I have to pause from all the heavy news to write about Derek Jeter's swansong this week. I wrote something when he announced his retirement back in the spring, but never went back to it. While the Yankees still have a game left in Boston, Jeter made it clear that he has played his last game at shortstop. The view from short at Yankee Stadium is what he wants to take with him into retirement. So he'll probably DH at least one game up at Fenway, but the leather will be packed away for good.
I had the privilege of seeing Jeter play in his last game at Wrigley Field here back in May. The Chicago fans were gracious, giving him a standing ovation before every at bat. While New York won the game in extra innings, there was no dramatic moment for the Captain. I think he went something like one for six, and stranded men is scoring position at least twice. But that didn't really matter to me, and I'm sure the other forty thousand fans who came out that afternoon. We came to say thank you, and good bye, knowing that a special player was passing from the game; one we will never see the likes of again.
While this scene was repeated in ball parks across the Majors this summer, not everyone has shared in the good feelings. The last week or so some in the press have decided to take this opportunity to knock Jeter, not just a little, but in the most classless ways possible. I get it I guess; if ratings have traditionally been king, then trending is quickly becoming the emperor of the New Media. Nothing will get buzz going like an aggressive attack on a well loved icon. I'm not saying that these critics aren't sincere, only that I'm pretty sure they put a little more mustard on their rhetorical fastballs than they ordinarily would for the sake of a few more clicks on You Tube.
There are basically two basic lines of attack: 1, that DJ is overrated, and 2, he's been disingenuous in his exploiting of this "farewell tour."
I actually think that the second knock, exemplified by a tirade by local New York sports commentator Chris Carlin, has merit. A bit much? Sure, but at least he had someone debating him, and questioning the appropriateness and motives for the "tour" are fair, especially because Carlin believes the spectacle to be out of step with the rest of Jeter's actions in the past.
The over rated charge has been one that has followed Jeter his entire career. Coming up during the steroid / sabermetric era, when power stats became artificially inflated, while also disproportionately worshiped by a new breed of math geek fan, DJ didn't seem to fit in. Jeter may have been a part of the first group of shortstops who could hit as well as field, but he didn't hit home runs. He also struck out too much and didn't walk enough to please the disciples of the new sabermetrics paradigm. The three top shortstops of the late 90's early 00's were A-Rod, Nomar Garciaparra and Jeter, and this was the order they were always listed in in terms of ranking. When A-Rod was traded to the Yankees and shifted to third base, the joke was that Jeter couldn't be the best shortstop in baseball since he wasn't even the best at the position on his own team. Keith Olbermann drudged up many of these arguments, using advanced statistical analysis, including a liberal use of WAR (aka WARP), to make his point. I'm not even going to get into the the debate over the validity of WAR as an accurate indicator of a player's value, only to say that I don't think it has any validity; this convoluted stat is inherently subjective, which flies in the face of what statistical analysis is supposed to be about.
But even accepting the fact that, besides ending his career sixth on the all time hit list, tenth in runs scored (and leads active players) he doesn't stack up statistically, especially in the power numbers, all time or with his contemporaries, I have to ask one question: where are his contemporaries, at least at short? Nomar, through no fault of his own, suffered from injuries in the last five years of his career and retired early. A-Rod? Do I really have to go there? Jeter is the last man standing, at least the last one standing who can lift his head high.
I think Jeter is not above criticism, especially for the overly sentimental commercials and never ending salutes that seem to go against the the well crafted image he has fostered as a team first, individual second, kind of player. I have nothing against advanced matrix or statistical analysis, but to not see that Derek Jeter's value to the Yankees, and baseball, over the past two decades is greater than what can be measured on a spread sheet is blindness. There is still a question about if he will DH tomorrow in Boston or not. But once the season is officially over I'll go into more retail about how I see Jeter's legacy.
There are basically two basic lines of attack: 1, that DJ is overrated, and 2, he's been disingenuous in his exploiting of this "farewell tour."
I actually think that the second knock, exemplified by a tirade by local New York sports commentator Chris Carlin, has merit. A bit much? Sure, but at least he had someone debating him, and questioning the appropriateness and motives for the "tour" are fair, especially because Carlin believes the spectacle to be out of step with the rest of Jeter's actions in the past.
The over rated charge has been one that has followed Jeter his entire career. Coming up during the steroid / sabermetric era, when power stats became artificially inflated, while also disproportionately worshiped by a new breed of math geek fan, DJ didn't seem to fit in. Jeter may have been a part of the first group of shortstops who could hit as well as field, but he didn't hit home runs. He also struck out too much and didn't walk enough to please the disciples of the new sabermetrics paradigm. The three top shortstops of the late 90's early 00's were A-Rod, Nomar Garciaparra and Jeter, and this was the order they were always listed in in terms of ranking. When A-Rod was traded to the Yankees and shifted to third base, the joke was that Jeter couldn't be the best shortstop in baseball since he wasn't even the best at the position on his own team. Keith Olbermann drudged up many of these arguments, using advanced statistical analysis, including a liberal use of WAR (aka WARP), to make his point. I'm not even going to get into the the debate over the validity of WAR as an accurate indicator of a player's value, only to say that I don't think it has any validity; this convoluted stat is inherently subjective, which flies in the face of what statistical analysis is supposed to be about.
But even accepting the fact that, besides ending his career sixth on the all time hit list, tenth in runs scored (and leads active players) he doesn't stack up statistically, especially in the power numbers, all time or with his contemporaries, I have to ask one question: where are his contemporaries, at least at short? Nomar, through no fault of his own, suffered from injuries in the last five years of his career and retired early. A-Rod? Do I really have to go there? Jeter is the last man standing, at least the last one standing who can lift his head high.
I think Jeter is not above criticism, especially for the overly sentimental commercials and never ending salutes that seem to go against the the well crafted image he has fostered as a team first, individual second, kind of player. I have nothing against advanced matrix or statistical analysis, but to not see that Derek Jeter's value to the Yankees, and baseball, over the past two decades is greater than what can be measured on a spread sheet is blindness. There is still a question about if he will DH tomorrow in Boston or not. But once the season is officially over I'll go into more retail about how I see Jeter's legacy.
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