NEW YORK – With each weak at-bat. With each softly hit ground ball or fly ball, you begin to wonder if you are watching the end.
You always expect Derek Jeter to come through in situations when the Yankees need a big hit, because, well, he has always done so throughout his career.
But as we have seen throughout the last two months going on three, more and more evidence continues to mount that perhaps we have seen the best of the man who has known as “The Captain”, the man who has been an anchor at the top of the Yankees lineup for the last 14 years.
He does not appear to be able to catch up to a plus-fastball, particularly from hard throwing, right-handed pitchers. His inability to get his hands through the zone quick enough leads to his vulnerability, and eventual groundouts to short and third.
We would like to think that he simply has an injury and he is compensating for it by changing different mechanics in his swing, causing his problem. However, when you add in his lack of production at the plate and his decline in range on defense, add it all up and it leads to a man on the downside of his great career.
This all begs the question of what the Yankees will do with him when this season is over.
Jeter is in the final year of his 10-year, $189 million contract that he signed during the 2001 season that came off the heels of Alex Rodriguez cashing in on a $252 million deal with the Texas Rangers.
There is no doubt that Jeter has been worth every penny to the franchise that drafted him back in 1992. From day one, he has nothing but a great Yankee, part of five world championships and the most popular player the franchise has had in the last 40 years.
The marriage between Jeter and the Yankees has been great, but in 2008, questions arose about his decline. Two years remained on his contract and many wondered if we had seen the best of him. Instead, Jeter struck back last year with arguably his finest season both offensively (.334, 212 hits, .871 OPS) and winning a Gold Glove on defense as he helped the Yankees to a World Series title.
As customary, the Yankees allow contracts to expire before negotiating new ones because they have the ability to pay more than any competitor. The idea in some circles was that everything would go smooth and not become an issue because Jeter is a Yankees icon and eventual future ambassador of the team well after his playing days are over.
Of course, the cost of how much to pay him would be dependent on his production this season. What many people did not think would be to how much of a degree his decline would be.
As of Labor Day, Jeter came in hitting .264, which was 50 points below his career average and 80 points below last season’s average. His OPS of .703 is over 130 points below his career norm and 170 points behind last year in addition to grounding in more double plays this year than at any point in his career.
Those numbers are difficult to ignore. Add to it that on a Yankees offense that is number one in the league in scoring runs, Jeter has unquestionably been the least productive member of the lineup leading New York Post columnist Joel Sherman to suggest he should be dropped down to eighth or ninth in the order.
He has taken the most plate appearances on the team (630). Thus, he has made the most outs, and done so at a precipitously high rate. To put it nicely, he has been a black hole in the lineup while occupying for most of the season the leadoff spot. Only recently, Manager Joe Girardi very quietly was able to sneak Brett Gardner (.392 OBP) into the leadoff spot without anyone noticing and dropped Jeter into the number two spot.
In a past baseball era, many players that reached past the age of 35 would experience decline in their performance.
It was only natural. You have a specified amount of prime years to produce at a high level before you could no longer do so.
Then came the infamous “Steroid Era”, where not only were players able to keep up their performance of youth, but in some cases, continue to exceed well past their original expiration date.
Those days slowly are becoming outdated as aging players quickly find themselves weeded out of the sport, or forced to take lesser pay.
Certainly the Yankees are not going to “low ball” Jeter with an insulting offer knowing how much he means to the franchise. However, paying him $80 million for the next four years would appear to be nothing more than a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for years of good service rather than a sound baseball decision.
As it is, the left side of the Yankees infield is only going to continue to decline defensively as both Jeter and Rodriguez get old together. They will also play less games due to health, so it is incumbent that they find suitable replacements for them in the interim that can play and not be what amounts to filler (see: Ramiro Pena) once every seven days.
Jeter has no other position to switch from. Mark Teixeira currently occupies first base for the next six years and he does not produce good enough numbers to clog up the DH spot. The only other position that would remain is left field, and that would be insulting to a player the caliber of Jeter.
There is no doubt the two will reach a new contract and he will be the Yankees shortstop for the future as he approaches 3,000 hits and an eventual trip Hall of Fame.
Time remains for Jeter to turn his season around. Once October begins, perhaps he can erase the bad memories of his regular season with a spectacular postseason.
Until then, one can only wonder if we have already seen the best of Derek Jeter.
Time for some Yankee Random Thoughts
If Javier Vazquez pitched all of his games out of the bullpen, he probably would win 20 games.
Problem is he doesn’t pitch most of his games out of the bullpen.
After two impressive long relief outings against Toronto and Oakland, Girardi decided to put him back in the rotation this past Saturday against Toronto and it was clear he had no confidence in him.
Needing one more out to qualify for his 11th win of the season, Girardi pulled him from the game with the Yankees leading 5-3 much to Vazquez’s dismay after the game.
I’m not sure what he would be complaining about considering that at no point this season he has inspired any confidence to give him the benefit of the doubt when runners were on second and third.
Dustin Moseley came in and on the first pitch gave up the tying runs, though the Yankees came back to win 7-5. However, the larger issue was the complete lack of trust he has in him despite the double talk he may give to the (drive by) media.
The sequence right there was all you needed to know that he would rather jump in the lake than give Vazquez the ball to start a postseason game.
No one knows what to make of the Marcus Thames homerun-hitting spree over the last week.
Prior to his three-strikeout game Tuesday in the Yankees 9-3 win over Oakland, Thames had hit six homeruns in the last six games he started.
This type of run you would expect to see from the likes of Alex Rodriguez, not Thames.
Back in 2005, Tino Martinez went on a very similar run and now we see the same thing here.
Brought in to be a part-time player to face left handed pitching, Thames continues to crush southpaws (.349), but is also hanging in there against righties (.277), providing numerous big hits.
As long as he is not wearing an outfielder’s glove, he can stay in the everyday lineup. There certainly is not any doubt that in October if there is a lefty starting, he will be part of the starting nine that night.
If you listened to the Yankees radio broadcast, then surely you have become familiar with a lot of
John Sterling’s homerun calls.
As I have tracked it, here’s been the list to date this year:
“Gardy goes yardy!”
“Gardner plants one!”
“El Capitan!”
“Mark sends a Tex message!”
“You’re on the Mark…Teixeira!”
“It’s an A-Bomb…for A-Rod!”
“Robbie Cano…don’t ya know!”
“Jorge juiced one!”
“Nick…is Swishalicious!”
“The Grandy Man Can!”
“Happy Thames are here again”
“Austin Powers”
My sister still says that it is time for Sterling to get some new lines, but the cheesy stuff that keeps me coming back for more every night.
Alex Rodriguez came back to the lineup on Sunday and the Yankees eight-game winning streak ended.
Certainly, it was not his fault as he drove in a run, but it was incredibly hard not to notice the Yankees won 21 of the 24 games without him in the lineup.
Robinson Cano has been in a slump as of late and his average has dipped under .320 for the first time since early in the season.
Perhaps he is tiring a little bit, as he has played in nearly every game this season and has had to remain in the lineup with the different players that have been out.
A day off here and there is not a bad thing for Robbie. Having him at full strength for the postseason is the most important thing.
Kerry Wood has been a great addition to the bullpen for the Yankees, but I have to wonder if his numbers are unsustainable in the long term.
While his ERA is 0.56 over his first 16 innings, he has allowed 10 hits and walked 10 men. All it takes is one mistake after a walk to wreck everything.
Let’s hope he can curb the amount of base runners.
Phil Hughes continues to struggle and his ERA is now at 4.29 despite his 16 wins.
Michael Kay still says that wins is the most important thing and if he really feels Hughes has been as good as his win total, clearly him and I need to fight in a steel cage.
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