Derek Jeter skipping upcoming Marlins-Yankees series to avoid 'awkward situation'

Mark Townsend
·Yahoo Sports Contributor

When the Miami Marlins visit the New York Yankees on Monday, there will be no shortage of storylines to zero in on. However, Derek Jeter’s return to Yankee Stadium as a Marlins owner won’t be one of them.

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On Friday, the Yankees legend and future Hall of Famer confirmed he will skip the two-game series at Yankee Stadium to avoid what he believes would be an “awkward situation.”

Jeter first indicated this would be his stance back in February.

The potential awkwardness would certainly revolve around having to answer another avalanche of questions regarding his decision to trade Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees over the winter. Not that Jeter hasn’t already answered every possible question about the trade or his role in orchestrating the latest Marlins firesale, but this time he’d be facing the relentless New York media on its home turf.

In that regard, it’s probably in Jeter’s best interests to let that situation calm down rather than risk adding more fuel to the fire. Then again, by being there Jeter might be doing his team a favor by deflecting those questions away from manager Don Mattingly and the players.

To avoid a potentially
To avoid a potentially “awkward situation,” Derek Jeter says he will skip next week’s Marlins-Yankees series in New York. (AP)

Regardless, it sounds like Jeter’s mind is made up.

Now the primary focus will go on Stanton as he faces his former team for the first time during the regular season. Stanton recorded four plate appearances against Miami in a Grapefruit League game on March 18 in Tampa. He went 1 for 2 with two walks.

The bright lights are on now though, so this matchup will be a much bigger deal. As an aside to that, it might be interesting to see the reaction Stanton gets in New York too. He was booed multiple times during the Yankees opening homestand because of his struggles at the plate. He enters Friday hitting .241 with three homers, 10 RBIs and 23 strikeouts in 54 at-bats.

The Yankees will travel to Miami for another quick two-game series on Aug. 21-22. That will serve as Stanton’s return to Miami, and could possibly be the first time we see Jeter at the ballpark as a Yankees rival. By then, the questions Jeter is likely to face should be different, but it will be interesting to see if he feels any different about being present at the ballpark.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Yahoo Sports Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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