Derek Jeter: Exactly How Good is the New York Yankees Captain?

Congrats to Derek Jeter on getting his 3,000th hit. Initially I was surprised no other Yankee reached that milestone, but after you think it over it makes sense. Babe Ruth played a chunk of his career as a pitcher and Lou Gehrig died young. Joe DiMaggio's career was short and interrupted by World War II. Mickey Mantle had the talent to reach 3,000 hits, but he was reportedly a party animal that didn't take very good care of himself. 

As we watch Jeter pass the 3,000 hit mark, you can't help but ask, just how good is he? Where does he rank all-time amongst shortstops?

This column isn't meant to rip on Jeter. My goal is to shine a light on the myth makers in the New York media. Derek Sanderson Jeter is a very very very good player, but the New York media would have you believe he's the greatest of all time. He's not. He's slightly overrated, but that doesn't mean he's bad. By the time he hangs it up he will have rightfully earned a spot in Cooperstown. 

It's no surprise that he's slightly overrated. The media has fallen into the trap of hyping up players they like, and that's okay. Jeter seems like a nice guy and class act, so it's easy to root for him.  Hell I would root for him if he wasn't a Yankee. He's the polar opposite of Barry Bonds, who seemed to like rubbing people the wrong way.

Am I the only guy that's stunned by the way the sycophants in the New York media kiss Jeter's backside? Let's run through some of myths about Jeter and see if they stand up to scrutiny. 

Myth No. 1: Derek Jeter was the MVP of the Yankees' '96 to '03 mini-dynasty

HELL NO! The MVP of their mini-dynasty run was Mariano Rivera. If you had to rate who was the most valuable player during their run, I'd vote Mo Rivera first followed by Andy Pettitte, Tino Martinez, Jorge Posada than Jeter. Plug Nomar, A-Rod or any other shortstop during their run and the Yankees would still have won those titles. 

Myth No. 2: Derek Jeter is a winner

This is a myth that has been masterfully pushed by the New York media. Calling a player a winner is such a subjective statement. Sure, Jeter is a winner. Why would you say he's a winner? It's because he played his entire career on a big market team with the resources to win the World Series every year. If Jeter played for the Royals, would we consider him a winner? No. 

Myth No. 3: Derek Jeter is clutch and Mr. November

I guess if you repeat something often enough eventually it gets accepted as truth. The New York media has repeated this notion for almost 15 years now, so no one questions it anymore. As of this writing here are Jeter's stats:

Regular season: 2,362 games, 9,607 at-bats, .313 AVG, 237 HR, 1,159 RBI, .383 OBP, .450 SLG, .833 OPS.

Postseason: 147 games, 599 at-bats, .309 AVG, 20 HR, 57 RBI, .377 OBP, .472 SLG, .850 OPS.

Okay, so his average and OBP are actually lower in the postseason. No doubt Jeter has had some great series in the postseason, and he's gotten a fair amount of credit for it. At the same time, he has also had some really awful streaks to balance out the good ones. 

Did you know he hit .250 in the '96 World Series against Atlanta? I didn't. Did you know he hit .148 in the '01 World Series against Arizona? Me neither. In the 2003 ALCS against Boston he hit .233 with a .281 OBP and .400 slugging percentage. A year later he hit .200 with a .333 OBP and .233 slugging percentage against the Red Sox. 

I had to look up these stats because the New York media was too busy drooling over him. He's had some great moments, but his reputation as Mr. Clutch is overblown. I blame Jeffrey Maier for starting the hype. If Maier wasn't there Jeter's first big clutch hit (in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS) would have been a long fly out. For whatever reaso,n the umpires didn't make the interference call and the rest is history. 

Media myth No. 4: the Yankees had to re-sign Jeter

The media acted as if the Yankee juggernaut would have been derailed if they didn't re-sign Jeter. After a while it started to piss me off because it's such an insult to our intelligence. Both the eyes and the stats would tell you Jeter started to decline in 2010. Let's look at the breakdown:

2009: 153 games, 634 at-bats, 107 runs, 212 H, 72 BB, .334 AVG, .406 OBP, .465 SLG, .871 OPS.

2010: 157 games, 663 at-bats, 111 runs, 179 H, 63 BB, .270 AVG, .340 OBP, .370 SLG, .710 OPS.

I tip my hat to Jeter and his agent. Somehow they convinced Brian Cashman to waste $51 million and three years on a player who is clearly declining and not worth that kind of money. Golf clap for Derek and Casey Close! 

Media myth No. 5: Jeter is a good fielding shortstop and the Gold Gloves prove it 

This is such a joke. I can't help but think the media perpetuates this BS because they want to see the heads of all the stat geeks explode. By almost any measure, Derek Jeter is a terrible defensive shortstop. He consistently ranks near the bottom of the league in most defensive categories yet somehow wins Gold Gloves. 

Look up any of the sabermetrics websites and you'll see just how bad he is with the leather. The fact that he's won multiple awards just goes to show you the power and influence of the New York media. 

According to the site baseball-reference.com, the six players who are most similar to Jeter are Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, Frankie Frisch, Charlie Gehringer, Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell. All of those players were very good while Alomar, Frisch and Gehringer are all in the Hall of Fame. However, no one thinks of them as the greatest of all time. 

In no way am I trying to take away anything from Jeter, but we need to get some perspective here. Jeter is in the "who are the best ten shortstops of all time" discussion. He's not in the top-three or top-five discussion. You could make the case that Honus Wagner, Arky Vaughn, Ernie Banks, Cal Ripken, Alex Rodriguez, Robin Yount and Barry Larkin were better. 

I'd say Jeter is probably the eighth best shortstop of all time. 

I also wish the media would stop blowing smoke up our butts and be honest about his place in history.