Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Derek Jeter is back where he belongs: with the Yankees.

The Yankees and their star shortstop came to terms on a three-year deal worth between $45-51 million, bringing an end to a month-long negotiation that saw more drama than many had predicted.

The deal, which won’t become official until Jeter takes a physical, includes a complicated fourth-year vesting option for 2014, the terms of which will also determine the salaries for the first three years.

The two sides worked deep into the night on Friday and on Saturday to hammer out the deal, which will keep the captain in pinstripes through his 39th birthday.

Jeter finally lowered his demands to get a deal done, as the shortstop was initially seeking a five- or six-year deal worth $22-24 million annually.

The Yankees made an initial offer of three years and $45 million, believing it was more than fair for a 36-year-old shortstop coming off of the worst year of his career.

Although Jeter will be taking a pay cut of at least $2 million from his last contract, he did force the Yankees to increase their initial offer, which would have paid him $15 million for each of the next three seasons.

Jeter just completed a 10-year, $189 million contract that he signed before the 2001 season, making him a free agent for the first time in his Hall of Fame career. Although nobody believed Jeter would sign with another team, Hal Steinbrenner prophetically predicted on November 2 that the negotiations could become “messy,” kicking off a back-and-forth between the Yankees and Jeter’s camp.

The Yankees’ three-year, $45 million offer was reported less than two weeks later, while word started leaking that the Yankees, concerned with Jeter’s age and subpar 2010 season, were prepared to stand firm with that offer.

During the general managers meetings, team president Randy Levine stressed that Jeter’s iconic status and value as the face of the franchise would not play a significant role in the negotiations.
“He’s a baseball player,” Levine said. “It’s a player negotiation. Everything he is and who he is gets factored in. But this isn’t a licensing deal or a commercial rights deal. He’s a baseball player.

“But with that said, you can’t take away from who he is. He brings a lot to the organization and we bring a lot to him…. Derek Jeter is a great Yankee, a great player. That said, now is a different negotiation than 10 years ago.”

On Nov. 20, Jeter’s agent, Casey Close, told the Daily News he found the Yankees’ negotiating tactics “baffling,” sending the Yankees into a frenzy. During the next two days, general manager Cashman invited Jeter to “test the market” to see what else was out there, believing that no other team would come close to the Yankees’ standing offer.

“We’re not encouraging him to leave the Yankees; we’re encouraging him to stay,” Cashman said on Nov. 22. “We have a lot to offer each other.”

Things got uglier between the two sides when Cashman said the Yankees had “some concerns with his performance the last number of years and with his age,” indicating that the team felt Jeter’s 2010 season could be a sign of things to come.

Jeter posted MVP-type numbers in 2006, but he started trending downward in each of the following two seasons, his average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage all falling considerably in 2007 and ’08.

Jeter had a renaissance in 2009 with a .334 average, .406 on-base % and .465 slugging %, but he followed that up with the worst offensive season of his career, setting new career-lows in all three categories.

Despite the war of words, no other suitors emerged, making it clear that Jeter’s options were limited.

Jeter and Close met in Tampa on Tuesday, the same day that Brian Cashman was in town to meet with Hal Steinbrenner. Close reached out to Steinbrenner to set up an impromptu meeting, one which lasted four or five hours and set the wheels in motion for the deal to be completed.

With Jeter’s deal done and the Yankees expected to finalize a two-year, $30 million pact with Mariano Rivera, Cashman heads to the winter meetings Monday without having to worry about the two icons, leaving him plenty of time to focus on Cliff Lee, the Yankees’ top priority.

BY MARK FEINSAND