Derek Jeter: Countdown to Retirement
- Thread starter jon abbey
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Gotta say it. Told my brother on the ride home from the Stadium that I wouldn't really have been all that upset if the injury were career-ending (provided adequate insurance, of course.) Even at 2,994 hits.
This is only the beginning of the ugliness at the end for Jeter. I can't even imagine how bad he's gonna be in two years, but I suspect he'll still get 400 ABs. Things like that can swing a division on their own.
This is only the beginning of the ugliness at the end for Jeter. I can't even imagine how bad he's gonna be in two years, but I suspect he'll still get 400 ABs. Things like that can swing a division on their own.
Put me in the camp who thinks the MFY/CI want to have hit #3,000 happen at the toilet. Besides that, it should make the MFY better as they can move his replacement down the order.
Does anybody doubt this? I swear I was joking to myself if he can't make it he'll get a phantom injury til the next homestand.
*Edit: Apparently I am not alone with this thought.
Why would the phanton injury occur with 3 days left on the homestand? This makes no sense at all.
I don't think anyone is suggesting that the injury here is not real. They are suggesting that the injury is not significant in any respect other than it likely ended his quest to reach 3,000 hits during this homestand. Therefore, it has morphed into something that will require enough care that it will cut into his playing time during the coming road trip. Which, of course, will allow him to reach 3,000 on the next homestand.
Coincidence? Perhaps...
It must be a phantom injury. Derek Jeter is an immortal True Yankee Hero. In fact, you could take a chainsaw to his calf, and he'd still have just as much range and be just as dangerous at bat.
For the record, my response 'does anybody doubt this?' was in response to "Maybe they'll just hold him out until the next homestand..." from Jon Abbey.
Was just having some fun.
You're not - Joe Posnanski actually floated this in his Saturday column about Jeter's quest.
For everyone speculating that the injury is being played up to increase the chances of him getting to 3,000 on the next homestand: You all do realize that, were Jeter to be placed on the 15-day DL today, he'd be eligible to come back on June 29, for the final two games of that particular homestand. In other words, he'd be just as likely to reach 3,000 at home then as he would be now.
They don't have to DL him. They can sit him for a few games without the rationale being blatantly obvious.
They'd be better off DL'ing him with a whole week's worth of games coming up in the NL. They're going to need that extra bench spot.
I don't think that's what anyone was insinuating. I believe they're saying he's going to be held out of the lineup for a few days so he can conveniently not have his chance at 3000 until the start of the next home stand.
edit - and for some reason the page with the replies saying what I said wasn't showing up. D'oh.
What a team player:
<Cue snarky jon abbey comment about Jeter being that missing player>
http://twitter.com/#!/JackCurryYES/status/80737383426965504
http://twitter.com/#!/JackCurryYES/status/80736746719031296
<Cue snarky jon abbey comment about Jeter being that missing player>
I wonder if Jeter realizes (or cares?) how he's hurting his image among Yankee fans, today's selfish "one possible week of me is worth more than two weeks of Ramiro Pena" little sideshow tantrum as another example.
I almost never listen to sports radio, but heard a bit this afternoon, and caller after caller didn't care about NY losing Jeter (and emphasized that they didn't care), they just cared that he'd get his 3000th hit at home.
I almost never listen to sports radio, but heard a bit this afternoon, and caller after caller didn't care about NY losing Jeter (and emphasized that they didn't care), they just cared that he'd get his 3000th hit at home.
Honestly, I certainly am not a fan, but I've always sort of been a Jeter defender. Just in the sense that it seemed most of the time Sox fans were reacting to how he was presented, and not things he actually did or didn't do.
Those quotes are pretty bad though. Being a man down isn't that big a deal? Uh, yeah, it is. He may not just be travelling into a decline but a whole world of denial that could start making him look like a real asshole.
I can't believe he thinks/ said that it isn't that big a deal to be down a player for an entire fucking road trip. Imagine if Rodriguez said that?
Those quotes are pretty bad though. Being a man down isn't that big a deal? Uh, yeah, it is. He may not just be travelling into a decline but a whole world of denial that could start making him look like a real asshole.
I can't believe he thinks/ said that it isn't that big a deal to be down a player for an entire fucking road trip. Imagine if Rodriguez said that?
I'm surprised that anyone is surprised by these quotes. I've never thought of him as a team first guy. That's what the NY Post and YES want people to believe but I don't think it's ever been true.
I think that the earlier point that someone made during the "Posadagate" episode was a good one. The point was that Jeter was getting a little preview of how tolerant Cashman would be of an over-the-hill player, like himself, acting like a diva. So it was a DL stint instead of a spot in the lineup, but it sure has a similar tone to it. "How dare they treat me this way!", with Jeter obviously not going for the full-on Posada meltdown.
He wasn't asked if Derek Jeter was the first guy to do that. He was asked if it was bush league when he did.
Jeter did offer advice to Nunez before the AB, to "look for a fastball." Nunez credited Jeter after the game and said a fastball is what he hit for the first run of the game.
Jeter's never happy sitting on the bench. But at least he's being helpful to Nunez. We don't need a Ripken-Manny Alexander situation here, although that is certainly possible when Jeter comes off the DL.
Milestone occasions are always distractions to team goals. Most of the time, it is the milestoner choking and pressing as he gets near a big home run or hit total.
Like all good Sox fans, I hate Jeter and want him to die. His "ability" to make routine defensive plays look hard blinded a lot of people to his considerable limits as a defensive SS. Whoever was responsible for the nondecision, the Yankees not moving him to 2B for Slappy (let alone Cano) was epically stupid.
But damn me if I wouldn't have gladly had him as our 2B all those years. And the bastard could hit. You don't get "lucky" for 20 years. Doesn't happen. Jeter knew how to hit 'em where they wasn't, and I'll take a flared single to right over a loud out any time.
His reflexes have slowed down. The weather doesn't help either - middle-aged guys' muscles don't really loosen up until you get a long hot spell. A late summer swan song is not out of the question.
I don't see how you can begrudge the guy his reaction. He got where he is believing he is so much better than anyone else and that he can do whatever needs to be done. He's not going to accept aging or injury and just stand aside. Confident people just aren't like that. The worse he performs the more he wants to redeem himself. You're going to have to drag him away from baseball kicking and screaming. If he were otherwise he wouldn't have been what he became in the first place.
For me the defining memory of Jeter was Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. Virtually the entire Yankee team was beaten and demoralized. And all Jeter was try to rally them, constantly. He still knew the Yankees were supposed to win that game.
But damn me if I wouldn't have gladly had him as our 2B all those years. And the bastard could hit. You don't get "lucky" for 20 years. Doesn't happen. Jeter knew how to hit 'em where they wasn't, and I'll take a flared single to right over a loud out any time.
His reflexes have slowed down. The weather doesn't help either - middle-aged guys' muscles don't really loosen up until you get a long hot spell. A late summer swan song is not out of the question.
I don't see how you can begrudge the guy his reaction. He got where he is believing he is so much better than anyone else and that he can do whatever needs to be done. He's not going to accept aging or injury and just stand aside. Confident people just aren't like that. The worse he performs the more he wants to redeem himself. You're going to have to drag him away from baseball kicking and screaming. If he were otherwise he wouldn't have been what he became in the first place.
For me the defining memory of Jeter was Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. Virtually the entire Yankee team was beaten and demoralized. And all Jeter was try to rally them, constantly. He still knew the Yankees were supposed to win that game.
"Look for a fastball" to a young player is right up there with "drive carefully" to a sixteen-year-old or "show up on time" to someone going to their first job interview. It's hardly evidence that Jeter is unselfishly taking this tyro under his wing.
This is nice and all but what does it have to do with Jeter being fine keeping his team a man down for a week so he could avoid the DL and get his 3,000th hit where he feels like it? Or is there another reaction I'm missing that this would actually apply to?
Future conversation:
Nunez: "Hey Derek, do you have any advice about this guy I'm facing tonight?"
Jeter: "Hey Rookie, that's Mr. Jeter, or Captain Jeter to you."
Nunez: "Oh, sorry about that Mr. Jeter. Anyway, can you help me out here?"
Jeter: Who's pitching?"
Nunez: "Wakefield."
Jeter: "Look for the knuckler kid."
Are you demeaning parents who remind their kids to drive carefully? Just kidding. Total silence would be evidence he's not taking this kid under his wing. It is true, though, that Jeter is heading into uncharted territory in his career. I can't predict how he will handle these final three years. Mantle's drinking stepped up. DiMaggio walked away. Babe Ruth was traded to the Braves for one dollar.
One of the NY papers began the Jose Reyes-to-the-Yankees rumor mill today. I suppose Jeter moves to DH or LF for his final two years if that scenario every comes true in the offseason. Somehow I doubt it will. FWIW, Jeter has always been very positive in his remarks and friendship with Reyes.
You don't think a DH with a slugging percentage of .324, coincidentally exactly the same as his on base percentage, .324, would be a fearsome foe for the Red Sox to face?
What do you suggest they do with him?
The easy way out for the Yankees is for Jeter to pull a DiMaggio at the end of the season and walk away, hopefully after the Yankees win the WS. But the money is too big. DiMaggio was 36 and walked away from $100,000. Jeter would be walking away from $26M. Ain't going to happen.
Funny, because the take-home memory for me about Jeter from that series was him putting up a .567 OPS with just one extra-base hit (and going 4-19 in the last 4 games, all singles) while all the blame got piled on A-Rod (who wasn't great but had a HR in game 4).
I think complete and total silence would be evidence that Jeter is a Lebron-level douchebag. Telling a kid to "look for the fastball" could easily be just a throwaway comment Jeter made just to not be a complete dick. Of course, since I loathe Derek Jeter with every fiber of my body, I may not be entirely objective.
Oh, this is easy. Dip him in bronze and leave him in Monument Park. His range would still be about the same...
I think there is zero chance of the Yanks trading for Reyes, but a non-zero chance of them signing him this winter. What would happen to Jeter then? Dunno, thankfully not my problem...
I never thought about trading for Reyes (and then either signing him or taking the first-round draft pick) but it's a great idea. If the Mets can summon up another major slump, maybe Reyes does go on the market in July, as the Mets don't seem interested in paying him $140M for 7 years, or even $100M for 5. Alas, the Mets can't afford the p.r. hit inside their home turf so they will just let Reyes play out the string and then go away in free agency. (They could also trade him to anyone but the Yankees.)
Having Nunez audition for two weeks is also a positive development with Jeter on the DL. Let's see what he can do. He is part of the "young blood" this aging team needs, especially with the dog days of summer nearly upon us.
Jeter's OPS with RISP this year is a whopping .453, and he has the most ABs with RISP of any Yankee (67). I think that his hitting leadoff is at least part of the reason NY has so underperformed their Pythagorean projections this year, dude just kills rally after rally.
Edit: Never mind that second sentence, as glennhoffmania has astutely pointed out that it makes no sense.
Edit: Never mind that second sentence, as glennhoffmania has astutely pointed out that it makes no sense.
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