Derek Jeter doubts nearly forced Yankees into unthinkable Mariano Rivera trade

In a weeklong series, The Post is looking at alternate realities in New York sports. We are examining “what if” scenarios for our teams, reversals of fortune that would have radically changed not only the franchises themselves but dramatically altered their leagues, too. There are two rules: The scenario must be grounded in reality and have taken place within the last 30 years.

Following a 90-minute meeting in late March 1996, the Yankees brain trust convinced George Steinbrenner trading Mariano Rivera to the Mariners for Felix Fermin was a bad idea.

As GM Bob Watson, assistant GM Brian Cashman and adviser Gene Michael moved toward first-year manager Joe Torre’s office door with Rivera still in pinstripes, the Boss bellowed “You guys better be right!’’

Steinbrenner’s retort wasn’t so much that he wasn’t ready to surrender Rivera — because he still had John Wetteland to close — it was more about taking the advice of adviser Clyde King that Derek Jeter wasn’t ready to be the everyday shortstop as a rookie after Tony Fernandez fractured his elbow.

“I gave my opinion on Jeter because it was all based on Jeter. I basically said, ‘If you want to send Jeter out, you can always do it a month from now. You don’t have to do it because he had a bad spring. Start the season and see what happens,’ ” Torre told The Post in a recent phone conversation. “Obviously, I am glad that’s the way we went.’’

Had the deal gone through, the good-glove, slap-hitting Fermin would have been the shortstop with Mariano Duncan at second. Pat Kelly experienced shoulder problems earlier in camp, which led to Fernandez shifting to second and inserting Jeter at short.

Of course, Torre, Cashman and Michael were right about Jeter, who became the AL Rookie of the Year in 1996 and helped the Yankees beat the Braves in the World Series. In three postseason series that year, Jeter hit .361 (22-for-61).

As for Rivera, David Cone reminds Braves pitchers Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz how their careers were impacted by Rivera remaining in The Bronx instead of being relocated to Seattle.

“It changes everything, it really does. I joke with Maddux and Glavine and Smoltz and I tell them that Rivera is the difference between them having one ring and two or three,’’ said Cone, a Yankees starter in 1996 when they toppled the Braves in the World Series and again in 1999.

Yankees reliever Jeff Nelson was in the bullpen for the wins over the Braves in 1996 and 1999 and World Series victories over the Padres in 1998 and the Mets in 2000 and says the Yankees dynasty may never have been hatched without Rivera.

“I always say that you see basketball, you see the [Michael] Jordan thing and two players can carry you to a championship,’’ Nelson told The Post from his Florida home. “You need 35 guys to win a World Series, but if you took Rivera off of that team, the odds are a lot less of us winning four World Series in those five years. Maybe one? Maybe none.

“We might have had a chance to win in ’96. Rivera was still key out of the bullpen. But after that, Wetteland, age started catching up to him. You take Rivera off that team I don’t think we would have won or even go [to the World Series] as many times.’’

Wetteland left after the 1996 World Series as a free agent and landed in Texas. Rivera took over as the closer and started a trek toward becoming the all-time saves leader and a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Had Rivera been traded and Wetteland split for Texas, what would the Yankees have done for a closer?

“They would have been on the free-agent market I am sure. George was fully back in control at that point, making the decision. He was driving the bus,’’ Cone said. “He would have turned over every rock possible. They would have run down every rabbit hole to try plug the void Mariano had left.’’

In Cone’s opinion, Rivera’s 1996 was better than what followed.

“In some ways that might have been his best year because you could use him more, two to three innings. Pitched over a hundred innings, he was like Goose [Gossage],’’ Cone said of Rivera, who posted a 2.09 ERA in 61 games and fanned 130 in 107 ²/₃ innings.

From what Cone witnessed, Jeter didn’t struggle. It was more about whether a rookie could play the premier infield position in New York for a team the owner expected to win a World Series.

“It was more the narrative of a rookie shortstop. Can a rookie shortstop be the guy? It wasn’t so much him or was he not ready, was it too much to ask. George was in win-now mode,’’ Cone said from Florida. “We lost in ’95 in the playoffs, so I am sure the discussion was, ‘Can you win a championship with a rookie shortstop?’ ’’

Even among the voices who believed Jeter, at 21, wasn’t ready to play shortstop for the Yankees in 1996, nobody doubted he would be someday and do it well. The talent and drive was easy to see and he, too, is a Hall of Famer.

Willie Randolph said he expressed his opinion in a 1996 spring training dinner at Malio’s, a Tampa restaurant Steinbrenner used for sit-downs with his staff.

“I was excited about Jeter, but there were people who thought he would make a lot of errors,’’ Randolph, the Yankees’ third-base coach at the time, told The Post. “I said, ‘Send him to me, I will take care of him. I said he was going to make a few boots here and there, but we need his speed and we need his energy. George held everybody’s feet to the fire and I said, ‘The kid is going to bring a lot to the table potentially.’ And I had confidence in myself to teach him how to play the game. We had a good enough club around him so if he did struggle it wouldn’t be a big deal. Everybody looked at me like I was crazy. What were they going to do? Fire me?’’

Years later, the What-If game centers around what was potentially a nightmare of a deal for the Yankees because of what Rivera became. However, it is also about Jeter because it took one season for those who stood up to The Boss to say, “We were right.’’