Has Derek Jeter Earned his Contract?

While I surfed the Internet checking my various E-mails I stumbled across an advertisement featuring Yankees shortstop, Derek Jeter.

The ad eluded to Jeter being the most overrated great shortstop in baseball; it had a caption below it saying that Jeter's greatness doesn't warrant him his lucrative paycheck and that he is essentially overpaid.

As I sat and absorbed what was in front of me, I actually began to understand what the advertisement meant. 

I equated Jeter's $18.9 million dollar paycheck to what he does for the team, and also assessed the time in which he received the contract.  After assessing the amount of money he is paid and his statistics over the past seven seasons, I have come to the realization that the ad might be correct.

Those of us who watch Yankees baseball and those who simply know the New York shortstop as an iconic sports figure are sure of one thing: Derek Jeter is one of the most clutch players in all of sports. 

The all important question is whether or not being clutch is enough to earn nearly 19 million dollars per season? 

The numbers may prove him overpaid. If you take away all of his post season appearances and lonly ook at his regular season staatistics, Derek Jeter is a very average baseball player. 

For his career he's batted .317, averaged 17 home runs per season, 82 RBI's, 122 runs, 67 walks, and 114 strikeouts, to go along with 208 hits.  Those are his averages from his entire 13 season career in a major league baseball. 

While those numbers are pretty impressive, if we take a look at how he has done since he received, at the time, the largest contract in Yankees history  in 2001, his performance has dipped a bit.

Since 2001 Derek Jeter averages a .300 batting average, 16 homers, 74 RBI's, 110 runs, 60 walks, 102 strikeouts, and 192 hits.  With his numbers decreasing since signing the deal, it doesn't seem like he is earning his pay check to me.

Most of Jeter's glory has come in the clutch moments of games and since 2001, the Yankees haven't had many memorable "clutch moments" for him to shine. 

If he's being paid to be Mr. Clutch, well then frankly, he shouldn't be getting paid.

With that said, it raises other questions: Would Derek Jeter be the same player if he never won a World Series? Would he be the same iconic figure in the Gatorade commercials if he played for the Kansas City Royals?

More importantly to the fan who pays an average 25$ per ticket, would Jeter receive the same $18.9 million dollar contract? 

Being clutch means nothing if you can't make it to the big game, so to impress this fan, Captain Jeter needs to start putting up some better season numbers and earn his 19 million dollars per season, not post-season, salary.