During 1996 spring training The Boss considered trading Rivera to Seattle for Felix Fermin and demoting Jeter to Triple-A but was persuaded otherwise by Gene Michael and Willie Randolph

2/18/13, "A Steinbrenner confidant, Clyde King, privately stated the Yankees could not win a championship that year (1996) with Jeter at short. That so unsettled The Boss that he convened a late-March executive meeting to mull whether to obtain Felix Fermin from Seattle for Rivera and demote Jeter to Triple-A. The Yankees — thanks to the calming voices of people such as Gene Michael and Willie Randolph — decided not to make what arguably would have been the worst trade in sports history."...

2/18/13, "Yankees worried about Jeter and Rivera for first time since '96," Joel Sherman, NY Post

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon