At 36, Derek Jeter has won five Gold Gloves. He has finished in the top three in the AL MVP balloting twice (2006, 2009), won an AL Rookie of the Year Award (1996), has been a part of 5 World Series-winning teams ('96, '98, '99, '00, '09), once proved his commitment to the game of baseball by diving into the stands to catch a foul pop-up ('04), and has yet to do anything extremely dumb to soil his image (a la Woods, Vick, Roethlisberger, Rodriguez, Clemens, James, etc..).
He has been called the greatest and most-beloved Yankee of the last half-century. He has been called the most iconic Yankee since Mickey Mantle. The new Yankee Stadium has been nicknamed "The House that Jeter Built." Jeter is the all-time team-leader in hits, having passed Lou Gehrig last year.
In 2010, Jeter hit .27o (a much-ballyhooed-in a bad way-number), with 179 hits, 30 doubles, 111 runs scored, 10 home runs, 67 RBIs, 18 stolen bases, and 106 strikeouts.
Are those BAD numbers? Well, for starters, that .270 average? He has hit better than that in every previous season of his career. In 2009, when he was third in the AL MVP voting: he hit 64 points higher (.334). In '09, he had 212 hits, third-most in a single season in his career, and the seventh time he has eclipsed 200 in a season. The 10 home runs were tied with the lowest he's had in a single season, which he had done three other times. The 106 strikeouts were the most since 2005, and the 111 runs were the most since 2006 (though this probably has more to do with the people hitting behind him in the Yankee batting order: guys named Swisher, Texeira, Rodriguez, Cano, Posada, then Jeter's greatness).
Basically, the .270 average was a black eye to a guy with a career average well over .300. He got to score a ton of runs by virtue of batting 1st or 2nd on an amazing team of sluggers. The home runs were down, but the RBIs were actually up (by one), over his "revolutionary" 2009 season. He had 3 more doubles, two more triples, score five more runs, than '09.
I bring this up because Jeter is currently in a war of words/actions with the Yankees over a new contract. The Yankees have offered him 3 years at $15 million a year, and he turned it down, insisting he wants more. The contract that just expired, which he got in 2000, was 10 years for $189 million. He is 36, coming off one of his more disappointing seasons (I'll have to agree, though, as I just assessed, it's not as bad as you think), his defensive range is slipping, and, as many have said, despite his fame and his iconic image, he is not bigger than the team.
One of the great things about Jeter is that, unlike almost every other star athlete of the modern era, his image is not tainted or hindered by anything other than a thorough desire to win. The most scandalous thing Jeter has done is date Mariah Carey (way back in 1998)-and they didn't even have a very public relationship or break-up-or frown at gaudy, spotlight-hogging teammate Alex Rodriguez. However, in this age of giant contracts, Jeter is clearly antsy to belong.
I'm with the average citizen, who says, of course, $15 million is a huge amount of money, let alone for someone to make in one year playing baseball, but this is 2010, and this is professional baseball. Guys like Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay, A-Rod, Texeira, C.C. Sabathia, Johan Santana, and others are swimming in dough thanks to obscenely large contracts. Oh, and Jeter wants a contract for more years-he has said he plans to play until age 43, seven years down the road (by which time, given his current pace, he could have around 3,400 career hits).
Derek Jeter is one of the biggest stars I've seen in my lifetime who's reputation is not dampened by anything other than his being affiliated with the New York Yankees and their reputation for greed. But they're looking ungreedy as they try to stick to their guns (the guns being that 3-year, $45 million contract). They're looking sensible. And Jeter, some are saying, is starting to look like the bad guy.
Yes, Jeter has been one of the better professional baseball players of the last decade. He doesn't have monster power numbers, or speed numbers, and never has, but he has been solid all-around, and consistent, and been a great team captain. But I don't think he is worth more than $15 million a year. Of course, I don't think anyone is. I think he should take this contract and see what he gets. The idea of his going to another team is somewhat intriguing (though I agree with the Yankees in their assertion that he would not get anything close to $15 mil a year from some other team), but I would like to see another (in the Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn mold) franchise player.
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