CC Sabathia just spilled a whole lot of tea on Derek Jeter and the Miami Marlins.
During the lockout the Marlins became a big part of the news cycle when Derek Jeter abruptly left the organization, with whom he was the CEO.
The Marlins made the playoffs in 2020 as a fun, upstart team, then regressed in 2021. But they are loaded with young talent, and seemed close to flipping the switch from a rebuilding group to one angling for a postseason spot.
Jeter seemed intent on making that happen. And on his "R2C2 with CC Sabathia and Ryan Ruocco” podcast, Sabathia, Jeter’s former New York Yankees teammate, indicated that Jeter badly wanted Nick Castellanos and is not happy about how things ended with Miami.
"(Castellanos is) a beast,” Sabathia said. “I know Jeter wanted him bad.
“The Marlins are the Marlins,” the ex-pitcher added. “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 lined everything up for him and this is the year you sign Castellanos. They’ve got a bunch of pitching, Jazz Chisholm is a star, you’ve got Miguel Rojas playing short. Seems good, like really good, he built a really good team. The minor league organization is great, but it’s just time to spend money.
“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.”
Castellanos had periodically been linked to the Marlins back in November, which was before Jeter left. Free agency is back open, and the Marlins’ involvement or not in the Castellanos sweepstakes should be telling about what direction they are headed in.
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