have sent Noah Syndergaard to The Bronx and landed Realmuto in Queens.
Now we know what Jeter wanted to make all that happen: Gary Sanchez and Miguel Andujar in Miami.
That could go a long way toward explaining why the trade never happened, considering the Yankees would have been giving up two young Rookie of the Year runners-up with major promise for a very talented, if sporadically healthy, front-of-the-rotation starter.
It’s a curious alternate universe to consider — had the Yankees dealt Andujar, could Manny Machado have become more of a priority?
Given what Jeter and Co. ultimately settled for, it’s fair to wonder just how real their proposal was.
But maybe Jeter had his eyes on the big prize all along: Curtis Granderson and some mermaids.