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Signs point to 2014 being Brett Gardner's last year with the Yankees

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Do the Yankees really want to pay Brett Gardner when they're already paying Jacoby Ellsbury?

Today, upon hearing that the Indians signed Michael Brantley to a four-year extension, I realized, for the first time, that this is the last year Brett Gardner will be a Yankee. Of course, I've been scared for years that the Yankees were going to trade him for some undeserving player, but now I see that there just isn't any place for him on the team anymore.

It would have been nice if the Yankees extended him after his breakout 2010 season, though, as our own Jesse Schindler comments, it would have made him more expensive. The value of Brett Gardner has long been held in his cheap contract and incredible defense, so it definitely makes sense for the Yankees to want to keep him at a cheap arbitration salary during his prime years.

Baseball minds say that it's smart business to lock up your young players to relatively cheap deals before they become too expensive, but Michael Brantley will receive $6.25 million a year now and, as Matt Provenzano describes him, he has Brett Gardner's bat without his defense. Gardner, the superior player, will make only $5.6 million in his last go-around in arbitration, so did it ever really make sense to extend him back then and thereby diminish some of his value?

As we all know, the Yankees have a no-extension policy that they have zero interest in eliminating, especially not for a player like Gardner. Chad Jennings of LoHud suggested that this season will allow them to evaluate the 30-year-old center fielder to determine whether or not they should re-sign him once he hits free agency. Unfortunately, I think the Yankees have already determined what they're going to do once that time has gone by, and that's to offer him a qualifying offer and let him go.

The signing of Jacoby Ellsbury to a massive contract shocked everyone, including Brett Gardner. It's clear that they don't trust their guy enough to give him the center field job, extend him, or even guarantee him a spot on the team. We've talked about how Ellsbury hasn't been much more than a slightly better, now much more expensive, Brett Gardner, but maybe the Yankees want that. They want the name recognition and reputation that comes with Ellsbury, whether it's justified or not. Gardner isn't much of a statement, even if he's the smarter investment.

My desire for a Brett Gardner extension stemmed from the idea that, though he would have been slightly more expensive, they would have had him for a few more years after 2014. If the Yankees have him for the next few years, maybe they're less inclined to sign Ellsbury for all that money so they can use it elsewhere, like the infield.

Now that Ellsbury is in center, Gardner could certainly be considered their left fielder, but would the Yankees want a powerless speedster, who could make as much as $15 million a year in 2015, patrolling a position that is usually filled by home run hitters? Of course, other than Josh Willingham, Michael Cuddyer, and maybe Torii Hunter, the market for power-hitting corner outfielders is rather thin in 2015. The Yankees might be better off with Gardner, at least in a bubble, but with the loss of Robinson Cano, are they really going to be ok with two outfielders with questionable power? I doubt it. There are also prospects like Tyler Austin, Slade Heathcott, and Ramon Flores to consider, but I wouldn't be making any decisions for their sake at this point.

Maybe it all depends on whether or not Ellsbury hits another 30 home runs in 2014, but would Gardner even want to come back to a place where he's less valued? When he hits the open market next year, someone is going to value him as an everyday center fielder and leadoff hitter. I think Gardner's shock was that he realized it's not going to be the Yankees' center fielder.


Masahiro Tanaka introduced at Yankees press conference

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Tanaka did not have much to say, but took the time to answer a handful of questions from reporters.

The newest New York Yankees pitcher was introduced at a press conference Tuesday as Masahiro Tanaka accepted his jersey and hat and answered a few questions from reporters.

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman began the press conference by saying the team's signing of Tanaka would make the late George Steinbrenner happy.

"This would make The Boss proud," Cashman said. "This is Yankee big. This is Steinbrenner big."

Tanaka, 25, himself kept his comments brief during the press conference, giving a brief opening statement (in English) of: "Hello, my name is Masahiro Tanaka. I’m very happy to be a Yankee."

During the questions and answers portion, Tanaka opted for short, non-controversial answers to mostly softball queries. It got off to a sizzling start when Tanaka was asked how he felt about transitioning to the large baseballs MLB uses in comparison to the Japanese league.

"I just feel that it's very important for me to try to make that adjustment," Tanaka answered.

When asked if there were any specific players he was looking forward to facing, Tanaka said that he had "basically not faced anyone here" and was "basically looking forward to facing anybody." One reported inquired what Tanaka's goals were with the Yankees. His answer, naturally, was to win the World Series.

Tanaka did admit to talking with former Yankees' star Hideki Matsui, but that their conversation was brief. He did not give much insight into what they discussed. One reporter did ask if another team offered more money than the Yankees, a topic on which Tanaka refrained from commenting.

Tanaka appears pleased to be a part of the Yankees culture and excited for the atmosphere of games, particularly the team's storied rivalry with the Boston Red Sox.

"Just by watching over the television, you can see how intense the games are. I'm very much looking forward to that environment," Tanaka said. "I've heard that [New York] can be harsh at times. I just wanted to put myself in this environment and see where I can go with my ability."

The Yankees won the Tanaka sweepstakes by signing the former Rakuten Golden Eagles ace to a seven-year, $155 million contract, the fifth largest given to a pitcher in baseball history. New York is also paying $20 million to Rakuten as a release fee, bringing the total paid for him up to $175 million.

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Gary Sanchez is the only Yankees prospect to crack the FanGraphs Top 100

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Goooooo farm system!

In another indictment on the current state of the Yankees' farm system, Marc Hulet of FanGraphs only ranked one Yankees prospect in his list of the top 100 prospects in the game. Unsurprisingly, it was Gary Sanchez, who came in at 44th on Hulet's list. Sanchez was the third-highest ranked catcher behind the Padres' Austin Hedges (#34) and the Mets' Travis d'Arnaud (#39), so he fared a little bit better than he has on other prospect lists.

Hulet also made a valid observation--that with Brian McCann entrenched behind the plate for the immediate future, Sanchez seems likely to become "tantalizing trade bait" if the Yankees are trying to fill a hole in their roster (*cough* infield) later on in the 2014 season. Although the Yankees very well could continue to develop Sanchez and try to improve his defense behind the plate past Jesus Montero levels while building toward an arrival that could maybe push McCann to first base as he ages, anyone who is a Yankees fan knows that no prospect is ever truly safe.

It was a rough year for the Yankees' system, and that is evident simply by comparing Hulet's top 100 this year to his 2013 rankings. Sanchez stayed roughly the same since he was #42 last year, but toolsy outfielder Mason Williams fell all the way from #36 to off the list entirely. Ouch. That's not a huge surprise though since he fell off other top 100 lists and struggled to a .261/.327/.350 triple slash with a 95 wRC+ in High-A Tampa during the 2013 season. We've said it before and we'll say it again--Mason is in dire need of a rebound year in 2014 with Double-A Trenton to reclaim his higher prospect status of a year ago. Also falling off the 2014 list from last year was outfielder Slade Heathcott, who just made it at #87 in 2013. Heathcott fought injuries again in 2013 and though he ended the season on a hot streak, as Jesse noted a few days ago, his inconsistency leaves a lot to be desired.

If the Yankees can take small comfort in anything about only having one prospect in the Top 100, it's that four other teams (the Tigers, Athletics, Brewers, and Giants) also only had one prospect on the list, and the Angels didn't have any at all. Yippie. Such is life for the Yankees' system these days. Like Williams, they really need to have a better year in 2014 to assuage doubts about the team's future.

Yankees Hot Stove: New York has not shown interest in Emilio Bonifaco

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I got the inside scoop from agent Paul Kinzer

The Yankees currently have two giant holes in the infield and no trustworthy options to speak of. Brian Roberts is currently penciled in at second base, but he's unlikely to make it very far into the season before he hits the disabled list. The team has brought in a plethora of options at third base to make up for the loss of Alex Rodriguez, but other than Scott Sizemore, none of them have much experience in the majors.

One player I previously discussed, who could be an option, is Emilio Bonifacio:

The super utilityman switch-hitter wouldn't exactly be a great addition to the team, but he would be a useful one. Bonifacio can play all three outfield positions, which is nice, but he can also play third base, second base, and shortstop. He's not a very good fielder overall, though he rated positively in right field (4 DRS), third base (1 DRS), and put up a 10 DRS at second base in 2013.

What Bonifacio actually does well is very little. In 2011, he stole 40 bases in what was the best season of his career. Since then he's been a below-average bat and his stolen base totals have fallen since then. Still, as a part-time player as he surely will be next year, Bonifacio stole a total of 30 bases in only 274 plate appearances and 64 games. That would have led the Yankees in 2013, and if he's given a decent amount of playing time as a backup to Roberts, and really everyone, he could end up doing it again in 2014, depending on how well Jacoby Ellsbury does.

The 28-year-old was designated for assignment at the beginning of the month and won't be declared a free agent until 2 pm tomorrow, but I spoke with Bonifacio's agent, Paul Kinzer, who said that he has not heard from the Yankees at this point. Once he makes it through waivers, the Royals will pay him the league minimum, while his new team will be on the hook for the rest of his $3.5 million 2014 salary. It could be a different story when he finally hits the open market, but as of right now, it doesn't look like he'll be playing in the Bronx.

It's not necessarily a huge loss, especially at that price, but the Yankees don't really have a better option. At least we know Bonifacio can could be useful on the base paths and off the bench, so it would have been nice to see them turn over every stone.

Reds Claim Marshall, DFA Hank Rod

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Another curious decision amid a rather curious offseason.

The Cincinnati Reds have claimed pitcher Brett Marshall off waivers from the Chicago Cubs, and have also designated for assignment IF Henry Rodriguez (and his hit-tool), according to Jamie Ramsey:

Marshall is a product of the New York Yankees farm system, actually, as he was drafted in the 6th round of the 2008 draft out of high school in Texas.  He was claimed by the Cubs in December and spent just under two months with them before being picked up by the Reds today.  Marshall spent the majority of his 2013 in AAA, where he sported a 1.52 WHIP, 1.76 K/BB, and 5.13 ERA in 138.2 innings.  He got a cup of coffee in the majors with the Yankees, too, tossing 12 innings out of the bullpen to similar results.  In those limited innings, he threw almost exclusively a mix of fastball/slider/change, with his fastball averaging 88.9 mph.

Given the lack of middle-infield prospects in the Reds system (and the relative struggles of those on the big-league roster capable of manning those positions), it seems odd that Hank Rod would have been DFA'd so easily.  Perhaps the Reds hope that his recent poor performance (.654 OPS in Louisville in 2013) will allow him to slide through waivers unclaimed so they can simply outright him off the 40 man roster and keep him in the system; otherwise, this just doesn't seem to make much sense given the pitching depth in the upper minors.

Here's my postulation:  The Reds need a 40-man spot for Ramon Santiago (woo hoo!), and they saw a cheap opportunity to take a flier on a pitcher someone in the front office has a prospect crush on.  They're hoping they can sneak Hank Rod off the 40-man and back to the minors, and they're willing to give Marshall a shot, but ultimately they expect to DFA him to make room for Santiago towards the end of Spring Training.

Why am I delving this deep into analysis of a roster move involving a AAAA pitcher in his third organization in two months and a 5'8" (generous) AAAA hitter who has slugged .333 and .335 in two seasons in Louisville?  Because this, friends, is the biggest move the Reds have made in 2014.

Please have strong wrists, Billy Hamilton.

Derek Jeter retirement: Yankees shortstop to visit Miller Park in May

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One of the longest tenured players in MLB will swing through Milwaukee on his 2014 farewell tour.

The big news around baseball today comes from New York, where longtime Yankees shortstop Derek Jeterannounced he plans to retire following the 2014 season. Jeter has played in 2602 games over 19 MLB seasons and is baseball's active career leader with 3316 hits. He was limited to just 17 games in 2013, though.

As it turns out, Jeter's farewell tour will swing through Milwaukee early in the 2014 season as the Yankees visit Miller Park for an interleague series on May 9-11. The final game of that series is Kyle Lohse Bobblehead Day, but now it will also be Jeter's final game in Milwaukee.

This will be just the second time Jeter has played at Miller Park, and the first since the Yankees came to Milwaukee in 2005. The Brewers and Yankees last played in New York in 2011, and have met in interleague play just twice since the Brewers moved to the NL following the 1997 season.

Jeter faced the Brewers 13 times at Milwaukee County Stadium before the league switch, batting .383/.420/.468 over 51 plate appearances. He's appeared in at least one MLB game in 41 different stadiums.

Derek Jeter to retire at end of 2014 season

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The Yankees' captain is calling it a career at the end of this season.

Longtime Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter officially announced on Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the 2014 season. The nineteen-year major league veteran broke the news by issuing a statement on his official Facebook page.

"And the thing is, I could not be more sure. I know it in my heart. The 2014 season will be my last year playing professional baseball."

Jeter, who will turn 40 in June, signed a one-year, $12 million contract with the Yankees at the beginning of the offseason and will soon begin his twentieth season in the Bronx. Although injuries limited him to just seventeen games last season, he is expected to return to the Yankees in good health for this season.

Since breaking into the majors in 1995, Jeter has won five World Series titles and been named to twelve All-Star teams while being named Rookie of the Year in 1995 and World Series MVP in 2000. He has been the Yankees' captain since 2003.

Jeter will likely get a farewell tour similar to the one Mariano Rivera received last season, in his final year with the Yankees. Jeter is the last member of the "Core Four" to retire, joining Jorge Posada (2011), Andy Pettitte (2013) and Rivera (2013).

Derek Jeter announces he'll retire after 2014 season

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The Yankees captain announced that the 2014 season will be his last.

Derek Jeter announced that the 2014 season will be his last on Wednesday afternoon, according to a letter on his Facebook page.

In his message to Yankees fans, Jeter stated:

Last year was a tough one for me. As I suffered through a bunch of injuries, I realized that some of the things that always came easily to me and were always fun had started to become a struggle. The one thing I always said to myself was that when baseball started to feel more like a job, it would be time to move forward.

So really it was months ago when I realized that this season would likely be my last. As I came to this conclusion and shared it with my friends and family, they all told me to hold off saying anything until I was absolutely 100% sure.

And the thing is, I could not be more sure. I know it in my heart. The 2014 season will be my last year playing professional baseball.

Jeter will retire having played 20 seasons with the Yankees and will go down as one of the team's greatest players. He has won five World Series in Yankee pinstripes, been named to 13 All-Star teams, and won the Rookie of the Year in his inaugural big league season. The 39-year-old shortstop has 3,316 career hits and a .312 career batting average.

The 2013 campaign was no doubt the worst of Jeter's career. The 19-year veteran never fully recovered from a fractured left ankle he suffered during the 2012 ALCS, playing in just 17 games and batting .190/.288/.254. This came after a stellar 2012 season in which Jeter hit .316/.362/.429, his best season in three years despite turning 37.

With Mariano River's retirement after the 2013 season, this marks the second straight year in which a Yankees legend has decided to hang them up. After all the homage paid to Rivera during his farewell tour around the big leagues, Jeter will likely go through a similar farewell process, with MLB teams paying their respects to the future Hall of Famer.

It remains to be seen how well Jeter plays in his final season or how healthy he will be. Regardless, his final year in MLB will no doubt be one of baseball's biggest storylines in 2014.

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Where will Derek Jeter rank all-time in hits when he retires?

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With Jeter retiring at the end of the 2014 season, it's time to figure out what's still achievable in his career.

It was fair to wonder if 2014 would be Derek Jeter's final MLB season, but we don't have to guess anymore, as the Yankees' great has admitted as much. Now that we know when his career will end, we can start to take a look at what he has accomplished, and what he can still accomplish with the season he has left. Specifically, we can try to guess where Jeter will finish on the all-time hit list.

Jeter already ranks 10th all-time, a mark he reached in 2013 before shutting things down due to injury. He's currently one hit ahead of Eddie Collins, with 3,316m and doesn't have a single active player* to worry about until #32 on the list, when teammate Alex Rodriguez and his 2,939 hits show up. Depending on his health, playing time, and just how much production he has left at the end of his career, Jeter could move anywhere from a single spot on the list all the way up to fifth all-time.

*Rickey Henderson is technically inactive, but if he manages to talk himself into a job at age 55, he's at 3,055 hits.

RankPlayerHitsHits Needed
1Pete Rose4,256941
2Ty Cobb4,189874
3Hank Aaron3,771456
4Stan Musial3,630315
5Tris Speaker3,514199
6Cap Anson3,435120
7Honus Wagner3,420105
8Carl Yastrzemski3,419104
9Paul Molitor3,3194
10Derek Jeter3,3160

It'll take just three hits to tie Paul Molitor, and a fourth to pass him. Easy enough, even if Jeter has a final season to forget. Passing Yaz and Wagner will be more difficult, but if Jeter is healthy, he'll get those hits. The same can likely be said for Anson, assuming health: if Jeter picks up 500 at-bats and gets 120 hits, that's only a .240 batting average. For reference, Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA projects Jeter to bat .275/.333/.356 over 523 plate appearances, and ZiPS, with a more pessimistic line, still has Jeter hitting .259 -- if he's on the field, he'll best Anson.

Tris Speaker and the fifth spot all-time is where things get sketchy. In 2012, Jeter collected 216 hits and batted .316/.362/.429 over 159 games and a league-leading 740 plate appearances. It was right around his career levels in terms of offensive excellence -- he's compiled a .312/.381/.446 line in 19 years, with a 117 OPS+ slightly better than 2012's 114 mark. He would need to be nearly that good to achieve this feat, and at age 40, predicting that would be foolhardy.

It's not impossible, of course. If Jeter's foot and ankle are healthy and he doesn't miss any time, and he's simply hanging it up because it's time to move on and not because he's lost his touch at the plate, then it's feasible, albeit still unlikely. It would certainly be a farewell tour to remember if he's still realistically chasing Tris Speaker for a top-five spot on the all-time hit list come September, though.

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Moving on from the Derek Jeter Era

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RIP Derek Jeter Era

The 2014 season is more than just a comeback season for Derek Jeter. After suffering an ankle injury and other annoying aches and pains, the Yankee captain missed most of the 2013 season. Now healthy and looking to be the team's starting shortstop, this season is also a goodbye. Just like Mariano Rivera before him, he wants one more season to prove he is healthy so he can go out on his own terms. Just like Mo, he'll have an entire season of farewells and remember whens.

People have been saying that this year is the year the Yankees, as we know them, come to an end. People have been wrong year after year, but still those predictions are made. Well, congratulations, if you said 2014 was the end, you were right. I'm not saying that this is the end of their time competing, the Steinbrenners would never let that happen, and after a near-$500 million offseason, there's no way the Yankees fall to the wayside in 2015. This isn't the end of the Yankees as we know them, but this is the end of one iteration of them.

Before Derek Jeter, the Yankees were a franchise in a very dark place. Now, after 20 years, five World Series titles, seven pennants, 13 division titles, and 17 playoff berths later, Jeter leaves the team in a completely different place. Of course, he didn't do it all on his own. He was surrounded by great players in his time: Paul O'Neill, Don Mattingly, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Bernie Williams, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada. The list goes on. With the retirement of the rest of the "Core Four," what this goodbye season is really all about is the end of the one thread that connects them all together. We're not saying goodbye to the man, but to the era he played in. I mean, even he understands that he can't go on forever.

The fans who grew up in the Derek Jeter Era have really never known a time when their franchise was in a bad place, where success wasn't a given. We don't really know how lucky we are, because as you might remember in 2008 and 2013, the feeling kind of sucked. Now imagine that every year for five years, 10 years, 15 years. The next time you're about the act like a spoiled Yankee fan just remember how fortunate you are for this era of baseball, but remember that even though it's over, it's not really over. The Yankees won't become a black hole for the next decade. They won't be missing the playoffs on a regular basis, but it will be a different team.

Just like the Babe Ruth Era, the Joe DiMaggio Era, the Mickey Mantle Era, the Don Mattingly Era, and so on, came to an end, so must the Jeter Era. On to the next one. What might make this era harder to move on from is that there's no one taking the torch. Robinson Cano has left. Sabathia and Teixeira have their own problems, and Ellsbury, McCann, and Beltran haven't even played yet. We might have to wait a few years before we see the rise of another leader.

If you're a regular Pinstripe Alley reader, you might be shocked to see me saying such things about Derek Jeter. I know I have been very critical of him over the years, but it was never really about Derek Jeter, the Baseball Player. My disdain toward Jeter has always been more towards Derek Jeter, the Narrative. People say that Derek Jeter is this and he is that and whatever else, but because he is such a private person, we never really know exactly what he is other than what he wants us to see him as. I like my icons to be a little more personable, but that doesn't take away the incredible achievements that is this man's career. Maybe my views on him have soured in the last few years, but in 20, 30, 50 years, the Derek Jeter Era will be a part of history, which was what really attracted me to the Yankees in the first place.

Baseball is a game of comings and goings and it will never be anything different. Derek Jeter might be the greatest shortstop of all time, he might be one of the best players of all time. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that he was the face of one of the most successful times in Yankee history, and that definitely says something about him as a baseball player and an icon.

Derek Jeter: Greatest shortstop in Yankees history

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A future Hall of Famer announces he's ready to hang 'em up.

A franchise can go a lifetime without having a true great at a position. The Yankees have had Lou Gehrig at first base, Babe Ruth in the outfield corners (he was both their starting left and right fielder for his entire career, depending on the day), Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle in center field. What they never had was a shortstop who rose to that level -- not until Derek Jeter.

Today Derek Jeter announced that the 2014 season would be his last. It was yet another sign that Jeter is the latter-day DiMaggio, both being men inclined to silence, reticence, even taciturnity who far preferred to let their play, not their words, be their way of communicating with the world. When DiMaggio slipped at 36, he walked away. The Yankees offered him $100,000, a very healthy salary in the early 1950s, to play one more year, even if that meant sitting on the bench except to pinch-hit. DiMaggio said no, because he could not accept the idea of appearing on the field at less than his best.

We don't know what Jeter is thinking, and even when he does speak to the media we probably won't learn much, because he is an expert at saying less than nothing, but it's easy to believe that some kind of parallel to DiMaggio's thinking is at work here.  He said in his statement, "As I suffered through a bunch of injuries [in 2013], I realized that some of the things that always came easily to me and were always fun had started to become a struggle." That is the DiMaggio principle at work there, having the self-awareness, the humility, and the strength not to hang on, but to get out while the aura of your greatness is still intact.

The Hall of Fame baseball writer Grantland Rice wrote a poem, "To Any Athlete:"

Why is it each is the last to find
That his legs are gone -- that his eyes are bad,
That the quicker reflexes have left his mind,
That he hasn't the stuff that he one day had,
That lost youth mocks, and he doesn't see
The ghost of the fellow that used to be?

We can all reflect on that and name an athlete or 10 that fits that description, but that wasn't DiMaggio and, though it seemed for awhile that it might be Jeter, today he showed Rice's words didn't apply to him either.

Before Jeter came, the Yankees were dying for a shortstop, both on a year-to-year basis and in a generational sense. It was a long, long valley between Phil Rizzuto -- mostly a very good, not great player, belated Hall of Fame enshrinement notwithstanding -- and Jeter. There were flashes from Gil McDougald, when the Yankees let him alone to play short instead of sliding him around the infield; the brief flowering of Tony Kubek before injuries derailed him; some unusual offense at the position (and unusual defense, in a sense) from Tom Tresh; spectacular defense and one home run for the ages from Bucky Dent... And then nothing. Less than nothing: Roy Smalley and Bobby Meacham and Rafael Santana and Alvaro Espinosa -- guys who, if you weren't there and didn't go through the trauma, there is no reason for you to remember. Between the usual lack of depth at the position, the team's total inability to draft and develop players in those years, its no-exaggeration spite for the few players that did come through the system, and collusion among major league owners that prevented them from signing each other's players (why Cal Ripken, Jr. or Alan Trammell was never a Yankee, hard as that is to imagine now) and it was as if the Yankees, still baseball's biggest-spending team even in an age of self-imposed (as one of those collusive owners) limits, weren't ever going to be able to patch that hole.

Tony_fernandez_medium Tony Fernandez, 1995. (Getty Images)

Jeter changed all of that. The sixth-overall pick in the 1992 draft (Phil Nevin, Paul Shuey, B.J. Wallace, Jeffrey Hammonds, and Chad Mottola went ahead of him), he was available to the Yankees first, because the club had embarked on an experiment in even having a first-round pick, a true rarity in the George Steinbrenner years -- the Yankees had burned their first-rounder on free agents in all but two seasons between 1978 and 1990. Second, unlike first-overall pick Brien Taylor, who the Yankees selected the year before, they chose wisely, getting a player who had tremendous physical talent but also the work ethic and intelligence to capitalize on it.

Finally, they were simply lucky in the way that sometimes fortune protects us from the dumb things we might have done had we been free to act according to our wishes. Had incumbent shortstop Tony Fernandez (a great all-around shortstop at times in his career but far from that in New York) had not suffered a season-ending elbow injury during spring training 1996, Jeter might not have gotten his opportunity when he did, might not have 3,000 hits now, and so on. Neither Steinbrenner nor manager Joe Torre were thrilled with the idea of going into the season with a rookie shortstop, but with Fernandez out they were more or less stuck. Still, it's easy to imagine that if Jeter had not hit a home run on Opening Day 1996 and instead had gone 0-for-4 with an error that the Yankees would have traded for a veteran replacement within the week.

When a rookie Meacham made an error that allowed the Rangers to score the game-winning run in the second game of the 1984 season, Steinbrenner had him sent down -- not to Triple-A, but to Double-A. Meacham's confidence never recovered.

Eduardo_nunez_medium Eduardo's just another word for nothin' left to lose. (Mike Stobe)

In a sense, today's announcement is redundant. Jeter's era really came to an end when he fractured his ankle during the 2012 postseason: even the greatest of athletes can't play shortstop on one leg at age 39 or 40, especially if defensive range was never his strong suit. We got a preview of what the aftermath might be like: It was back to the 1980s with Eduardo Nunez (another Meacham), Jayson Nix, Reid Brignac, Alberto Gonzalez, Luis Cruz, Brendan Ryan -- in short, the discard pile. This year may well be more of the same, with occasional gimpy turns from Jeter and the good-field/no-hit icon Brendan Ryan getting the bulk of the starts.

Jeter had his flaws, of course, especially the aforementioned lack of range. At this best, he was so good a hitter for the position that the few extra grounders he allowed to get through the infield didn't matter as much as they would have for a less-productive player. A grounder past the shortstop is a single that might or might not score, but Jeter might hit a double, triple, or home run. No, he wasn't perfect, but he was more than enough for a team that had been so hungry for mere competence at shortstop. He could have been two-thirds as good and he would have been the best shortstop in franchise history. Instead they got Mr. November, a heady gamer and Hall of Fame talent, a player who was robbed of an MVP award or two. Whatever the deformed mold of Yankees shortstops, he shattered it.

The standings took notice. The return of the Yankees to the World Series after 15 years away and to winning after 18 years, and the rise of Derek Jeter were hardly coincidental. He was literally something the Yankees had never seen before, the first true Hall of Fame shortstop in team history. We won't see his like again.

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Brisbee: Baseball teams and the windows that define them

Why trade Homer Bailey when the Reds can win now?

Don Mattingly happy Derek Jeter retiring on his own terms

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Mattingly saw Jeter up close in 14 of the shortstop's first 15 spring trainings.

GLENDALE -- Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter on Wednesday announced the 2014 season would be his final campaign, and Dodgers manager Don Mattingly had a front row seat for the formative years of Jeter's career.

Mattingly's final three seasons as a player — 1993-95 — coincided with Jeter's first three spring trainings as a player after getting drafted in 1992.

"I saw him the first day he walked into spring training right out of high school. He was a skinny little kid, but was probably the toughest guy I think I've ever seen on the field," Mattingly recalled. "He was competitive. He's been winning since he's got there."

Jeter won five World Series titles with the Yankees and has hit .312/.381/.446 in his career to date, with 13 All-Star appearances in 19 seasons. Jeter ranks 10th on the all-time hit list with 3,316, and needs 120 hits to pass Cap Anson for sixth place.

"I always think about spring training with him. Just because you get to see him as a 17-year-old kid out of high school who looks like he's out of place. Then the next year he looked a little better, then the next year this kid is starting to look like something, then all of a sudden he's a star," Mattingly said. "To be able to coach and be around him as a coach was great."

"[Derek Jeter] was probably the toughest guy I think I've ever seen on the field." -Don Mattingly

In addition to three years as a player, Mattingly was a special assistant during spring training for the Yankees from 1997-2003 and a coach on the major league staff in New York from 2004-2007.

"When I found out how good he was going to be, I remember talking to him about something at short about getting rid of the ball and getting his feet. Then I watched him the next day and he already had it," Mattingly said. "There was no real adjustment, I just talked to him about something and he already made it his a day later.

"I'm excited for him. Derek deserves to go out on his own terms. He has been so good for so long. I'm glad that he's going to be able to do it the way he wants to do it."

Derek Jeter to retire after the 2014 season

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The Yankees' captain has announced his plans to hang them up for good following the 2014 season, his 20th in the majors.

Derek Jeter announced today via a message on his Facebook page that he intends to retire after the 2014 season.

This moment seemed like it was both inevitable and impossible at the same time. After the departures of Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte over the course of the last few seasons, Jeter was the lone remaining member of the Core Four on the team. He was forced to missed most of the 2013 season after numerous setbacks from a broken ankle that prematurely ended his 2012 season, and his nearly 40-year-old body playing shortstop going forward didn't seem like a reality that could go on too much longer.

If the announcement comes as a shock to you, you can take some solace in the fact that you are not alone. Joel Sherman reports that he spoke to at least one Yankees executive who did not know the announcement was coming. For those of us who are in our 20s, it's difficult to even really imagine a Yankees team without Jeter on it. It's much like the feeling going into 2014 without having Rivera in the bullpen to come in and close out the game like it's a breeze.

Jeter is one of the most iconic Yankees of all time, a first ballot Hall of Famer, and one of the very best players of our generation. Seeing his career come to a close is a little sad, but what a ride it has been having him on the team that we all root for.

Reflections on growing up as a Yankee fan with Derek Jeter

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I have never watched the Yankees without Derek Jeter on their roster. Next year, that will all change.

About 13 years ago, I was home in northern New Jersey on Memorial Day weekend. It wasn't a particularly memorable day. I was off from school, a nice little break before finishing up the fifth grade (apologies if that makes anyone feel old; if it makes you feel better, down the state aways, Mike Trout was a grade below me). I was not really a baseball fan--sucking at Little League can drain the fun out of it to any kid, and both the N64 and the Game Boy Color were still my number one obsessions. My uncle was watching the Yankees game though, and for some reason, I decided to watch as well.

They were playing against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. I had no idea they were the three-time defending champions; I just knew that they were obviously baseball's best and some guy named Derek Jeter was their best player. A couple years earlier, my mom bought me a Jeter t-shirt, but it's telling that I had no memory of owning this until she told me a few years ago. Jeter immediately made an impact on this game--with one out in the first, he walked, stole second base, and eventually came around to score on an RBI single by Tino Martinez. Andy Pettitte started and pitched seven innings of three-run ball. Paul O'Neill took his old friend David Cone deep for a two-run homer, and he later helped the Yankees score the game-winning run by leading off the eighth with a double against Pete Schourek. Jorge Posada brought him in with a double of his own against the incomparable Rich Garces. Mariano Rivera wrapped up the win with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, ending it by fanning Jose Offerman.

In many ways, this was the quintessential Yankees game of the dynasty era, and it all started with Jeter. He was the sparkplug of the Yankees for so many years. There was a definite chance that he would become that kind of player when the Yankees drafted him sixth overall in 1992 and when he won Minor League Player of the Year in 1994. Nonetheless, he was never the consensus top prospect in the game, and many thought Ruben Rivera to be the better prospect. (Sidenote: lol that Rivera is now best known for getting busted stealing Jeter's glove in spring training of 2002 and for "the worst baserunning in the history of the game.")

Yet jump to 1996, Jeter's rookie year. In retrospect, it wasn't a full-on "onslaught of the league" type Rookie of the Year performance, but he just hit the ground running from day one. On Opening Day 1996 against the defending AL champion Indians, he hit his first big-league home run and made a terrific over-the-shoulder catch in the field, making a big impression on the Yankees and their previous greatest shortstop in team history, Phil Rizzuto, who was in his last season in the broadcast booth. It was a sign of things to come.

In many ways, this was the quintessential Yankees game of the dynasty era, and it all started with Jeter. He was the sparkplug of the Yankees for so many years.

Jump ahead several months and the Yankees are down 1-0 in the ALDS against the Texas Rangers. They won their first AL East title in 15 years, but they risked it coming close to all being for naught if they lost Game 2. They would be down 2-0 in the best of five with all of the next three games scheduled to take place on the road. In the bottom of the 12th though, Jeter did his part to ensure that the Yankees avoided the prospect of elimination. He singled against future teammate Mike Stanton to lead off the inning. Should-be Hall of Famer Tim Raines worked a walk, and Charlie Hayes tried to bunt Jeter to third. Dean Palmer threw away the ball, Jeter scored, and the Yankees had tied the series. They finished the Rangers off a couple days later. Throughout the next two rounds of the playoffs, it almost seemed like Jeter couldn't avoid being in the spotlight for big Yankees moments. Who hit the controversial game-tying homer in Game 1 of the ALCS against the Orioles that should have been fan interference? Jeter. Who played an important role in rallies of Games 3 and 4 of the World Series against the Braves when the Yankees were fighting for their lives? Jeter.

In the end, the Yankees were World Series champions in Jeter's first season. For the vast majority of my life, Jeter's been the guy sparking rallies for the Yankees whether it was winning the 2000 World Series MVP by wrecking the Mets and destroying any momentum they might have had after a Game 3 victory by homering on the first pitch of Game 4, or by completing the miraculous "Flip Play" in Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS that helped the Yankees avoid a sweep with a 1-0 win. He was at the heart and soul of the "three-peat" Yankees from 1998-2000, posting legitimate MVP-caliber seasons in '98 and '99. Jeter struggled in the 2001 playoffs for the most part, but he hit the most memorable home run of his life on the first pitch of November baseball in MLB history to end Game 4 of the 2001 World Series and tie up the Fall Classic.

I was listening in on that homer--in the past several months, I had transformed from barely-passable Yankees fan to a devoted fan who was now a Star Ledger sports section addict. Watching Jeter and his teammates kick ass was a ton of fun. I was so crazy that one time, I stayed up until like 3-4am on an evening in August, listening to WFAN 20/20 updates on a Rangers/Red Sox game that went 18 innings. I wanted to see if the Yankees could pick up a game! Was that so wrong? Mike Mussina's near-miss perfect game attempt broke my heart but only made me more attached as a fan.

I realized how badly I wanted to see the Yankees succeed and be just like my dad, a rabid Yankees fan as well who fondly remembered the late-'70s Yankees championship teams and remembered being at raucous Yankee Stadium when Chris Chambliss homered to win the '76 pennant. He sadly passed away in '94 and never got to see Jeter play, but I knew that he would have loved Jeter, a player who was very much like his favorites in terms of team leadership--Thurman Munson and Don Mattingly. The attacks on 9/11 so close to home merely drew me closer to this team. One my Little League coaches worked at the World Trade Center and he passed away in the catastrophe. Living so close to the City, it was virtually impossible to not know someone who worked around there.

As you can imagine, with all this personal backdrop, it was absolutely crushing to see Luis Gonzalez's blooper fall in behind Jeter in Game 7. When Alfonso Soriano homered to put the Yankees on top, I grabbed a blank tape cassette and hit record so that I could capture the radio reaction to the Yankees winning their fourth straight title. I felt shell-shocked when it ended. I didn't even cry. I was numb. In the weeks that followed though, I learned that Jeter was actually under a 10-year contract and that he would have plenty more time to help the Yankees return to the top.

A year and a half later, it's Opening Day 2003 in Toronto, Hideki Matsui's first game as a Yankee. It was a long winter, as the Angels had taught me a harsh lesson about simply expecting the Yankees to return to the World Series. THAT Division Series I cried after. How in bloody hell could a 103-win juggernaut finish high up among the league's hitting and pitching categories and still fold in four games well before the World Series? Regardless, I'd moved on and learned my lesson and eagerly anticipated Jeter leading the Yankees back to the World Series. Suddenly, on a play in that first game, Jeter boldly tried to go first-to-third on a slow grounder to the left side. It was a heads-up play by Jeter since no one was occupying the base, but to his credit, Blue Jays catcher Ken Huckaby hustled over to third base and tagged Jeter out.

To make matters far worse, Jeter separated his shoulder diving into Huckaby and was out of the lineup indefinitely. The irrational young fan in me said, "Well there goes the season. Jeter might be gone until the All-Star break. How are the Yankees supposed to keep up with Boston in the meantime?" The Yankees managed to make it work though, and Jeter defied all expectations by returning healthy on May 13th; he missed just 36 games. It seemed like Jeter was indestructible, especially when he bounced back from the injury with an excellent season that nearly won him the batting title. The Yankees won the AL East again, and I got to experience one of the greatest moments of my fandom when Aaron Boone walked off against the Red Sox. Even though the Yankees lost the World Series, 2002 had taught me to appreciate simply getting that far, so while I was angry at first, I quickly grew to appreciate the '03 team even more. That appreciation only grew as the Yankees failed to reach the World Series over the next several years.

Fast-forward again six years, and a lot had changed, both for the Yankees and me. Gone were the days of Bernie Williams, Joe Torre, and the old Yankee Stadium. Gone were the days of living at home, as I was now in college. It was my sophomore year, and I watched with joy as the Yankees rebounded behind a tremendous season from Jeter and his teammates (both new and old) to return to the playoffs after a rare quiet year in 2008. The year before, I watched as one of my good friends from freshman year react to his favorite team, the Phillies, finally win a World Series after a 28-year drought. I wanted that simple, stunned reaction of "...they won?" Obviously that sounds silly coming from a Yankees fan, but keep in mind that I had not actually seen the Yankees win their previous titles in the '90s dynasty years.

Thanks to outstanding playoff seasons from Jeter, Matsui, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, and company, the Yankees won their 27th championship. It was unforgettable. The younger and more affable Robinson Cano had replaced Jeter as my favorite player, but it was still a joy to watch the now-Captain celebrate again, especially coming on the heels of one the greatest seasons of his career. When I was younger, I couldn't believe that the advanced statistics that I was quickly growing interested in said that he was a bad shortstop, but I now had a better understanding of them, so that made his '09 season even better for me since he improved in that long-lacking area as well. Unfortunately, I had no idea that the end of '09 was the last great peak for Jeter's career.

Each of the next four seasons brought their own individual challenges for Jeter. His defensive improvements lasted only one year; as Ben Lindbergh noted, Jeter's now-mid-to-late-30s body simply could not keep up with the rigors of the shortstop position. At the plate, he even declined from well above league average at a 125 OPS+ in 2009 to a career-low 90 OPS+ in 2010. He only managed six hits in the Yankees' six-game ALCS loss to the Rangers. The 2011 season brought excitement as Jeter neared 3,000 hits, but it seemed like he was struggling toward the mark; prior to the day of his 3,000th hit, he was only batting .257/.321/.329. Even the notion that he was indestructible was damaged as he spent time on the DL in late June.

Still, when my friend Tom contacted me late on July 7th after Jeter recorded hit number 2,999 and asked if I wanted to try to go to the Yankees game the next day, there was only one obvious answer. I was home for the summer in New Jersey just a couple weeks after returning from my semester abroad in Australia, but I was quite ready for another kind of adventure. We tried to go, bought StubHub tickets, and NJ Transited/Subwayed all the way to the stadium only to discover that it was rained out. Womp womp. We went home, and Tom haggled with StubHub to get a credit for the tickets that he could apply to the very next day. So on July 9th, we did the whole dance to get back to the Stadium on a beautiful afternoon. Thankfully, Jeter rewarded us:

It was the greatest moment I have ever seen live at a baseball game. The fact that Jeter capped it by going an incredible 5-for-5 that day with hits that helped win the game made it even better. (And I didn't even have to bother listening to Michael Kay's histrionics!) From that moment onward for the next season and a half, it was like we had vintage Jeter back. He hit .338/.392/.451 for the rest of the season, and though he did not have the greatest of playoff series in the ALDS loss to the Tigers, he was far better than expected in 2012 with a .316/.362/.429 triple slash and an AL-high 216 hits. It seemed too good to be true that we finally had the return of prime Jeter. He continued his hot hitting in the ALDS against the Orioles, batting .364/.391/.500 in the five-game victory.

Then, out of seemingly nowhere, came the 12th inning of the ALCS opener against the Tigers. I don't need to reiterate what happened. It sucked. Jeter was one of their only hot hitters and his bat was suddenly replaced by the likes of Jayson Nix and Eduardo Nunez. It didn't even feel surprising that the Yankees got swept after that. His extremely slow recovery from the injury in 2013 proved that Yankes fans finally had to recognize that this Hall of Famer's career was coming to a close.

When he was younger, Jeter was able to come back from a separated shoulder in just over a month. Ten years later and plenty more chinks in the armor, it was a lot harder for Jeter to recover from this ankle injury. Yes, it was much more serious than the 2003 shoulder injury, but his age and history of playing through small injuries certainly didn't help. Small things like the homer in his first at-bat after his second DL stint in 2013 brought some hope, but Jeter just wasn't healthy. When the Yankees announced that Jeter had restructured his 2014 player option into a one-year contract for a little bit more money, it was odd, but it seemed like a sign to me that he acknowledged his career was coming to a close as well.

Now, we have today. Jeter has announced that he will be playing his last games later on this year, hopefully in October. I'm now in the real world with a college degree and a job, but like with Mariano Rivera last year, I've never watched the Yankees without Jeter on their roster. Although I agree that it's time for his brilliant career to come to a close, it won't make saying goodbye to him any less difficult. He has been the face of the Yankees and arguably baseball for the better part of the last 20 years, and it's bizarre to envision the Yankees without him. Jeter retiring marks the last connection to that first Yankees team that made me fall in love with the game.

As of now, there is no obvious leader in the clubhouse to replace him as the franchise's best-known name. At shortstop, the Yankees are even less prepared for his departure; unless major developments occur in the next year or so, we could be looking at another dry spell of seeing the likes of Spike Owen and Mike Gallego trotting out to shortstop for who-knows-how-long. All we know is that, as Jason said, it's the end of an era, and I'm starting to feel some of that numbness that I haven't felt as a Yankees fan since that blooper fell in over his head 13 years ago. I don't like it.

The only way to get rid of that numbness is for Jeter to have one last kickass season, much like Rivera did last year, but unlike last year, the Yankees better get their act together and not deprive their retiring legend of one last shot at playoff glory. Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS cannot be his last playoff memory. Win one for the Captain and start a new chapter in Yankees history with some style. Don't make this numbness last forever.

Quick Takes: Jeter Retirement Reactions

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"You're the best, kiddo. The best around. The worthy opponent."
--Billy Chapel, For Love of the Game

Derek Jeter has announced that he will also be embarking upon the good ship Retirement at the end of the 2014 season. The announcement comes with little surprise, as injuries and skill deterioration have crept into his life in varying parts over the last three seasons.

Over at Pinstripe Alley, Tanya Bondurant put it rather succinctly:

Jeter is one of the most iconic Yankees of all time, a first ballot Hall of Famer, and one of the very best players of our generation. Seeing his career come to a close is a little sad, but what a ride it has been having him on the team that we all root for.

Jeter will finish his career ranked near the top of many shortstop lists; he is 6th all-time in Wins Above Replacement and 9th in weighted Runs Created-plus (wRC+), an league-adjusted aggregate of his offensive skills.

Marc Normandin over at SBNation.com is wondering where Jeter will rank all-time in hits by the end of the season:

It'll take just three hits to tie Paul Molitor, and a fourth to pass him. Easy enough, even if Jeter has a final season to forget. Passing Yaz and Wagner will be more difficult, but if Jeter is healthy, he'll get those hits.

Health is the critical issue, as Jeter missed all but 17 games last season after chronic injury problems. He already ranks 10th all-time.

Jeff Todd at MLBTR puts in the case for Jeter's Hall of Fame consideration:

Whatever one thinks of Jeter as a defender, he has unquestionably put up a Hall of Fame-worthy career. That inevitability was likely sealed when he notched his 3,000th hit, but is also supported by the numbers. Jeter has racked up a total of 71.6 rWAR and 73.8 fWAR to date, which places him at 58th and 45th, respectively, on the all-time list of position players.

Those metrics, considering the good amount of hardware that Jeter has accrued over his two decades-long career, the high profile nature of playing in New York, and the deep-rooted belief in his intangibles, will assuredly make Jeter a Hall member when he becomes eligible.

During his peak (arguably 1998 to 2006), Jeter was 10th in WAR, and 38th in wRC+ but 1st in hits and singles and 27th in walks. He played during the so-called Juiced Era, and has never been linked to or considered to have used performance-enhancing drugs, a consideration that will serve (justifiably, perhaps) to inflate his offensive perception while tearing down several of the members that rank ahead of him in some of these categories. And though he has never stood out as a great offensive player, he has, in his way, crafted one of the better careers in the history of baseball, marked with an integrity and professionalism that should not go unnoticed, and will never be forgotten.


Derek Jeter to retire: Reaction from around the internet

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The Captain is going to hang them up after 2014 and the internet has opinions about this.

Derek Jeter announced earlier today that the 2014 season would be his last as a professional baseball player. The Yankees' captain has been one of the most popular figures in the sport for years, so naturally his announcement has caused a bit of a stir among Yankees fans and non-Yankees fans alike. Here's what the internet has had to say about Jeter's decision to hang them up for good.

Avoiding the attention of a year-long farewell tour would have been the Jeter thing to do, but he has more than earned his right to go out with a bang.

Aw, nostalgia.

No one wanted Jeter to hang around and be broken down. It's no surprise that his ankle surgery proved detrimental enough to possibly hurry his decision along.

More nostalgia!

Here's what our Twitter followers had to say about the announcement:

That is definitely the preferable outcome.

We feel your pain, Chris.

It really does have a way of making you feel old.

I'm still not over The Hug of Eternal Feels, guys.


A true statement for many of us:

It's sad now, but would have been much more sad if he hadn't announced it until the season was over. Gives us time to prepare our feels.

Awkward.

Now taking bets on what the best/worst gift will be and which team will come up with it. Go.

What are your thoughts and feelings on Jeter's retirement announcement now that you've had a few hours to process the news?

What player do you hate-respect the most?

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The Captain is hanging up his spikes after the 2014 season. So many emotions-

Derek Jeter is going to retire after this season. The 40-year-old has one of the most air-tight Hall-of-Fame cases in history. Baseball-reference's version of wins above replacement rates him as the sixth best shortstop in the game's history (at least 60 percent playing time at the position) . He is the fifth most valuable player in the history of the Yankees by that same measure and that is a franchise that has seen a few impressive players. He is the Yankees all-time hits leader and he is almost a lock to pass Lou Gehrig for the lead in doubles. He is a career .312/.381/.446 hitter and a 13-time All-Star.

His post-season heroics are legendary. There is his Mr. November late-game heroics during the 2001 World Series and his flip-out-of-nowhere to nail Jeremy Giambi in the 2001 ALCS, just to name a couple. He played 158 games in the playoffs, almost a season's worth, and he hit .308/.374/.465, just a bit better than his already-incredible regular season numbers.

He is truly one of the greatest players people of my generation will ever see. So naturally, I hate-respect Derek Jeter more than any player in my lifetime. Did I mention I am a Red Sox fan?

As a Red Sox, Jeter's heroics stopped annoying me in the late 90's and coalesced into a complicated ball of begrudging admiration and outright loathing. He is the face of the franchise that I hate the most and everything about him represents the best and worst of that organization, from his borderline magical dedication to continuing the "winning tradition" to his sleazy gift-baskets-for-boinking corporate slickness. He gets more credit than he deserves at times (5 Gold Gloves, anyone?), but his greatness simply cannot be denied within the bounds of rational thought.

That, my friends, is hate-respect at its finest. I doubt I will ever hate-respect a player as much as I hate-respect Derek Jeter. It is kind of sad really. Look at me, I'm tearing up.

What player do you hate-respect the most?

Breakfast Links 2/13:

Quick Takes: Jeter Retirement Reactions

Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Hey, Hey Goodbye... is not one of the them.

Inside Derek Jeter's retirement gift basket

Yes, this side of the Captain's life is fertile ground for jokes, but Grant Brisbee got there before me.

Phillies sign A.J. Burnett to 1-year, $16 million contract

The loss of Burnett will hurt the Pirates significantly, but at $16 million, it is hard to criticize them too harshly. Bad A.J. Burnett is still lurking out there somewhere.

No winners in AJ Burnett signing

The Pirates wanted him back, the Phillies paid too much and Burnett gets $16 million, what a loser.

Nationals, Rays discussing trade

Right now, it looks like Jose Lobaton for Nate Kearns, but you never know with the Rays. Maybe they will walk way with Bryce Harper for Jeremy Hellickson.

Mets sign Jose Valverde

Bullpen issues solved!

Brett Wallace clears waivers, will remain in Astros' organization

Settling soul mates.

Mets Morning News: Derek Jeter to glide away after 2014

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Your Thursday morning dose of New York Mets and MLB news, notes, and links.

Meet the Mets

The Mets added another aging reliever, inking former Tigers closer Jose Valverde to a minor-league deal. Valverde only pitched 19.1 innings in 2013, and while he recorded 19 strikeouts, he also allowed six homers on his way to a 5.59 ERA, so yeah.

Lucas Duda is in much better shape this year after attending fitness camp, and is prepared for a first base competition with Ike Davis, telling Adam Rubin "Let the chips fall way they may."

John Lannan will be fully healthy as he attempts to win a role as the Mets fifth starter.

The Stephen Drew Saga, Day 9,504: The Red Sox are only willing to offer him a one-year contract, but Drew wants at least one year and an option.

Around the Majors

Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter announced that he will retire after 2014. Despite the hyperbolic praise that will come his way and the endless snarking opportunities, Jeter is still a first-ballot Hall of Famer and one of the best hitting shortstops ever.

Andy Martino looks back at the relationship between Jeter and Alex Rodriguez and how it changed over the years.

David Wright had nothing but praise for Jeter.

Jeter's announcement may lead the Yankees to pursue Drew.

A potential shortstop for the Mets is off the board, as the Dodgersagreed to terms with Erisbel Arruebarruena.

The Phillies made a big move, as they signedA.J. Burnett to a one-year, $16 million deal. Burnett posted a 3.41 ERA/3.17 FIP/3.17 xFIP in 393.1 innings for the Pirates the last two seasons. However, they only offered him $12 million to return in 2014.

That move may have been spurred by the news that Cole Hamels will miss the start of the season with biceps tendinitis

The Mariners also received bad news about one of their top starters, as Hisashi Iwakuma has a strained tendon in his hand and will not throw for four-to-six weeks.

The Rays and Nationals are still discussing a Jose Lobaton trade.

Yesterday At AA

Rob Castellano continued his series on the Mets top prospects, this time looking at #15-11.

Zack Drisko, Jeff Kopman, and Chris McShane wroteseasonpreviews on Kyle Farnsworth, Travis d'Arnaud, and Chris Young respectively.

On episode 53 of the AA Podcast, Jeffrey Paternostro and Matthew Callan talked about Ralph Kiner, among other things.

If you read an article or find a link that you think would be a great addition to a future edition of Mets Morning News, please forward it to our tips email address tips@grission.com and we'll try to add it in.

The Rays Tank: Another Yankees player bids adieu

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Though in reality, this just means he'll be spending more time in the Tampa Bay area.

Rays news and notes:

- The biggest topic in baseball yesterday was "The Captain," Derek Jeter, announcing that he will retire from baseball after the 2014 season via a note on his Facebook page. Jeter will enter his final year ranked 10th all-time in hits, 13th in runs scored and 29th in total bases, and HarballTalk took a look at where he could end up on those lists by October.

Marc Topkin got reactions from Zim, Longo, Price and Maddon about #2's retirement:

From senior advisor Don Zimmer, a former Yankees coach:
"You can't say enough about this guy. Wouldn't know how to put it in words. He's the best. All-around, he's the best. Running, throwing, fielding, hitting, he's the best.''

(Were you surprised?) "Yes, and no. At the age of 40, I wasn't surprised. But what happens if he hits .295, .300 this year. But if he's calling it quits, I'm sure he means it. He's had enough. Twenty years, that's pretty good. And playing every day, every inning. There were times when he shouldn't have been playing, with a sore ankle or something. But that was Jeter.''

From Rays 3B Evan Longoria:

"Derek has been the benchmark for character and class in a baseball uniform. He has inspired a generation to play baseball the way it was meant to be played. It has been an honor to play against him. On a lighter note this means two things: no more clutch hits against the Rays AND, another pooling of funds to buy a Yankee a farewell gift! Cheers to him."

From Rays LHP David Price, who in 2011 gave up Jeter's 3,00th hit:

"Happy to be part of history with a player/person of his caliber!!''

From Rays manager Joe Maddon:
"They created the Hall of Fame for players like him. Never a doubt. Totally earned. He may be the first 100 percenter."

- The Rays stadium saga continues this morning, as the Tampa City Council will convene to discuss the future use of the $100 million of Tax Incremental Financing that will be available in the near future (2016-17). Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn has made his opinion clear, but the opinion of the council is divided.

For more on TIF Money, Danny discussed the use of these funds at length last month in his coverage of the potential stadium site Channelside.

- New addition to the Rays roster Ryan Hanigan isn't just a catcher, he's also the proud papa of a Westminster winner. Earlier this week we mentioned Hanigan's dog, Copperridge What's Your Dream, was picked as the best of its breed of 44 Australian shepherds entered.

Hanigan's reaction:

"It's incredible that she went from my No. 1 bed buddy to best of breed at Westminster!!!''

- ICYMI, rumors surfaced yesterday concerning Jose Lobaton, the Nationals, and the prospect ranked in their Top 10, pitcher Nate Karns. For all the (limited) details thus far, head here.

- Don't forget to play yesterday's Know Your Rays: swinging at the fastball for Wednesday, and be on the lookout for today's at noon.

LINKS:

- CC Sabathia, still shrinking. And though no one has asked CC yet, Prince Fielder is in...wait for it...in...the best shape of his life. I see you, first week of Spring Training.

- The Orioles currently have a _____ next to "fifth starter" on their depth chart, and Duquette may finally make a move to fill that void. Reports indicate that Baltimore does, in fact, have a deal lined up with KBO MVP Suk-min Yoon, which has been rumored since the player tweeted a picture of himself in an O's cap, but it's pending a physical.

- The latest Grantland 30 for 30 short covers the 36-hour period where Alex Rodriguez almost ended up at Fenway rather than in pinstripes.

- MLB owners voted last month to allow individual teams to cut back on pensions. Not a good look on you, baseball.

- In non-baseball news, the Olympic contenders are Tindering up a storm and finding adorable stray puppies to bring back to the U-S-of-A when they're not off collecting medals.

Oh, and Happy Rays-Pitchers-and-Catchers-Report-to-Port-Charlotte-tomorrow Thursday!

Yankees Prospect Profile: Chase Whitley

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Can this middle reliever break camp with the team this year?

Background

Chase Whitley could be the most underwhelming name in this series, but he also might be the only one with a real chance of making the 2014 Yankees. Drafted in the 15th round of the 2010 MLB Draft, Whitley made it all the way to Double-A by his second professional season. He utterly dominated Short Season right out of the gate (11.53 K/9) and ended up skipping Low-A entirely before his numbers leveled off a bit in High-A Tampa. He dealt with control issues when he made it to Trenton in 2011, but he was still able to make it to Triple-A by 2012. For his career, the 24-year-old Whitley has a 2.66 ERA with an 8.4 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. He has kept hitters to a 7.4 H/9 and 0.6 HR/9 with a total of 27 saves over his four professional seasons.

2013 Results

Whitley was in big league camp this past spring training, but he suffered an oblique injury that cost him the first month and a half of the minor league season. It also took him out of the running for a call up to the major league roster, which ultimately went to Preston Claiborne.

After his return in May, Whitley put up a solid season in Scranton, pitching 46.2 innings across 24 games in relief and compiling a 3.06 ERA and 3.05 FIP overall. He had his best strikeout rate (8.25) since 2010 and his best walk rate (2.79) since 2011. By the end of the season, the Yankees actually tried him out as a starter for five games, where he compiled a 1.61 ERA.

One odd thing about the right-hander is that he has shown a reverse split when it comes to lefties and righties. Usually, right-handed pitchers are better against right-handed hitters, but not Whitley. Over his four seasons in the minors, he has a .616 OPS against righties, but a noticeably lower .565 OPS against lefties. It will be interesting to see how this will play out in the majors, whether this is something that will continue, or if it's just a result of a comparatively smaller sample size.

2014 Outlook

Going into the Rule 5 Draft, I expected the organization to protect him from eligibility, however, they left him off the 40-man roster and it seemed like he was all but gone. The Yankees ended up losing Tommy Kahnle, Mickey O'Brien, and Ravel Santana, but Whitley was overlooked. He now has an invitation to spring training where he will compete with the likes of Mark Montgomery, Dellin Betances, and a plethora of minor league signings to make the team as a reliever. Even if he doesn't make the cut in April, Whitley could be one of the first up if someone needs to be replaced. While I expect Whitley to be a middle reliever, it will also be interesting to see if the Yankees will continue their experiment with him in the rotation.

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