Major League Baseball

Jeter will be remembered for the race -- not the finish

Published Sep. 4, 2014 9:42 a.m. ET

Ken Rosenthal

The late Red Smith once recalled that Stanley Woodward, his editor at the New York Herald Tribune, would complain about writers “Godding up” ballplayers.

Woodward’s point – describe athletes for who they are, not who they are not – are words to live by for a sports writer. Which brings us to Derek Jeter, who has been “Godded up” throughout his career as if he were a latter-day Zeus.

He didn’t deserve it; no one does. But the opposite also is true. Jeter does not deserve undue criticism as he gasps to the finish line with his 20-year career drawing to an end.

Not even the Jeter of old could salvage these Yankees.

We all get it. Jeter no longer should bat second. Jeter no longer is a quality defender at shortstop, and hasn’t been for some time. But Yankees manager Joe Girardi had it right when he said, “You look up and down at our numbers and there’s a lot of .240s and .230s. I’m not so sure why he’s the one that’s necessarily picked on here.”

The reason, of course, is that the Yankees are a mere four games out of the second wild card, every out counts and Jeter would make fewer outs batting lower in the order. The discussion, though, distracts from the larger point – the continuing decay of the Yankees franchise.

This is a team that has lost an entire starting rotation to the disabled list. A team that ranks 11th in the AL in runs. A team that required a series of trades merely to have a 3.6 percent chance of reaching the postseason as of Thursday morning, according to Fangraphs.

Jeter is one problem – an expected problem, to some degree. Seriously, what more did anyone think the Yankees would get when they signed Jeter to a one-year, $12 million contract last November, even though he was turning 40 and coming off a broken ankle?

The tradeoff was that Jeter would remain part of the Yankees’ brand. And the payoff came after Jeter announced in February that he would retire at the end of the season, ensuring that the Yankees would be big box office even if the team performed poorly. Jeter has been a savior in that regard, considering the state of the on-field product.

Jeter isn’t helping that product, not when his .617 OPS at short is the lowest of the 11 AL shortstops who qualify for the batting title. But at least he is a short-term problem, as opposed to say, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira. And heaven knows, he isn’t the only problem.

The Yankees are above the AL average in OPS at only three positions – and at two of those, second and third base, they needed to be rescued by the recently acquired Martin Prado and Chase Headley. Their other above-average position is center field, and we probably should count left – Brett Gardner is right at the league average when playing that position but an overall plus thanks to his big offensive numbers in center.

So yes, Girardi easily could justify dropping Jeter, particularly coming off an August in which the shortstop had a putrid .487 OPS. Girardi also could justify playing Stephen Drew and Brendan Ryan more often at short, especially in the late innings with a lead. But even there, the manager can push only so far; Drew and Ryan both are hitting worse than Jeter.

This notion that Jeter should publicly volunteer to hit lower in the lineup? The idea seems to be if Jeter were truly selfless, truly about winning, he would take the pressure off Girardi and effectively demote himself. Fine idea, in theory. In reality, it completely ignores the defining aspect of Jeter’s baseball personality – his enduring confidence.

From Michael Jordan to Brett Favre, the great ones almost never leave the stage gracefully; it’s just not in their competitive DNA. Jeter’s trademark is that he never gives in, not to injury, not to the pitcher, not to defeat. He’s not going to yield now. No, to quote Dylan Thomas, he’s going to rage against the dying of the light.

The entire discussion reminds me of my time at The (Baltimore) Sun covering one of Jeter’s forerunners, Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. Several times, after Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s record, I questioned the value of him continuing his consecutive-games streak. The issues then were similar to what they are with Jeter now; Ripken might have benefited by taking an occasional break, and by extension the team might have benefited, too. As I saw it, there was a certain selfishness to Ripken continuing to play every day.

Legitimate points, I believed, just as there are legitimate points and questions about Jeter now. But I recall one Orioles executive telling me something to the effect of, “If you take away ‘The Streak,’ you take away Cal’s soul.’ ” And that was a legitimate point, too.

In the end, the debate amounted to so much noise; most fans do not remember Ripken for his stubbornness, they remember him for what he achieved. The same, of course, will be true for Jeter. Even now, a fan can look at Jeter, understand that he is greatly diminished and also understand that in the end his position in the batting order is ultimately of little consequence to where the Yankees finish in 2014.

We all godded up Jeter, and for such a player, backlash is inevitable. The rise of defensive metrics, in particular, demonstrated that the perception of Jeter’s fielding did not match the reality. But if the praise of Jeter was excessive, the criticism of him need not be, particularly in these final days.