Bryant Gumbel recently interviewed Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter for HBO.  The interview, which is set to air on Tuesday, got a little heated.

Gumbel went Jeter and accused him of tanking after he traded away several of the Marlins best players.  A point he refused to let go after Jeter denied he was tanking.

Via Miami Herald:

BRYANT GUMBEL: “If you were tanking, would you tell me?”

DEREK JETER: “Tanking? What is– no– tanking?”

BRYANT GUMBEL: “Tanking is — not trying your hardest to win ball games in — every day.”

DEREK JETER: “We’re trying to win ball games every day.”

BRYANT GUMBEL: “If you trade your best players in exchange for prospects it’s unlikely you’re going to win more games in the immediate future–”

It didn’t stop there.  Things got heated and personal as Gumbel insisted that the Marlins were tanking.

DEREK JETER: “Now, you can think — now– now, I can’t tell you how you think. Like, I see your mind. I see that’s how you think. I don’t think like that. That’s your mind working like that.”

BRYANT GUMBEL: “No, I get that. But I guess not in so many words–”

DEREK JETER: “But you don’t. But you don’t get it.”

BRYANT GUMBEL: “I do.”

DEREK JETER: “You don’t. We have two different mi– I can’t wait to get you on the golf course, man. We got– I mean, I can’t wait for this one.”

BRYANT GUMBEL: “No, I mean–”

DEREK JETER: “You’re mentally weak.”

BRYANT GUMBEL: “No, I just– I’m– I’m realistic. You really expect this team–”

DEREK JETER: “I expect this team to–”

BRYANT GUMBEL: “–as presently configured to contend–”

DEREK JETER: “–compete, to compete. To compete–”

Can Jeter be given a little bit of time?  The Marlins won absolutely nothing and weren’t anywhere close to winning anything with the players they got rid of.

He hasn’t even been given the opportunity to get through one season before the Marlins fans and now the media have come after him.  

Like him or not, he knows what it takes to win and should be given a chance to turn around the struggling franchise.  If in three years the Marlins are still in the same position they are now, then you can complain.