Odds and Ends: Jeter, Al Reyes, Schilling, Dunn

Tim,
I'm pretty sure the Rays would be on the list of teams Curt would be willing to go to. There was quite a bit of talk last year before he re-signed with the Sox that he was strongly considering signing with Tampa because he considered them a contender. Im sure this year has done little to change his mind on that.

this is stupid we all knnow that Jeter is going to retire as a Yankee!!!! Why are we even having this conversation

If Curt Schilling does opt to come back, he would make sense for the Brewers if they are unable to retain CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets. A rotation featuring Yovani Gallardo, Manny Parra, and the collection of Carlos Villenuava/Dave Bush/Seth McClung/Jeff Suppan would look a lot stronger with a veteran like Curt with many seasons of big league experience and certainly age up that rotation.

Seriously, Jeter is a yankee for life, just like Favre is a Pac.... oh wait

Jeter will stay a Yankee. I doubt they will have a shortstop to take over for him in 2 years.

.295 is still a 30 point drop from last season.

It goes along nicely with his 30 point drop in OBP and 50 point drop in Slugging.

That's significant.

First....Jeter has been playing with a broken bone in his hand since he got hit by that Cabrera pitch. He's just kept his mouth shut about it.

Second...even with that hand injury, he's hitting:

.295 overall
.344 close and late
.311 RISP
.321 RISP w/2 outs

His overall BA is down from .316 to .295 SO FAR, but the rest of his numbers are fine.

As for the "worst defensive SS in MLB"...are you serious? lol Have you seen a game or are you just reading other Yankee hating posters? He's not Ozzy Smith, but he has only 9 errors the whole year. That's third BEST in ALL OF MLB behind only Rollins & Kalil Green & tied for the BEST in the AL with Young. He may get his 4th gold glove because of it.

If you guys notice my username....you're going to have to shoot me to win this discussion!! LOL!!

Jeter is fine as a shortstop. A 760 OPS is in the upper 3rd for his position. Ignoring his contract he would be an upgrade at SS for approximately 50% of ML ball clubs.

The problem is that he posted a 900 OPS in 2006, a 840 OPS in 2007, and now a 760 OPS. That's not the trend you want to see.

Now, throw in the fact that he is making $20m/year and you have one of the worst values in the game (compared to performance).

BTW - watching Jeter perform is not the only way to evaluate his defensive prowess. That's probably only slightly better than using errors as a way to gauge effectiveness. You can read Bill James as he goes over 4 independent measurements that review Jeter's defense. His conclusion is that Jeter is one of the worst fielding shortstops OF ALL TIME. Does he make flashy plays? Sure. However, that doesn't come close to offsetting the number of balls he doesn't get to.

You can read the article here:
http://www.billjamesonline.net/fieldingbible/jeter.asp

As I said, he's not going to be confused with Ozzy Smith...and yes, his range in not the greatest...however, he makes the plays he is supposed to make and will make the clutch super play when needed.

To say he's the "worst in baseball" is totally ridiculous whether you like him, the Yankees or not. I don't care about stat nerds, "range analysis" or any other BS geek ratings by some mathmatician with nothing better to do. The Yankees win 95 games a year with him at SS and it's surely not in SPITE of him. He has 3 Gold Gloves and one of the highest fielding percentages in the AL.

Is he the best defensive SS?? NO. However, saying he's "the worst" is plain F'ing stupid. You want the worst, look at Lugo who has 16 errors in 80 games and looks like Ray Charles out there half the time.

Tied for least amount in the AL, sorry. Rollins and Green have less in the NL, although Rollins has only played in 80 games, Jeter 115.

Now, you were debating like a gentleman....and then you had to resort to insults for some reason. Keep it respectful if you wanna chat instead of becoming a frustrated little child because someone doesn't share YOUR opinion. That's what you're stating....just your opinion.

"What you can't tell simply from watching is how many balls he hasn't gotten to that a good shortstop would have"

According to whom...you? ANYONE can say, "oh, so and so WOULD have had that ball for sure"...but who the hell really knows???

Since obviously you're not getting my side of this....I NEVER said that Jeter was the BEST defensive SS. He isn't!! I simply am refuting your claim that he is "the worst".

Yes, errors aren't the ONLY way to judge defense, you are correct there. However, someone who consistantly comes up with the clutch plays and has the least amount of errors in the league...along with 3 gold gloves....won't be considered the WORST by anyone but a Yankee hater. It's common sense.

Furthermore, YOU started this discussion by bashing Jeter's D. Why? If I started it by boasting how wonderful his D is and that he's a gold glover again this year...that would make sense. I was suppoting his offense by saying that his .295 average doesn't constitue "an eyepopping dropoff". That's all.

Look, Jeter is an okay shortstop, hes not that good. In every game I watched I see that he can make the hard plays but he sometimes cant make th easy plays. I dont know how many times he just threw the ball away throwing it to first, "it just slipped" they say, my ass. This guy could get away with murder in New York. He's hit into like 15 double plays this year and its always with guys on 2nd and first or first and third. Obviously Im not his biggest fan but hes alright.