At some point in the not too distant future, the Yankees will take the field with someone other than Derek Jeter as their standard bearer. Time marches on, even for legends like Jeter, and the Yankees have said goodbye to players of his ilk in the past. It should hearten them to know that championships kept coming after Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle and the others hung up their cleats, but it won't make their decisions any easier in a couple of years.
Jeter's current contract runs through the 2010 season, when he'll be 36 years old. If all goes according to plan, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia would be darlings of the Bronx by that point, limiting Jeter's role as face of the Yankees. Jeter's offensive game showed some signs of decline in 2008 and his defense has been regressing for several years, two things that Bob Klapisch of the Record thinks may harken his departure from pinstripes.
Until they signed Teixeira, it was a given that Jeter would get another deal in 2011 and that, as he pushed closer to 40, would shift to another position. First base would've been the most logical choice, given his sure hands.
Klapisch is right that Jeter needs to start thinking about another home on the diamond. Shortstop is too crucial a position to carry such a poor glove. And Klapisch is also right that there's no obvious place for Jeter to play. First is taken, Jorge Posada will likely be a DH only by that point, and there's no other obvious place for Jeter to move so that he remains an everyday player.
Truth and perception don't always go hand in hand, though. Jeter isn't going to leave the Yankees in 2011. He'll be wearing pinstripes when he muscles his 3,000th hit the opposite way and, unless he demands it, won't ever wear another jersey. His subpar 2008 was still a .300 season and, if he's healthy, his offense won't regress that much in the next two years. That makes it impossible for the Yankees to let him go and avoid a massive PR hit.
Taking sentimentality out of Yankee decision making is impossible. You can't claim to cherish tradition and history with one hand, while pushing the guys who built it out the door with the other. That's not sound baseball sense, but the Yankees are a business and brand that goes well beyond the field of play. Jeter is a flesh and blood embodiment of everything the Yankees want their fans to believe they represent, which is why he'll always be wearing pinstripes.
