The Future of Derek Jeter
By JOSH ALPER
Updated 1:47 PM EDT, Wed, Dec 3, 2008
Rob Neyer of ESPN discussed Derek Jeter's future with the Yankees on Tuesday, focusing on whether or not the team should move him to second base to stem how much his poor defense hurts them at shortstop.
Even if he can actually play second base, whatever you gain in defense you're likely to lose in positional scarcity. What you're trying to do is win games, and you don't win any more games with Jeter playing second base than you win with him playing shortstop. Essentially it's quite a simple thing: Aside from the likely uptick next season, Jeter's going to become less and less valuable over the next five or six years because there's really no other way for the math to work.
Do you think the Steinbrothers will have the courage to let him become less and less valuable for some other team?
The irony with Jeter is that if his offense suffers, he'll only hit enough to play in the middle of the infield. His defense isn't good enough to make that equation work, though. Maybe a switch to DH, where he'd be only focusing on hitting, would work, but his place in the city's sporting firmament would make such a move difficult.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Dec 3, 2008 10:16 AM EDT on NBC New York
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