By Andrew Hayne, Staff Writer
This week, former New York Yankee Derek Jeter is back in baseball headlines, this time as the owner of the Miami Marlins, looking to trade away Marlins’ star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton in an effort to rebuild the franchise and increase revenue.
Jeter is a solidified first-ballot Hall of Fame member with the sixth-most hits in Major League Baseball history (3,465) and a .310 career batting average.
However, many biased fans consider him the greatest shortstop and one of the greatest Yankees of all time. I’m here to tell you this; Derek Jeter is not the best shortstop of all-time. In fact, he’s not even the best shortstop of his own generation.
First of all, let’s take a look at Jeter’s Most Valuable Player awards – he has zero. Derek Jeter never won an MVP award. During Jeter’s career, three other shortstops earned MVP honors: Miguel Tejada in 2002, Alex Rodriguez in 2003 and Jimmy Rollins in 2007. Tejada and Rodriguez played in the American League, so there are two shortstops who beat Jeter head-to-head for an MVP award. It’s hard to believe that someone can be the best ever when they were never the best in a season.
The MVP award favors offensive statistics in the MLB. Jeter fans will forever point to three plays that peg him as a lockdown defender: a long jumping throw-out at first, a dive for a foul ball in the stands and a quick flip to home plate. I hate to burst your bubble, Jeter fans, but two of those were pure hustle, and the third was just smart thinking combined with a great tag by Jorge Posada.
These same fans will also point at his five Rawlings Gold Glove Awards, given to the best defensive player at each position in the American and National League. However, five Gold Gloves is not very impressive. Ozzie Smith, another candidate for best shortstop, won 13 Gold Gloves. Omar Vizquel won 11 Gold Gloves, eight of which were won during Jeter’s career. On top of that, six of those eight were won while Vizquel played in the American League, showing that Jeter was beat head-to-head again.
In fact, Jeter was a huge liability in the infield. Take a look at his defensive wins above replacement (WAR). This statistic shows how much an individual’s play contributed to the team’s success. Overalll, Jeter’s WAR was 71.8, which is good, but nothing special. For comparison, Cal Ripken Jr.’s WAR was 95.5. However, Jeter’s defensive WAR stands at -9.7. This is the worst defensive WAR by any shortstop since the modern era of baseball began (since 1900).
How can the best shortstop of all time be the worst defensive shortstop since 1900?
Jeter is one of 19 players in MLB to have over 12,000 plate appearances. Out of those 19 players, Jeter ranks fifth in hits, 14th in doubles, 13th in triples, 12th in home runs, 14th in runs batted in and 13th in slugging percentage. He leads this group in one category: strikeouts.
Now, for the Michael Jordan argument: the rings. Jeter won five World Series Championships in his career. How can someone win five championships with one team and not be the greatest?
Let’s add in the fact that Jeter’s surrounding hitters and pitchers were some of the best players of our generation.
Before he was named captain in 2003, players like Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill and Bernie Williams led the team. They had a pitching staff with Andy Pettite, David Wells and Mike Mussina. After his reign as captain began, he was able to lean on players like Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixiera, Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano and many others. He also had CC Sabathia as his ace.
Mariano Rivera, the MLB record holder for career saves, was on the Yankees with Jeter every year except 2014.
The names on the Yankees’ championship rosters were littered with talent, most of which were before Jeter’s prime. Four of his five rings came in his first five seasons. After he was named captain, Jeter led the Yankees to only one championship in 11 years.
Derek Jeter was never the best player on his own team. In fact, he wasn’t even the best shortstop on his team for most of his career.
The best shortstop on the New York Yankees’ roster during Jeter’s career was Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod was coming off his first MVP, second-straight Gold Glove, fourth-straight Silver Slugger and seventh All-Star game appearance as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers when he was traded to the Yankees. At the time of the trade, Jeter had five All-Star games and a Rookie of the Year award. All signs pointed to Jeter moving to second base, but on Opening Day in 2004, Jeter was at shortstop and Rodriguez was at third base.
After the trade, A-Rod continued to shine over Jeter, earning two more MVP awards with the Yankees.
Jeter won all five of his Gold Gloves after Rodriguez moved to third base.
On the field, Derek Jeter was consistently good and made some spectacular plays in big moments. He won a lot early in his career, giving people a sense that he was the future of the sport. Off the field, he lived in the biggest media market in the country and dated several high-profile women.
All of these attributed to the boosting of Derek Jeter’s reputation, giving fans the false image that he is one of the greats. Sorry, Jeter fans, but the stats say otherwise.
