Game #5: Orioles (Kremer) vs. Yankees (Cole)

Yep, that's the dilemma, Kaybli. Have to make the best of it. Tyler Wade is never the answer.

I figured you'd come up with something like that. In fact, as soon as I posted it, I thought "what if the question is who is the least-important position player on the Yankees?" Of course even that could change when Rougned Odor shows up.

I visited a Red Sox forum yesterday where they were discussing Gleyber, wondering if the Yankees could win a World Series with him at shortstop.  Of course, there was the obligatory bashing of Jeter’s defense.  He was a statue, overrated, etc.  But, one Red Sox fan remarked that Jeter’s defensive woes were overblown and constantly parroted by guys like Rob Neyer and ESPN’s sabremetric guys; it was clickbait and was effective at riling up Jeter fan while providing fodder to the many Yankee haters.  

I’ve said this before but it bears repeating: Jeter’s main flaw defensively was range to his left, and when he dove for a ball on that side his glove arm rarely extended completely and his off hand hit the ground before his body - all limiting his reach and inertia toward second base.  But, how many shortstops were better going backwards on fly balls or moving forward on slow rollers (Zimmer said Jeter was the best he had ever seen on the latter).  I noticed Gleyber has trouble on throws deep in the hole.  Jeter excelled at those, which is why he played so deep at short: he had the arm to do so.

Think about how many times you remember Jeter whiffing on a hard shot, clanking a grounder off his glove, airmailing a throw, or bobbling a ball, allowing the runner to reach?  Is it just me blocking out those plays, because I recall very few?  Jeter also covered up outfielders with less than stellar arms like Bernie and Damon, venturing farther into the outfield than most shortstops for relays and throws home.  

Was Jeter Ozzie Smith?  Not even close.  But, as maligned as some Gold Gloves are, you don’t win five of them by being the worst defensive shortstop in baseball or in baseball history, as Rob Neyer wanted everyone to believe.  

Double Amen, Rizz and Ren. We never held our breath when the ball was hit in the SS territory. If Jeter ever pulled an out and out rock, they were few and far between. And I wasn't watching when it happened.

Whatever his range deficiencies-- and they weren't severe -- they were more than compensated for by his situational awareness, sure-handedness and a general baseball intelligence that was as great as any I have ever seen. For any ball to his right that he didn't get to, there were far more instances where he made the great throw to the right base in a clutch situation.

Jeter seemed too good to be true to a lot of people, and there is a certain mindset that is put off by this and will look for anything to smear the guy. So about midway through his career, when it was obvious that he was on the express train to Cooperstown, a coalition of geeks and Yankee haters came up with this meme that Jeter was highly over-rated and that he was a genuine defensive liability.

Taking his whole game into account, he was clearly one of the greatest shortstops of all time and the single most important player on a team with a great 15 year run. If you can't appreciate what Derek Jeter did for baseball, you're missing out on a great sport.

The ankle-biters can KMA. Sorry for the rant. But they get on my last nerve.