Fox Sports | Ken Rosenthal: As Derek Jeter proved that Cal Ripken couldn't be a shortstop forever, it's clear that Jeter can't stay there forever either.
"I've always liked him, but I never got what the fuss was all about."
Area baseball fan Troy Younk doesn't have an opinion about Derek Jeter, and his friends are furious.
"The Captain is a true Yankee, a first-class, first-ballot Hall of Famer," said Blake Glynn, Younk's co-worker and self-proclaimed "biggest Yankee fan in Minnesota." "The fact that Troy doesn't acknowledge this is like spitting on Jeets, as far as I'm concerned. It's disgraceful."
Younk, 44, said that he could go either way on Jeter.
"I don't know, he's a good player, you know," said the Watertown native. "I've always liked him, but I never got what the fuss was all about. Maybe if I was a Yankees fan or lived in New York, I'd think different."
Adam Timm, Younk's college roommate and longtime friend, says that this simply isn't good enough.
"We've had to put up with all this pomp and circumstance about Jeter's retirement," said an agitated Timm. "ESPN won't effing shut up about him, every team is giving him presents when he shows up for his last series, and I'm like, ‘If you played in Milwaukee, no one would give a shit about you. No. One.' Captain, my ass."
Timm made a hand gesture commonly associated with male masturbation before continuing.
"Then I'm watching that last game at Target Field with Troy, and the dude starts applauding when Jeter steps into the box. Can you believe that shit?"
Younk said he wasn't trying to provoke Timm by clapping.
"It was his last game at Target Field. Guy's been playing for almost two decades, seemed like it was okay to recognize it. He's been an alright player, I guess?"
Younk added this isn't the first time he's upset his friends and not known why.
"I watched a couple episodes of Breaking Bad, and I just didn't care for it. I made the mistake of bringing that up at happy hour awhile back, and the guys literally starting throwing peanuts and wet napkins at me. I told them it was okay, but it just didn't do it for me. That just made them angrier. I ended up going home early."
"Now batting for the Yankees, No. 2, Derek Jeter. No. 2"
Last night, just as Abner Doubleday drew it up way back when, Derek Jeter did the most Derek Jeter thing possible in his very last game at the "new" Yankee Stadium. With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game against the Baltimore Orioles, Jeter laced a walk-off single to right field. Sure, it was his first walk-off hit in over seven years, but that right-field single is something he has done countless times over the course of his 20-year big league career. To put it simply, it was a moment that many baseball fans around the globe will store away in their respective memory banks so they can one day have the opportunity to share it with their children and eventually their children's children.
Amazing. To be honest, I had zero intention of including anything from last night's #FarewellCaptain game in this post, but after witnessing the event as it happened on MLB.TV, I came up with no logical reason to exclude it. How could I? When it all comes down to it, would I call myself a fan of Derek Jeter? Somewhat, I guess. Back in 2011, I purchased one of those Fathead murals of his 3,000th hit. It remains unopened in the basement of my parents' house back in St. Louis, so that, one day, in the not-so-distant future, I can hang it in my house's man cave. I purchased it out of respect for a legendary player who has done so much for the game that I love equally as much.
If you are not a fan of Jeter and have found yourself muttering, "Is it over yet?" on more than one occasion this season, that's perfectly fine, but just know that it is going to be quite some time before baseball sees another player with a career like Jeter. Due to their ever-growing TV deals, maybe we will see this with Mike Trout and the Angels through 2030? Who knows? The closest opportunity the Cardinals had to experiencing something like this abruptly ended after the 2011 season.
Well, Yadier Molina, drafted out of high school back in 2000, is the next closest opportunity for the Cardinals. After completing roughly three full minor league seasons in the organization (2000-2004), he has played all eleven big league seasons with St. Louis and is under contract for at least three more. If he is able to stay behind the dish for four, five, or even six more seasons (not likely, even for Yadi), he will find himself in the conversation with Jeter as one of the all-time greats to stay with one team for his entire career. Even then, Yadi would have to keep up his All-World defense, maintain an above-average hitting line, and help the Cardinals capture one or two more World Series rings.
For a "closer-to-home" perspective, how do Jeter's career numbers match up to those of Cardinal shortstops during the span of his 20-year career? For those wondering, I chose to start with 1996 for Cardinals statistics, since that was Jeter's first full season with New York. He did, however, make his MLB debut (51 plate appearances) as a 20 year old back in 1995, roughly three years after being drafted sixth overall in the MLB Draft.
1996 through 2014
PA
R
HR
RBI
BA
OBP
SLG
OPS
ISO
wOBA
wRC+
fWAR
Cardinals shortstops
15,598
1,914
192
1,392
.271
.328
.373
.701
.102
.310
87
46.2
Derek Jeter
12,598
1,923
260
1,310
.309
.377
.440
.817
.130
.360
119
73.6
From 1996 through 2014, 19 different players had plate appearances (at least five to qualify) at the shortstop position for the Cardinals, ranging from John Nelson (five PAs) on the low-end to Edgar Renteria (3,759 PAs) on the high-end. As you can see in the chart, Jeter has had exactly 3,000 less plate appearances than Cardinal shortstops during that span, and yet, he has scored a few more runs (+9), has hit considerably more home runs (+68), has less, but comparable RBI (-82; keep in mind, he has had 4,649 PAs in the lead-off spot), and has been valued at 27.4 more fWAR. In terms of the non-counting statistics, his slash line, OPS, ISO, wOBA, and wRC+ are all significantly better than his Cardinal counterparts. Jeter has had 4.0 fWAR or greater in 10 separate seasons, while the Cardinals have had five. Jeter has been worth 6.0 fWAR or greater in four separate seasons, while the Cardinals' highest was 5.8 back in 2003, with Renteria at the helm.
Let's return back to reality, though. It is time for #2 to finally hang it up after such an illustrious career. He has been less than a replacement level player the last two seasons (-0.6 fWAR in an injury-shortened 2013, -0.1 fWAR in 2014). His ISOs of .063 last season and .057 this season make even Jon Jay (and his career ISO of .102) look like a power hitter. By UZR (-74.3) and DRS (-159), he has been one of the worst defensive shortstops since the introduction of advanced fielding statistics. Though these statistics are cumulative, he is so far below even the second worst player that it should be seen as significant, in my opinion. It also doesn't help Jeter that they were introduced eight years (and nearly 10,000 innings) into his career as a shortstop.
Despite bad defense and an obvious decline in offense, Jeter will rightfully go down as one of the top five shortstops of all time, and he will forever be known as the face of the game for over a decade. Advanced metrics expose Jeter's defense, but if you've ever taken infield grounders in your life, chances are you've attempted a "Jeter jump throw" at least once. I know I have. Many times.
I will close this reflection by including three tweets:
As Derek Jeter's baseball career comes to a close, so does his tenure as Yankees captain. Since 2003, Jeter has been the Yankees captain, the longest tenure as captain in team history. Including Jeter, there have only been 14 players given the high honor to be called the captain of the most storied franchise in sports, and only Roger Peckinpaugh comes close to Jeter's length of tenure. Peckinpaugh served as Yankees captain from 1914 to 1921, but of course few people know about Mr. Peckinpaugh.
The question arises, with just a few games remaining in Jeter's amazing career, is there a need to have another Yankee captain and will we see one anytime soon? Before Jeter was named captain in 2003, the previous captain had been the very popular Don Mattingly, and he served until 1995 before he had to unfortunately retire. Is there anyone on the current roster that would even have a chance to be named the team's captain? A lot of people will probably have the name Brett Gardner first cross their mind when thinking of a potential captain. Gardner is homegrown, gritty, doesn't complain, tells it how it is, and plays hard everyday. He has even shown a feisty side to him, barking at umpires when he doesn't agree with a call. Gardner reminds me of a "lite" version of Paul O'Neil.
But if not Gardner, would someone that isn't homegrown suffice? Perhaps a Brian McCann type, or a Jacoby Ellsbury? Would Yankee fans allow someone who has had a Boston Red Sox uniform on his back be captain? They certainly allowed Babe Ruth when he was captain for six days in the 1922 season until he was amusingly stripped of his captaincy. The captain doesn't need to be a very vocal leader, as Jeter has always been the low-key, follow by example type captain, and he has done it perfectly. Jeter also never asked for nor did he need the obnoxious "C" sewed into his uniform so everyone could know he was the captain. (Looking at you, Jason Varitek.) Jeter showed he was captain by how he went about his business on and off the field. Are there any players like that on the current squad?
Of course, it is pretty much guaranteed that the Yankees won't be naming a captain for quite some time, and I highly doubt they are even interested in looking for one. Who wants to follow Jeter anyway? Maybe the Yankees captain isn't even on the roster yet, and he is still somewhere in the minor league system. Or maybe the Yankees have yet to sign their next captain, and he will be hitting the free agent market soon.
Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen are clear cut captains for their teams and maybe even for the entire sport. That is what Jeter was--not only the face of the Yankees, but the entire sport as well. This will be an extremely difficult position to fill, but does it even have to be filled? Does this team need a captain? Or will it be better served with a small group of guys that the rest of the team follows and imitates, a similar situation that occurred in that fantastic run of the '90s. In the '90s, the Core Four, along with Bernie Williams (who should also be mentioned with the Core Four), Paul O'Neill, and Tino Martinez, were leaders on the team, None of these men were named captain, until Jeter was eventually given the position.
Perhaps that situation might work better, but again, perhaps the team does not even need a captain. There isn't a rule that states you have to officially name a captain for your team, but it is always better to have a leader or leaders on the team.
Who do you think will be the next Yankee captain? Does this team need a captain?
Derek Jeter had to get that hit last night. I mean, sure, if he grounded out to short in his last at-bat of the night and the Yankees lost in extra innings, Jeter's legacy would still be pretty intact. There's not a whole lot he could do at this point to change what he has been to the organization, this city, and the sport, but by winning the game last night, Jeter brought back those feelings that, at least before the ankle injury and recent struggles, he was a man that could do anything. "Tie game and I'm down to my last at-bat? Nah, I got this." Typical Jeter. We all should have seen it coming a mile away, but even so, even without the theatrics, Jeter would still be Jeter when it was all said and done. He still had to get that hit, but it wasn't for him. What he really did was save David Robertson.
A free agent at the end of the season, the Yankees' new closer has taken more than his fair share of heat from some fans who believe he compares poorly to Mariano Rivera (who doesn't?). Ignore the fact that he's had a great season in 2014, with a good portion of the fanbase already against him, for whatever reason, and then having him "ruin" Derek Jeter's perfect sendoff moment, it looked like this would be David Robertson's most memorable Yankee moment. He would go down in history as the guy who ruined Derek Jeter's going away party. Despite being one of the best closers in the game, the fans would have turned against him, the media would have pounced on him, and the talking heads would have had a field day. As if the Yankees didn't have enough needs in the post-Jeter world, now they would need a new closer because there could be no way they would bring Robertson back after he proved he couldn't succeed on the big stage. Or whatever.
People were pretty much ready to throw him out of the stadium before the game was even over:
David Robertson sucks. Yankees need to cut his ass. Just ruined Jeter's last home game as a Yankee.
These fans should have waited until it was all said and done before they made their statements. Now, instead of ruining everything, Robertson is a hero. He's the guy who set up this impossible moment that ended up being just another feather in the cap of Derek Jeter. It wasn't that Jeter needed this moment, he's had plenty, but now apparently he's selfless enough to give out memorable moments when his teammates need them the most. Without Jeter getting that game-winning hit, it would have been all over for David Robertson. He was the guy that ruined everything, but now, whether he returns to the Bronx in 2015 or not, he's been spared that label for the rest of his life. The black eye has healed and now it's just funny:
Mo joked with Robertson, calling him the greatest set-up man ever bc he set up Jeter's game-winner #Yankees
The fans can get over it now that Derek Jeter has made everything right in the world. Some might still feel bitter, but I think it's ok to cut Robertson a little slack when it creates a moment like that. Plus, it's not as if David Robertson is Joe Nathan or Jim Johnson. He's one of the best closers out there and not even Mariano Rivera was perfect all the time. Hopefully the Yankees will bring him back and give him a chance to make his own Yankee memories, because he definitely deserves that opportunity. Either way, it was nice of Jeter to save him from a lifetime of shame and boos before he was railroaded out of town. Saving his teammates; now that's a legacy to leave behind.
As a Red Sox fan growing up, Derek Jeter was among my greatest baseball enemies... and exactly what my dad and I needed.
I can't remember the first time I went to a baseball game. That absence of memory currently holds claim as one of the things I have most the regret with in my (albeit, relatively short) life. It's not as if the memory is insignificant and floated away from the inner channels of my brain.
The moment, at the time, simply did not matter at all.
My parents came to America two months after I was born in May of 1995. Our family's primary motivation, at the time, was to allow my dad to get his Ph.D. at Boston University. My parents didn't grow up in American culture and, although, my dad appreciated sports, our first journey into the concourses of Fenway Park as father and son simply did not carry the weight it has for many parent-child relationships in this country.
While Kodak worthy now, the moment did not mean much to my dad, my mom and myself. At the time, it was just another experience to add to the Boston bucket list before my dad finished up his Ph.D. and our family headed back to Korea.
My dad's pursuit of his degree meant that he was not around a lot through my early life, from preschool through third grade. He would come home after a long day of studying to the image of my mom and I passed out. At the time, all three of us slept on one queen size mattress on the floor of our small one bedroom apartment in Brookline.
I didn't really feel anything towards my dad for the early years of my childhood. I, honestly, had no idea who he was as a person and I spent an exponentially greater amount of time with my mom. Every once in a while, he brought me to his office on the sixth floor of the BU School of Management. There, I would sit in his office playing some sort of educational computer game or worked on a Thomas the Tank Engine coloring sheet as he continued to chip away towards his degree. That was the extent of our relationship.
There are very few moments, outside of my time on the computer in his office, that I remember spending with my dad early in my life. He spent countless hours at school working towards his degree so he could provide for my mom, myself and now my little sister. He was absent in the memories of my early childhood.
Photo Credit: Elsa
My dad didn't have a dad. It's something that my mom constantly reminded me of growing up, letting me know how fortunate I was to even have a father. The youngest of three kids, two of them sisters, my dad was pushed by my grandmother to succeed. To this day, he's absolutely adored by my grandmother.
Whenever my family visits Korea and first steps foot into my grandmother's house, she scurries across the floor and gives my dad the biggest of hugs.
"Sangkyu, my star son," she said.
Throughout his life, my dad had a lot of pressure placed on him academically, something that is inherent with the school-centric culture of South Korea. He would wake up in the wee hours of the morning to head off to school, then go to a second "test-prep" academy and would end up studying late into the evening until that process repeated itself the next day.
In Korea, there are no high school sports. If you are good at something, you're put on a track to succeed in that one specified area. People good at sports only play sports. Others who excel academically focus solely on their studies. It's a culture that still persists to this day and something I struggle wrapping my head around given my vastly different life in the United States.
As someone who stayed atop of his academic class throughout his entire schooling career, my dad did very little else beyond study. I remember asking my dad whether or not he played sports during school. Every time, I received the same response: a slight raise of the eyebrow and a slight frown on the right side of his lip.
"Things are different in Korea," he said. "I didn't have the opportunity to play sports because I spent so much time studying."
Living in a house full of women who, to this day, hold little-to-no interest in sports, my dad did not have an outlet to express his interest in athletics. While Korea is a growing baseball country today, the sport, as my dad told me, was considered irrelevant throughout his childhood.
My mom always told me my dad had no idea what it meant to be one after living his whole life without a father. For years (and not to his fault) he was to me what his father was to him, not there by him.
Photo Credit: Jared Wickerham
My dad tells me the first time he was captivated by baseball in America was in 1999, when Pedro Martinez' starts became an event. Martinez' electrifying stuff and story planted interest in the sport. That interest, however, wasn't fully shared with me until years later.
The day my dad first sat down with me to explain baseball is one of my earliest, clear memories. The game was a FOX afternoon broadcast on July 26, 2003 of the Red Sox and Yankees. My dad, interested in the team's acquisition of Byung-Hyun Kim (Korean players, to this day, still raise his interest in baseball), decided to sit me, a third grade kid with no grasp of baseball, down to watch the game.
My memory specifically clicks on in the ninth inning of that game. Kim was brought in to preserve a 4-4 tie game. Through the first two batters of the innings, my dad explained what Kim was doing on the mound (the submarine pitching style was completely foreign to me).
And then in stepped Derek Jeter.
Jeter, my dad explained to me, was the quintessential New York Yankee. He was the captain of the team (the Yankees' Nomar Garciaparra as he explained it) and played the game in a way that everyone respected. Nearly on cue, Jeter slapped a grounder up the middle, as Jeter has done year-after-year.
"We're not supposed to like that guy," my dad said. "He's their best player."
Kim stranded Jeter on first base to finish off the inning and David Ortiz (naturally) finished the game off in the ninth inning with an RBI single off Armando Benitez to drive in Jeremy Giambi. Right then and there, I knew that baseball was something I was interested in. I asked for a baseball book.
A couple nights later, my family took our walk into the Coolidge Corner Brookline Booksmith. I headed straight to the kids' section to look for baseball books. Lo and behold, the first book I found had a picture of Nomar Garciaparra, Alex Rodriguez and Jeter.
That book sparked my curiosity into baseball and eventually led to the first game that I remember going to with my dad.
After failing to get day-of-game tickets, my dad and I waited around until the fifth inning to head into the ticket office as a last resort. The broker sold us a pair of tickets that were never picked up. The tickets brought us five rows behind home plate (the player I was most excited to see that day was, wait for it, Damian Jackson).
From that day forward, my dad followed the 2003 Red Sox religiously, reading the newspaper together and following the team's chase for the playoffs. When it came for the Red Sox to play the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, I was beyond excited. Those games was the first time in my life I can remember my dad and I spending an extended period of time together when I was truly excited to spend time with him.
"Dad?" I said.
"Yes, Joon?"
"I, umm," I stuttered. "I hate Derek Jeter."
He gave me a hug.
Photo Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
My first opportunity to cover a Red Sox-Yankees game came in 2013. As an intern for the Boston Herald at the time, I was told to head to the New York clubhouse to pick up any relevant news and sound bites for the day.
As I walked through the doors into the cramped visitor's clubhouse, a body zipped by me.
"Excuse me," the man said while walking into the trainer's room.
I peeked into the trainer's room and my eyes immediately opened.
Derek Jeter had just bumped into me before getting treatment on his ankle. At that point, I was generally no longer star struck by athletes, but Jeter was different for me. Immediately, I zipped back to the day where I had sat on the couch with my dad to watch Jeter step in against Kim on a grainy, standard definition television.
Jeter walked past me again, sitting down at his locker, which sat next to the coaching staff and resided closest to the trainer's room. I walked over, my palms sweaty enough to fill a glass and my hand shaking like a top ready to fall over.
"Hi Mr. Jeter," I said with the confidence I could muster. "I grew up in Boston and this probably doesn't mean much to you, but thank you for being my favorite least-favorite player growing up."
Jeter chuckled.
"Hey, thanks a lot," he said with his signature bravado and genuine smile.
Given that he had no plans on playing that he day, I chatted with him for less than a minute. I told him about how my dad and I had watched him play day-after-day and how I had learned to love baseball through the many Red Sox-Yankee games I watched growing up.
I noticed the rest of the media contingent heading into manager Joe Girardi's office for his pre-game press conference.
"I've got to go," I muttered to Jeter, "but thank you so much for your time."
"You've got it," he said. "Thank you."
It's a conversation that he's probably had countless times with fans and it's something that he likely wouldn't recall if he was asked about it. The genuine interest he had in hearing what I had to say, however, is something I will never forget.
Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Nearly all of the greatest moments I had with my dad center around baseball, whether it was the long drives for my travel team games, sitting on the couch watching the Red Sox during the summer or being at Fenway Park together for David Ortiz' game-tying grand slam during Game 2 of the ALCS.
Given my aspirations as a writer in sports journalism and my focus on the Red Sox as a point of coverage, I don't consider myself a fan of the team anymore as I did throughout my childhood. That, however, hasn't changed the fact that I still turn revert to my third grade self whenever I have the chance to watch a game at Fenway Park as a fan with my dad.
Thinking about my dad always brings me back to Jeter and how much time we spent watching Red Sox-Yankee games together throughout that 2003 season.
This weekend, Derek Jeter will take his final at-bat ever in the batter's box of Fenway Park. For me, the brightest memories of Jeter's career won't be from his endless bloop singles into the outfield, his jump throws from shortstop or his constant peppering of Red Sox pitching.
It'll be him taking the time to hear the story of an 18-year-old writer in over his head talking to one of the greatest shortstops in the history of Major League Baseball and having genuine interest in my dad.
That's what stands out most about Jeter. Regardless of whether you think he's a great or terrible fielder or an underrated or overrated shortstop, it's the impact that he had on people, both in and outside baseball, that truly measures the legacy he will leave behind.
So for everything, from the destruction of my dreams of a 2003 World Series victory for the Red Sox to the love you helped bring into the relationship between my father and I, thank you Mr. Jeter.
Last night, Derek Jeter provided the perfect storybook ending for his storybook career. It's okay to still have feels.
Comment of the Game
This actually happened, and it was perfect. Alexanderao wins the COTG award in historic fashion, but in retrospect just about everyone won yesterday. What an incredible night.
Best GIF of the Recap
Waffles wins the BGOTR award for this perfect GIF describe our emotions right now. As she said, "first Mo and Andy, now Jeter." Yeeeeeep.
Honorable Mod Mention
She also wins the HMM award for this honorable PSA tribute to the Captain.
Best Comments of the Day
Everyone blue'd in this screencap wins the COTD award. Hell, everyone wins the COTD award yesterday. What a magical night for the Yankees! What a magical ending for Jeter!
Fun Questions
Be honest, did you think that kind of ending to Jeter's career was possible?
Better Yankee Stadium send off, Mo or Jeter? (This isn't a fair question, really)
There will be much more reflection on what happened last night in the coming days. But for now, please tell us how you're feeling right now with what happened last night. Best ending ever?
Derek Jeter did what everyone expected him to do in his final at-bat, but his departure signifies another big ending.
The bulk of my personal Yankee fandom involves rooting for the laundry. As much as I love the players when they are in pinstripes with an interlocking NY on their cap, that love generally fades out pretty quickly once they are gone. It's not that I'm particularly fickle; it's just that my main love lies with the Yankees. I love the team more than I love the individual parts that make it up. Players can come and go but the Yankees remain the same.
I watched the bulk of Thursday night's game with a lump in my throat. A different feeling from playoff games when it feels like every pitch and every at-bat is do or die, but one that made the experience a little uneasy. If there ever was a group of Yankees to transcend my love of laundry over personalities, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Bernie Williams were those players. They symbolized everything that made me love the Yankees in the first place. Derek Jeter was one of the first players I ever saw play baseball in real life, and that joy that baseball gave me as a young child before understanding the politics of the game and some of the parts of it that we'd like to ignore was wrapped up in the Yankees' successes of the Dynasty Era. In a world where it seems like an athlete manages to remind us on a weekly (or daily) basis why we root for the team over the individual, we have been very fortunate to have a face of the franchise that never gave us a reason to be disappointed that we chose to root for him.
Jeter's final game at Yankee Stadium was a final nail in the Yankees I grew up with. I know many of you likely share that feeling. I'm too young to remember games before Jeter was the shortstop. I'm too young to remember a time when the Yankees just were not good. I'm fully aware of how spoiled and how fortunate that makes me, but it also makes this world where all my childhood baseball heroes are retired a scary one. Those guys, even as their numbers dwindled, were the security blanket. No team with Jeter and Rivera and Pettitte was going to be bad. They couldn't be. The final thread we held onto of that security blanket isn't going to put on pinstripes again until Old Timer's Day.
Anyone who has watched Jeter's career play out the way that many of us have couldn't be surprised that the Captain's flare for the dramatic would find a way to come through in his final game in front of the fans in the Bronx. Everything that happened in the game lined up just so that Jeter could come to the plate with a runner on second base in the bottom of the ninth inning with a chance to win it. Fans had been chanting his name all night, seeming to rattle Jeter for the first time in his entire career. None of that mattered, because he is Derek Jeter and Derek Jeter always has a little magic up his sleeve, it would seem. My first reaction to his final hit was merely "of course." Of course he did that. Of course he came through. Of course he won the game on a night as electric as any I have seen at the new Yankee Stadium. That's what Jeter does.
It has been really tough to watch Jeter struggle the way he did this season. Rooting for laundry means that I have no doubt he should have been dropped in the order and that he barely looked like a major leaguer at times throughout the year. No one wants to see the guy who has meant everything to the organization over the years look human right before he rides off into the sunset. Rivera went out on as high of a note as he could, minus not making it to the playoffs and closing down a World Series victory. Why couldn't Jeter do the same? Regardless of all the things we know in our hearts to be true about Jeter's performance this year, Thursday meant it didn't matter. Objectively, sure, it still matters on some level, but not really. It takes away nothing from an absolutely brilliant career of one of the best players you or I will ever see take the field in a Yankee uniform. All of the frustration of "two-hole clauses" and nearly non-existent range made me realize why I root for laundry over players themselves, but Jeter being Jeter reminded me why we all love him. He's given us a lifetime of amazing baseball memories. Last night was just another in a long line of moments that will likely stick with us for quite some time.
As happy as we all were for the win, and for Jeter to be able to say goodbye to Yankee Stadium in that way, I couldn't help but also be a little sad. Times are changing in a big way. Next year's Yankees aren't going to have any reminders of the team I fell in love with as a child. Older fans have already gone through this and are probably thinking, hey, suck it up. It's still uneasy to think about. I have become enamored with Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Brett Gardner. They will all be on that team. I'll root as hard for the laundry as I ever have while not being able to deny how different it will be to be without any of the players who have just always been there. We've made it through a year without the best closer baseball has ever seen, so I'm sure we will all press on with a new shortstop. I'm just really glad that the last time we got to see Jeter play in Yankee Stadium had a piece of that magic in it that had been missing all season.
Closing the book on the Derek Jeter chapter of my Yankee fandom is a bit sad, but the great thing is that the story doesn't fully end. The next cast of characters in the same laundry will suit up, and they will make impressive plays and hit impressive homers, and the Yankees will fight once again to make it to the playoffs. The weather will turn cool and the atmosphere will be electric. Someone wearing an interlocking NY cap will accept the World Series trophy from the Commissioner and hoist it above their head to thunderous applause. New York, New York will play and we'll all find ourselves feeling the magic just the way we did tonight. That's what made me fall in love with the team in the first place, and that's what will keep me here for a long time after this particular chapter is over.
The Derek Jeter "Retire-ganza-tacular" has been great business for all involved, but even as someone that might technically be considered a profiteer I'm glad it's almost over.
When I went to the Yankees game on Sunday I found myself drawn to the "Jeter Kiosks". Of course normally Yankee Stadium is overrun with vendors peddling all manner of overpriced merchandise, but I couldn't help but be amused at the concept of having a whole stand devoted to one man. It was almost a shrine of sorts. And they were everywhere: you would have an infinitely harder time finding a bathroom than you would a place to buy a commemorative patch. It felt more like someone had built a Derek Jeter amusement park than a stadium that housed a whole baseball franchise.
From the comfort of your own home it hasn't been much different. For about two weeks Yankees broadcasts have felt like a paean for one man. Sure, the team was on the cusp of elimination for most of that time, but even when Jeter wasn't scheduled to bat any time soon The YES Network was a constant stream of Jeter moments, Jeter highlights and Jeter updates. Every person they could unearth being asked about Jeter. I'm surprised I don't know what the doctors that delivered Jeter think of his career at this point.
In many ways Jeter's farewell has been everything I feared it would be. I had held out hope that he would have a respectable season, and around the hundred game mark it looked like he was going to have one. Not as remarkable as some seasons past, but good enough that most of the people who wanted to tear Jeter apart like a limping gazelle would have been held at bay. That would have toned down the craziness at least a little bit. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case, so the "Anti-Jeter" business has been just as booming as the "Pro-Jeter" factory running in The Bronx. An article or the rantings of a "talking head" tearing down Jeter is going to get just as much attention as those that speak of him as a golden god. You've been able to find either just about anywhere you turn, and very frequently they aren't particularly insightful or based in much reality.
Whether it's been positive attention, negative critiques or just a constant barrage of commercials, I think the point of saturation has long since been reached. I don't know if we'll ever see the likes of this retirement tour again, but I certainly wouldn't look forward to it and I pray it doesn't happen with a team I love. What I do know about my own personal fatigue is how little of it has anything to do with Derek Jeter at all. His cult of personality has just been turned up so far past eleven that it obscures the man any time I see or hear him mentioned. His retirement would get mentioned on The Food Network if they thought there was a dime in it.
Eventually when all the dust settles and Jeter has long since hung up his cleats I think I'll be able to fully appreciate his career as a fan. Perhaps just reflecting on the memories of his greatest moments or maybe pulling out a DVD of a classic World Series game. Possibly looking up some highlights months after they've been forced down my throat. Last night's heroics will definitely be worth a couple of more viewings over the offseason.It will nice to enjoy Derek Jeter the player, not the marketing concept.
Thank you, Captain. That's the obvious theme of this Yankees podcast. It really doesn't have to be broken down this time. We talked about that crazy final game at Yankee Stadium, the awesome homestand, and even Matt F.'s B-Ref segment was Jeter-themed.
The Captain ended an incredible career on a high note last night, but Tigers fans remember another great shortstop who hasn't gotten his due.
Last night was Derek Jeter's final game of his playing career at Yankee Stadium, and boy, did the Captain go out with a bang. Bottom of the ninth, runner on second, one out. I'll give you a second to guess who was the next man to bat... It was a situation that not even Hollywood could have penned better. As you already know, Derek Jeter took the first pitch and sent a line drive past a diving Steve Pearce into right field. Nick Markakis fielded the ball, came up throwing, but just missed nailing pinch runner Antoan Richardson at home. Game over. Derek Jeter walked it off. Storybook ending to a great career.
This is an article that I wrote a few months ago right after Derek announced his retirement. I am not a giant Derek Jeter fan, but I respect the guy as much as I respect any professional athlete based off of the example he has set on and off the field over the course of his long career. Growing up in Toledo, Ohio, I never got to consistently watch Jeter play. I've seen him numerous times in the playoffs, but I have not watched him enough to have an opinion on his playing career based off of the eye test. I am only eighteen years old, so I never got to watch Tiger great Alan Trammell play either. I mean no disrespect to Derek Jeter in this article. This article is purely a statistical analysis of two of the greatest shortstops of all time, with hopefully a minimal amount of Detroit Tigers bias (I'll let you be the judge of that). All of the statistics I use go up to the start of the 2014 season.
Enjoy!
On Wednesday, February 12th, Derek Jeter announced that he will be retiring at the end of the 2014 season. This has taken over baseball headlines, and rightfully so. Jeter, a lifetime New York Yankee, is their captain and has been their starting shortstop since 1996. He is a 13-time All Star, five-time Silver Slugger award winner, five-time Gold Glove winner, and a five-time World Series champion. On top of all that, Jeter has long been considered one of the true class acts of the game. In 2020 when he is eligible for the Hall of Fame, he will almost certainly be elected to it with close to a unanimous vote. Derek Jeter's playing career was nothing short of spectacular.
On the other side of the comparison we have Alan Trammell, who played his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. Manning shortstop from 1977 to 1996, Trammell is a six-time All Star, a four-time Gold Glove winner, a three-time Silver Slugger winner, and a World Series champion. He is not in the Hall of Fame, and is barely holding onto a spot on the ballot. His career was also spectacular.
When you compare the accolades that each earned, Jeter easily beats out Trammell. Funny thing about all of those awards mentioned above is that they are either voted on by a committee or earned with 24 other guys on the roster. The only way to truly compare their careers is to delve into their individual advanced statistics, so let's do exactly that!
Offense
Let's start with the offensive side of the stats. Through 11,986 plate appearances, Derek Jeter has a career OPS of .828, a wOBA of .365, and an average wRC+ of 121. Jeter is also a member of the 3,000 hit club. In 9,375 career plate appearances, Tram has an OPS of .767, a wOBA of .343, and an average wRC+ of 111. Alan Trammell does not have 3,000 hits, coming up short with 2,365.
Shortstops are generally considered to have the least amount of offensive production among position players. Based off of the numbers the average shortstop's OPS is around .750. According to Fangraphs, in 2011 the average wOBA for shortstops was .303. The average wRC+ during Trammell's career fluctuated between 68 and 93, and 80 and 97 during Jeter's career. Among shortstops, all of Jeter and Trammell's numbers are considered well above average, but the Captain clearly has the edge.
For Hall of Fame shortstops, both of their numbers stack up quite well. Among Hall of Famers, OPS fluctuates between .653 and .859, wOBA between .296 and .409, and wRC+ between 83 and 147. Jeter will be near the top in all three of those hitting categories when he enters the Hall, while Trammell would be more towards the lower middle. Needless to say, both have earned their spots among the all time greats based off of their performances at the plate.
Defense
Comparing Derek Jeter's defense to Alan Trammell's is where this article gets tricky. Defensive metrics have come a long way since Trammell's day. Today, sabermetricians use advanced metrics such as Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR), and Probabilistic Model of Range (PMR). I'll mention Jeter's UZR, but I won't use it to compare him to Trammell. The statistic I will use, which is widely considered to be the most accurate way of measuring defensive ability from 1954-2001, is Total Zone (TZ).
For those unfamiliar with Total Zone, it is a defensive metric that calculates the plays made above average and converts that into runs saved using situational run expectancies. The higher the Total Zone, the better. Alan Trammell's TZ for his entire career at shortstop was 80, while Derek Jeter's is -129. Total Zone isn't as accurate as a defensive metric such as UZR, but when you have a 209 run difference, I think it's fairly easy to distinguish the better fielder. Trammell only had a negative TZ in five seasons out of his 20. The only years that Jeter posted a positive TZ rating were 1998, 2004, and 2009.
The metric that I used to compare both of these players to other Hall of Famers was Fangraphs' defensive rating. The rating, abbreviated as Def on their site, is the statistics of fielding and positional adjustment combined above average. The lowest career Def in the Hall of Fame is 27.3, held by Robin Yount. The high Def is 375.3, which is from Ozzie Smith. Alan Trammell would actually be tied with Honus Wagner for 13th on the list of Def with 184.4, while Derek Jeter would be in last place with a Def of -25.7.
I am well aware of some of the seemingly spectacular plays that Derek Jeter made in the field. Unlike Trammell, I have had the pleasure of seeing Jeter play. Yes, Jeter made some eye popping plays throughout his career, but people fail to acknowledge that there were numerous plays that he didn't make. Judging by Jeter's UZR, he cost the Yankees -67.8 runs throughout his career. He may have made some big plays along the way that will be remembered, but he cost the Yankees way more runs that theoretically could have made it so the big plays weren't even necessary.
Bottom line, Alan Trammell was a much better defensive shortstop than Derek Jeter despite having fewer Gold Glove awards. Judging by Jeter's advanced metrics, he really wasn't that good of a fielder at all.
Total Value
Oh no, this is where I bring out that WAR mumbo jumbo. If you've read anything from me before, you probably know that I am an advocate of using Wins Above Replacement to analyze a player's total value. While it shouldn't be the end all, be all statistic, it is great to use when comparing two players' total contributions on the field. Derek Jeter has a career fWAR of 73.7, and Alan Trammell has a career fWAR of 63.7. Despite Jeter's poor defense throughout his career, he hit well enough to still prove more valuable than Trammell. I think that's a testament to how truly great of a hitter Jeter was. When compared to other Hall of Famers, both WARs fit in nicely. Honus Wagner holds a large lead for WAR at 138.1, while John Ward is in last with a 39.8 WAR. When Jeter enters the Hall, he will be fourth on the list, and if Tram was in the Hall, he would be 11th.
Conclusion
Overall, Derek Jeter had a better career than Alan Trammell, but both are much deserving of spots in the Hall of Fame. To almost any baseball fan, Jeter is considered a first ballot Hall of Famer. Why then, is Allan Trammell being completely overlooked? The voters in the BBWAA need to sit down and reexamine Trammell's career. Trammell didn't have the New York media following that Jeter has gotten to experience throughout his legendary career, but media coverage shouldn't be what decides who goes into the Hall and who doesn't. Allan Trammell deserves justice, and when you compare his numbers to the greatest players to ever play his position, you will see that he ranks right up there with them.
Editor's note: Please welcome Cameron to our staff! You can read his previous work at T-Town Tiger.
After the excitement and emotion of last night's game, tonight's turned out to be quite a snooze-fest. First, Derek Jeter decided to sit out this game--he'll DH tomorrow and Sunday. Then, Joe Girardi decided to give all of the regulars the night off. All of them. The entire lineup featured backups and prospects, with the exception of Chris Young, who has been getting a lot of playing time. Boston's lineup was much the same, and the Yankees ended up being able to take advantage of it to squeak out the win.
Boston got on the board first in the second inning after Allen Craig singled, then advanced to second due to a fielding error by Chris Young. Bryan Brentz got the RBI with a line drive to left. The Yankees tied things up in the third inning, after Perez reached on a passed ball, then Francisco Cervelli hit an RBI single off the left field wall. They went on to take the lead after John Ryan Murphy grounded into a force out and was able to advance on a throwing error by Mookie Betts. That error also allowed Cervelli to score. Yay, defense.
The Red Sox threatened in the fifth inning, but Antoan Richardson made a nice play to catch a deep fly ball hit by Brentz back at the bullpen wall. Although he failed to catch two balls popped into in foul territory tonight, Cervelli sort of redeemed himself by finally catching one this inning. The Yankees added on their final run of the night in the following inning, after Murphy hit a leadoff double, Austin Romine singled, and Zelous Wheeler hit a sac fly.
In his final appearance of the season, Chris Capuano pitched well, notching five strikeouts and only allowing four hits. Shawn Kelley relieved Capuano with two outs in the 7th inning and gave up a home run to Rusney Castillo on the very first pitch. Not good. Adam Warren, on the other hand, pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning with two strikeouts. With a 3-2 lead in the ninth inning, David Robertson was able to bounce back after last night's terrible outing with two Ks to earn the save.
Newest Yankee, Eury Perez, got his first hit in the majors today, a single. He followed that with his first stolen base. Perez is the 58th player to appear for the Yankees this season (Remember him for the Sporcle quiz that is bound to happen at some point).
Masahiro Tanaka will take the mound for one last time this season tomorrow at 1:05 pm EST against Joe Kelly. You don't want to miss that, nor do you want to miss Jeter's second to last game as a Yankee.
After sitting out all of 2014 due to a PED suspension, Alex Rodriguez is expected to return to action in 2015. Might the 39-year-old have something left in the tank?
The beleaguered slugger spent the entirety of the 2014 season on the restricted list, and aside from his name being listed on the team's 40-man roster, there was little indication that he was even a member of the Yankees organization. But with his suspension set to expire at season's end, we have every reason to believe that he'll be a piece of the Yankees' lineup in 2015, whether as a third baseman, a designated hitter, or some combination of the two.
It's hard to know what to expect from A-Rod next year. It's not very often that we see any 39-year-old baseball players at all, let alone ones that sat out an entire year of play. He'd be only the seventh hitter since 1990 to record at least 100 PA's at age 38 or older after abstaining from organized baseball for an entire season. Here's a look at how these players fared compared to their season from two years prior.
Overall, this group performed about as well as they did the last time we saw them. This sample is way too small to draw any definitive conclusions, but shows that a year removed from game action is by no means a death knell, even for a 40-year-old.
Despite his old and diminished state, there's still plenty of reason to believe A-Rod has something left in the tank. Although his monster 2007 campaign is nearly a decade behind him, he was one of the better hitters in baseball as recently as last fall. Upon returning from the DL on August 5th, he hit an impressive .283/.385/.480 in his first 36 games before his calf started acting up in mid-September. Small sample? Sure, but it was also one of the few stretches in the past three or four years where we know for sure that he was fully healthy. His 2012 campaign was marred with a broken hand and recurring hip issues, while he battled through a torn meniscus in his knee for much of 2011. If he's able to stay relatively healthy next year, I think a .250/.330/.400 batting line would be very realistic.
Defensively, though, it's hard to see A-Rod being much an asset. At best, he'll be able to play an adequate third base four or five games a week, while the more likely scenario has him logging most of his games at DH. However, the Yankees would be wise to give him some reps at first base next spring. It's pretty clear that Mark Teixeira is not someone who can stay healthy, and not having a viable backup really came back to bite the Yankees in 2014. Way too many 1B plate appearances (155) fell to Kelly Johnson, Brian McCann, Francisco Cervelli, and Brendan Ryan this year. That group hit .196/.278/.297 at the position and made some shoddy defensive plays to boot. Even with his defensive shortcomings, A-Rod would have certainly been able to do a little something with the bat.
No matter how A-Rod fares next season, it certainly won't be without drama. He's one of the most polarizing figures in all of sports, and millions of fans will be rooting for him to fail. They very well may get their wish, as few players play into their late 30's without outliving their usefulness. But I'm hoping A-Rod finds a way to tap into his former greatness, and turns in a healthy and productive 2015 season.
Masahiro Tanaka will pitch his last game in 2014. This game is the most important game of the series.
Comment of the Game
This witty bit of sarcasm from kshah90 wins the COTG award from yesterday's Game Thread. We're making jokes about rookies and minor players now. The season is almost over.
Best GIF of the Recap
Blanky wins the BGOTR award yesterday, as she seems shocked that the Yankees won with the lineup they shuffled out. I don't think anyone can blame her.
Honorable Mod Mention
This whole article by Tanya wins the HMM award. It is extremely well written and from the heart. Nothing more honorable than that..
Best Comments of the Day
Nothing much to speak of yesterday. I'm pretty sure quite a bit of us are tapped out after Thursday's rollercoaster.!
Fun Questions
What could have possibly made last night's lineup even better?
Now that baseball is ending, what will be occupying your free time?
Even with Jeter's last game ever being tomorrow, today's game is the more important one with Masahiro Tanaka on the mound for the Yankees. We will all be watching his performance and his health. Tanaka ending the year on a high note would be a huge boost of confidence going into the offseason. Here's hoping.
After a second straight year of no playoffs, Girardi took his team to task. It was not pretty.
The 2014 Yankees campaign has been a pretty painful one to watch, as injuries wrecked the starting rotation, the expensive lineup went silent, and Derek Jeter ended his 20-year career with a pretty disappointing year. Manager Joe Girardi had to carefully watch everything that had to do with the 2014 Yankees from February workouts in spring training up through the slow crawl to the finish line at the end of September, a painful amount of 2014 Yankees baseball to watch. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that he's not happy.
ESPN's Andrew Marchand and Wallace Matthews reported today that clubhouse sources spoke to them about a team meeting Girardi held prior to the home final. During the meeting, Girardi let loose his frustrations throughout the year and took the team to task:
According to clubhouse sources who were present for the critique, and backed up by interviews with more than a half-dozen players, most of whom spoke to ESPNNewYork.com off-the-record for fear of angering the manager, Girardi chided some players for being overweight, and others for not being "hungry" enough.
Making matters a little awkward was that the tirade took place right before the Yankees' players had planned to present Jeter with some presents prior to his Yankee Stadium finale. The sources told ESPN that Girardi took a break from criticizing them to let them make the presentation, then returned to it once it was over. Girardi confirmed that a meeting took place but he denied that part. Nonetheless, the takeaway was that Girardi was peeved by the Yankees this year and let them know.
Girardi wasn't exactly pleased to hear that the meeting had been leaked to the media, either. It's a little alarming that sources, including over six players, talked to reporters about it and seems to speak volumes about Girardi's problems with this team. Brett Gardner was one of the players who didn't speak to reporters about the meeting, and his response to queries about it was just about right:
"My take was that was a team meeting and I'm not going to talk to you about it," Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner said.
Question the timing of Girardi's meeting in regards to the players' presentation to Jeter all you want (one source even complained that it should have happened at the end of spring training), but the fact that this story escaped the clubhouse reflects poorly on the players. It's hard to say that they didn't deserve a talking-to after a much-ballyhooed offense finished near the bottom of the league in runs scored. Training and conditioning should never be a problem with people who get paid millions of dollars to play baseball for a living. I don't blame the reporters for asking questions about the meeting, but the clubhouse sources shouldn't leak that out. Sigh.
Just another day in the lives of the 2014 Yankees. At least it's almost over.
Masahiro Tanaka made his second start since returning from the DL. His first went about as well as it could have, but this one was very much the opposite. Tanaka got bombed and had to be taken out in the second inning. Although he didn't appear to be hurt, which was all I was really worried about. Derek Jeter played and picked up a single, but other than that, it was fairly uneventful from the Yankees side of things. The Red Sox got the lead early and never gave it up as the Yankees lost 10-4.
The Red Sox struck early with a run against Tanaka in the first inning. Mookie Betts led off the game for Boston with a double. After Tanaka struck out Xander Bogaerts, Daniel Nava picked up an infield single, moving Betts to third. Yoenis Cespedes then dropped a single into left field. That scored a run. Tanaka then got Allen Craig to line into a inning-ending double play. But after one inning, it was 1-0 Red Sox.
An inning later, the Red Sox got another run. With one out in the inning, Rusney Castillo drew a walk. He would steal second and then score when Christian Vazquez singled two batters later. That was followed by a Betts walk and a Bogaerts single to load the bases with two outs. Nava then singled after Chase Headley, who was playing first, deflected a ball into foul territory. That scored another two runs. Cespedes would follow that up with a single to make it 5-0. That would be it for Tanaka. He went 1.2 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks. There were some bloops, and the defense behind him was pretty bad. That wasn't the outing we were all hoping for, but it's whatever.
Preston Claiborne came in and got Craig to pop one up to center field. Unfortunately, Eury Perez forgot to catch the ball. Another two runs scored on the play. And at this point, every Red Sox player then proceeded to come up and get a hit. Someone named Garin Cecchini got one. The Fenway Headphones guy got one. I think Ted Williams got one. Anyway, by the time the inning was over it was 9-0 Red Sox.
As he said he would, Jeter didn't play shortstop, but he did do some DHing. In his second at bat, he reached on an infield single. But that wouldn't amount to anything run wise.
Bryan Mitchell would come in to start the bottom of the third for the Yankees. Mitchell hit a dude, but didn't allow a hit, which was a 1000% improvement on the last inning. In Mitchell's second inning of work, the Red Sox brought some derp of their own to the table. With one out and Cecchini on second, Castillo poked through a single. Jose Pirela threw it to third where Cecchini had rounded the bag and was headed home. They got him out in a rundown before throwing over to first where Castillo was too late in getting back to the bag. That was a weird, inning-ending double play.
Jeter was due up for his third at bat in the top of the fifth, but Francisco Cervelli was sent up as a pinch-hitter instead, ending Jeter's day.
Mitchell looked pretty good in his relief outing, but the Red Sox picked up another run on two hits in the sixth. That inning would be Mitchell's last. He allowed one run on four hits in his four innings, while striking out three. It was a pretty good effort considering the mess that happened prior to his appearance.
The Yankees finally got on the board in the top of the seventh. With one out in the inning, Pirela hit a triple. Brendan Ryan then grounded out, but it was good enough for Pirela to score to make it 10-1.
The next inning, the Yankees added to their score. After Ichiro Suzuki lined out, there were four straight singles from Cervelli, Austin Romine, Headley and Chris Young. The fourth scored a run and made it 10-2. Stephen Drew then added a ground-rule double to make it 10-4. The comeback was on! Haha, no it wasn't. Rubby de la Rosa retired the next two hitters to get out of the inning.
Chase Whitley had a decent two innings out of the bullpen, allowing two hits and striking out four.
In the ninth, the Yankees picked up two hits but no more runs as the game finished 10-4. Oh well.
The Yankees will finish up their season tomorrow at 1:35 eastern. The starting pitchers will be Michael Pineda and Clay Buchholz, but I think the main story line tomorrow will be Derek Jeter. We'll see tomorrow if Jeter will get any more at bats in what will be the last game of the season and his career.
Thanks Captain for everything, this season may have been ugly but from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the memories.
Looking back on the 2014, more specifically the Derek Jeter retirement tour, I can honestly say that for the most part I did not feel anything. When the Captain made his pre-season press conference to announce that this season would be his last, I felt nothing. Throughout the tour, through every opposing park, the entire spectacle came off like a forced obligation than as a heartfelt conclusion. There were some amazing gifts; the three-night stay at a castle as well as the number two-score tile from Wrigley Field being just two. Overall, the entire thing rang hollow.
Derek Jeter’s play did nothing to positively influence. At 40 years of age, coming off last season with a new, surgically repaired ankle complete with a titanium plate, I never expected Jeter to play to the back of his baseball card. I did, however, expect more than a 72 wRC+ and .255/.302/.312 triple slash line. While I understood his defense was not going to be even average, watching so many balls roll a few steps away from shortstop go for hits while Jeter flops helplessly in an attempt was beyond maddening. This does not even include the numerous double plays or the weak dribblers that he hit into. Numerous times throughout the year, the prevailing thought in my mind during games were counting down the days until he retired, as I had grown so weary of seeing such a great player struggle through his final season.
Not until Thursday morning did the gravity of what I was going to experience that night sink in: Derek Jeter’s last game in Yankee Stadium. The suddenness in which the excitement and regret struck me was astounding. For most of the year, I lamented a player as he struggled to the finish line but now that we were at the endgame of an all-time great, someone that I and so many others grew up watching, perspective sets in. This is the end of the dynasty; the last remnants of those teams will soon be gone all that will be left are hyperbolic legends to regale future generations with.
As the Yankees took the field to a sold out crowd, one that was louder and wilder than I have ever heard them in the new park, my heart started pounding in my chest from the excitement. Although the Yankees had already been eliminated, this night felt like Game Seven of a World Series. There are a lot of negative things that I can say about the Yankee fanbase – we are a spoiled, arrogant consistently ungrateful lot – but watching as people all over the stadium tossed their hats onto the field while loudly bellowing the retiring, teary-eyed Captain’s name was one of the proudest moments I have ever felt towards this fanbase.
Everyone who watches baseball has a Derek Jeter moment or story that resonates with them. It may be the dive, the flip play, the "Mr. November" homer, the 3,000th hit, or countless others. The Yankee Captain’s almost super-natural flair for the cliché movie moment is something that I will remember most as his career closes. 2014 may not have gone like anyone wanted with the Captain putting up the worst year of his extensive career, but this was just a small blip on a journey that I was proud to witness.
It's been a disappointing season for the Yankees and those disappointments have led to some strange results.
This season has been largely forgettable for most Yankees fans. Years from now, the only moment worth remembering will be the Captain's last stand and rightfully so. However, all the misfortunes have led to some strange factual oddities. Here's a list of five of them that virtually nobody saw coming before the season began:
These two guys were brought in to restore order and get the Yankee offense back on track after a dreadful showing in 2013. They also didn't come cheap, signing for a combined $130 million. With their great expectations came great disappointment though. Whether you prefer OPS+ or wRC+ they will both be below average when it's all said and done.
Sure he was traded for Chase Headley who came in and did an admirable job, but Yangervis Solarte logged more time at third base than any other Yankee this year and will go down in history as the regular third baseman for the 2014 Yankees. Of those nine regulars, he is tops with an unimpressive .337 on-base percentage. That just seems unacceptable from a team that spends over $200 million on player salaries.
Brett Gardner led Yankee regulars in slugging percentage
One of the few Yankees having a fine year, Gardner has put up career highs in home runs and RBI. Still, he's a player whose value is tied to his speed and his glove so he shouldn't be relied upon as a power source. However that's exactly what the Yankees did and it's no surprise that they'll rank 14 out of 15 AL teams in runs scored.
Ichiro Suzuki led Yankee regulars in batting average
Just a few weeks into the season it became apparent that Ichiro would have to see extended playing time in right field instead of the extra outfielder role he had been penciled in for. To his credit, he did about as well as a 40-year-old singles hitter can do, racking up those singles while adding little else. It's alarming that Jacoby Ellsbury is the only one within striking distance of Ichiro, even then it's about a ten point difference.
The crown jewel of the Yankees' expensive winter came into 2014 as an unknown quantity. Joe Girardi even tempered expectations by making him his number three starter. Tanaka proved he belonged right away, taking the league by storm until a mid-season elbow injury put him on the shelf. Essentially the Yankees got half of a season out of Tanaka, and a half Tanaka was enough to be the 2014 Yankees' MVP.
