The latest from New York includes reaction to Derek Jeter and a reminder that the Yankees could have had one of the NL's hottest hitters last offseason. Here are the details…
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman said this afternoon on ESPN 1050's "Ruocco and Lundberg" show that Jeter is an above-average MLB shortstop. "He's not the same player he used to be, and how many people are when they start to get older? But I think he's a championship-caliber contributor and an above-average shortstop, and that's more than enough,” Cashman said. Mike Mazzeo has quotes and audio at ESPNNewYork.com.
- After a strong weekend at the plate, Jeter ranks in the top 15 in OBP, wOBA and WAR among all qualified shortstops.
- As Joel Sherman of the New York Post points out, it’s easy to forget that the Yankees declined their 2011 option for Lance Berkman. The switch-hitter has been among the best hitters in baseball this year, but the Yankees couldn’t have known that in the fall. At the time, they had a DH of their own (Jorge Posada) and Berkman’s $15MM option seemed steep, even for the Yankees.
- Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that interest in a minority share of the Mets is surprisingly strong (Twitter link). Commissioner Bud Selig expressed confidence in the Mets organization and their financial issues yesterday.
The Puma won’t keep this up all season
are you sure that’s rain, brian? it sure smells like urine
Lance’s defense will probably catch up with him and his hitting will come back to earth, but he could still finish the season with 3-4 WAR. For the season. However, there just aren’t a lot of DHs worth that kind of dough. Vlad Guerrero and David Ortiz were the top DHs in baseball last year and neither of them topped $14 million in terms of value.
also, if lance didn’t get the boot, there’s no reason to suspect he would have gotten so serious about offseason physical conditioning for the first time. in this case it looks like letting berkman go was best for both parties.
If I remember correctly, the Yankees agreed not to pick up Berkman’s option (as his stipulation) when they traded for him.
Part of the Yanks’ deal for Berkman included a guarantee that the club would not pick up his option. This is revisionist history by Sherman at its finest.
Alright… $15m is still steep for Berkman… Between his defence, and the fact that it’s only been 30-some games.
And keep in mind, he wanted to play the field, and the Yankees didn’t have a spot for him. I don’t think they would have wanted an unhappy Berkman.
”
After a strong weekend at the plate, Jeter ranks in the top 15 in OBP, wOBA and WAR among all qualified shortstops.”
Wow! For $18 million a year, which is almost certainly the most ANY shortstop in baseball is being paid, the Yankees are getting an average shortstop. That is impressive.
I’ll bet the Yankees are paying Jeter double the average of what those other shortstops are earning — even BEFORE the 40% luxury tax.
That said, the last four games, Jeter’s playing like he’s found the fountain of youth. If he keeps playing the way he has recently, he’ll even be worth more than the $18 million a year that he’s getting paid.
Top 15…out of 30. Yeah, ok. Call me when he’s ranked somewhere meaningful.
Like 30th on the all-time hits list? or 1st in all-time postseason hits? or tied for 6th for most WS rings as a player? or 77th in all-time career batting average? or tied for 5th for most Gold Gloves as a shortstop?
And he bangs the sexiest of models and actresses like a steeldrum. Tum tum young man, tum tum.
My cat has six gold gloves and probably has better range than Jeter. For the love of god, don’t cite gold gloves.
Your cat is very talented. Post some vids on youtube.
I would, but Disqus would leave the post in limbo for six years while it approves the link. Besides, I want to wait until she’s perfected her jump throw.
You know who votes on Gold Gloves, right? For the love of God, don’t act like you know more about baseball than major league managers.
It’s a well regarded fact that managers have better things to do than pay attention to awards. They generally don’t really take the awards seriously and usually just vote for whoever’s popular. If you’re Ron Gardenhire, do you spend more time contemplating your GG ballot of how to replace Justin Morneau in the lineup?
Heck, just go look up Rafael Palmeiro sometime. He won a gold glove in 1999 despite posting less than 250 innings in the field. He played the field on average less than one a week on the season and got a Gold Glove and you really want to tell me that GG voting isn’t a complete and utter joke?
I dare you to find me a reputable source who thinks that Jeter winning a GG last year was anything but an absolute joke.
What’s your cat’s BABIP?
.435. It’s a bit high, but it’s totally sustainable because she’s FAST.
Your either ignorant of a fool. I don’t know witch problem you have. Keep studying your Fangraphs.
“ignorant of a fool” and “witch problems”
…d@mn…..just……d@mn
You missed the incorrect usage of “your.”
I assure you, I am most certainly not ignorant of a fool here, though I see where you could get that impression considering I’m continuing to bother responding to you.
I can’t wait for kitty to perfect her jump throw! It’ll be awesome when we can all see it on line.
You can speculate as much as you want about how much they care about voting for Gold Gloves, but the fact remains that they are pretty smart baseball people and they vote for the Gold Glove winner. So, in response to your dare, the reputable sources are the majority of American League managers that have to watch their hitters hit into his defense. By the way, the Gold Glove is not a competition in range. It definitely has something to do with it, but Jeter’s hands are some of the best, if not, the best, in baseball. Yeah, I’ve also heard the Rafael Palmeiro story before. I’ll give you that. But you can’t take one mistake and throw out the whole system! What about the consecutive years that Omar Vizquel won the Gold Glove? Are those a complete and utter joke?
How about the five or six gold gloves Jeter has? That probably qualifies them as a joke.
Whatever you think man… He’s one of the greatest shortstops of all time, he’ll be a first ballot hall of famer, and nothing you can say will change that. So congrats, you’ve changed nothing.
He’s one of the greatest offensive shortstops of all time and has a historic postseason resume and those are what’s going to get him in the hall, despite the fact he’s an abysmally bad defender. No amount of pom pom waving from the DJ Fanclub will change that.
Abysmally bad? Wow… Shows how much you know… Pretty good stuff right there
Jump throw jump throw intangibles! Wow, what defense!
Am I conversing with John Buck here or something?
I’d never dispute his career stats. It’s this season’s stats and people desperately trying to justify the price tag where is counts. I know he makes up for it by putting people in the seats but anyone but Jeter and this would be a miserable contract.
Off topic.
How ironic is that the of the three top Yankee pitching prospects of 2007 the one who was percieved as the weakest, IPK, is having the best season as a starter this year? I get why he was seen as expendable but I always felt he had it in him to be a solid mid rotation pitcher. Good for you IPK.
I’d consider it shocking if it weren’t a likely aberration. Hughes having dead-arm issues at his age this early in the season is something I’d find disconcerting, but I’d still take him over IPK long-term if given a choice.
Pitching chances very quickly, look at the projections for Colon, Garcia, and Joba at the beginning of the season. Kennedy’s numbers wouldn’t be as good in the AL East.
I don’t think it’s an abberation at all. IPK had an incredibly good pedigree coming out of USC. He had an incredibly good minor leage career record (248 IP, 1.95 ERA, 0.98 whip, 10 k/9 and a 3.55 K/BB rate). He was rushed to the bigs as he practically debuted in 2007 and blew thru A+/AA/AAA and had a Sept call up all in his first year and was handed a rotation spotin 2008.
Simply because of the fact he didn’t throw 95+ like Hughes and Joba and because of a comment the NY media blew out of proportion the “thinking” that he would never become more than a back end guy and could never handle NY became the pervasive thought. I always felt he would be agoodpitcher just based of fof his repetoire and feelfor pitching successfuly despite “only” having a 92 mph FB.
I understand the reason for moving him and not Joba or Hughes and I know, or feel, those two will develop into good/great pitchers but let IPK be an example of how style somtimes over shadows substance because he is showing his ability to pitch and not throw.
40 starts, 3.80 era, 1.17 whip, 7.8 K/9 and a 2.51 K/bb rate since moving to AZ. Pitching in a hitters park.
FYI, I was referring to Hughes’ struggles this year as the aberration. While I think his FOR potential has slipped, he’s got better pure stuff than IPK, despite his awful start.
I thin Joba is better right now than IPK, he’s the one that poeple have trashed for the last 3 years and now is throwing 98.
The Jeter envious are some serious stupid….
Irony, thy name is Wicked!’s sentence structure.
That aside, I can’t speak for anyone else, but envy does not drive my assertation that Jeter is a poor excuse for a defender. Hard, verifiable data and the opinion of smarter baseball minds than you and I drives my assertation that Jeter is a poor excuse for a defender.
If I was the kind of man to base his opinions off of jealousy, I’d be sitting here making fun of Tom Brady’s hair.