Steinbrenner questioned his team's hunger last season during a chat with reporters on Monday afternoon, indirectly pointing at Jeter with his comment about players being "too busy building mansions and doing other things, not concentrating on winning."
Jeter addressed the issue at his locker Tuesday morning, doing so with a grin on his face for the entire 11-minute interview.
"My name wasn't brought up," Jeter said. "He didn't say my name. I know there's an assumption, but I look at the positive side of it. My name didn't come out of his mouth."
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"I really don't know what there is to be fixed," Jeter said. "I'm not upset. It doesn't bother me.
"Owners can say whatever they want to say. They're owners; they're entitled to their opinion. You don't always have to necessarily agree with their opinions, but they can say what they want to say. I have no problem with it."
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"When you don't win, people always say that the team wasn't hungry," Jeter said. "We got beat by a team that was better than us in that series. That's the bottom line. I wouldn't say there was a lack of hunger; I just think we just didn't play as well. That's why we lost."
Hank also had this to say about his comments:
"It was a bad choice of euphemism, but a euphemism," Steinbrenner said. "Derek has five rings. You don't get five rings by being complacent."I'm glad this isn't an issue for Jeter and that this story can be pushed aside. But the fact that Hank seems set on convincing everyone he wasn't talking about Jeter is a joke. Everyone knows he was talking about Jeter.
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"He knows I wasn't talking about him," Steinbrenner said.