Can Derek Jeter Maintain His Offense & Play SS In 2011?
Posted by Steve L. on February 14th, 2010 · Comments (2)
If he does, it will be a feat that baseball has not seen in a very long time.
Comments on Can Derek Jeter Maintain His Offense & Play SS In 2011?
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Looking it over, the bar for games played at shortstop is around 2,200. 99.9% of major league shortstops don’t get more than a handful of games beyond that before tapping out. Cal Ripken played 2,302 games at short, but that’s because he played every game there for 13 1/2 years. Had he taken 3 games off a year and DHed or pinch hit in another 3 a year he would have finished at 2,221 before moving to 3B. Just about where any “normal” shortstop would have given up the position.
Outside of Ripken there are only 3 shortstops who have played significantly more than 2,200 games at their position: Omar Vizquel (2,681 and counting), Luis Aparacio (2,582), and Ozzie Smith (2,511). What these three have in common is that they were absolutely phenomenal fielders—the best of their eras, in fact—and either made the Hall or will make almost solely on their glovework. So unless you’re in their company defensively—or are an “iron man” like Cal Ripken—the bar seems to be set at around 2,200 games.
And Derek Jeter will enter the 2010 season with 2,123 games played at shortstop, so he’ll be “crossing the bar” this year. How much further will he go? He’ll pass Ripken I think; but will he approach Smith, Aparicio and Vizquel? If his bat starts to fail I doubt it.
i got a question… if the yankees were to sign jeter to like a 4-6 yr contract and then he realizes after 3 yrs that he cant play SS anymore and doesnt want to play anywhere else and retires. does he still get his money??