Derek Jeter(notes) will be a free agent at the end of the 2010 season. Despite the fact he'll be a 36-year-old shortstop destined to be a first baseman or DH, he'll have the Yankees over the proverbial "give me a long contract or I'm going to go play for the Angels or — gasp! — the Red Sox" barrel.

So how do the fine citizens of the Bronx sweeten the pot and lock down the only player capable of making the Brett Favre coverage look like a mere blotter item for the rest of his career?

Why, they build him his own bridge near Yankee Stadium and slap his name on it, of course.  

According to a report, there is serious consideration being paid to naming a future 512-foot bridge after the Yankees shortstop. The bridge would "span the Metro-North tracks that bisect East 153rd Street between Park Avenue and the Grand Concourse" and cost an estimated $87 million.

(Only $102 million less than the contract that Jeter signed in early 2001.)

From the New York Post:

"There have been conversations at the community board, and I know the idea is being examined," said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., a Bombers fan who confesses to a "man crush" on the Captain.

"It's something I am ready to support. We're moving on it."

No idea if such a bridge would be enough (along with about $25 million a season) to keep Jeter from turning the Earth on its axis and preventing the collapse of everything is good and true. But a bridge with the Captain's name on it has to be better than a dingy Tex-Mex restaurant or the Derek Jeter 24 Hour Fitness I walked by in midtown last night, no? 

A big BLS head nod to FanHouse for the redirect.

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