I realize this is a year off, but this is arguably the most difficult an troubling issue the yankees will have to face for years to come, the fate of the captain, Derek Jeter and his expiring contract next year. Right now Derek is one of the highest paid players in the game, in the top 5 I believe, and its hard to argue that he's worth all those millions for what he's been giving you the last two years or so. While he did have an MVP caliber season in 2006 (he should've won in my opinion) his offense has been on the downslope, getting his average up to .300 barely this year as well as diminshed power, reduced OBP and a penchant for hitting into double plays, 24 last year alone. In addition, its hard to say that Derek's exactly gold glove worthy these days at short, routinely pegged as the worst shortstop in the game, most notably by Bill James in his fielding bible the last three years.
And yet its not exactly like you can just tell him to get lost, the guy is a freaking icon. The advertisements, the women (six in the maxim top 50 last time i checked), and most importantly the winning. Four rings, seven all star appearances, with a slew of clutch performances and big hits along the way to becoming the face of the franchise and the greatest shortstop in yankee history. What can you do with him? Can you leave him at short and allow him to be a liability and cost you runs all season long? Can you afford a riot in New York when you don't re-sign him and lose his tremendous value, both tangible and intangible, in production and dollar signs?
A great deal of ink has been spilled on this subject (I guess its a lot of typing has been done but that doesn't sound nearly as lyrical) and there are a lot of people who have a lot of opinons on the matter. Baseball prospectus suggests to move him to center field, rob neyer says just keep him there until his contract is up and let him walk, but I find neither of those solutions perticuarly satsifying, but I can't seem to come up with a solution that both is smart baseball wise while recognizing Jeter's importance to the team.
Re-signing Jeter to me seems to be a no-brainer, as a Yankee fan I shudder of the thought of seeing him somewhere else, getting his 3,000th hit in another uniform in another city instead of staying here where he belongs in pinstripes. But as anyone who knows baseball knows pitching and defense wins championships and when you have a shortstop who can't field and his hitting is slipping you have to consider other options.
On the flip side, moving Jeter to another position is tricky to say the least. A-rod and Tex have the corner positions locked up for some time and moving a guy who's been an infielder to centerfield is no sure bet, who knows how well he'll be able to adapt to playing out there, there is no way of knowing.
I think the best way of dealing with this is moving him next year, to left field. With Matsui and Damon's contracts up as well left seems to be the perfect fit for Jeter to utilize his speed and range while not being burdened with the prospect of being a centerfielder, a position that requires one to be the leader in the outfield. Its where Yogi went when Elston Howard came up and I think its a position that Jeter could be in that wouldn't hurt the Yankees tremendously while still providing them with a high OBP and batting average from a corner outfielder.
It's not the best solution by any means, and I'm not entirely sure its the one that is the best for the yankees, after all Matt Holliday is a free agent this year and he's a left fielder, but its a move that has to be made sooner rather than later. Jeter is a great player, a first ballot hall of famer and one of the few guys to have a real chance to break Rose's all time hits record. But shortstop is an extremely crucial defensive position and the Yankees cannot sacrifice that in the name of sentimentality. I just hope Cashman's been thinking about this problem too, I'm sure he can come up with something better than me.
0 comments:
Post a Comment