February 22, 2004
IT'S NOT LIKE GIAMBI WILL CATCH ANY OF HIS THROWS TO FIRST ANYWAY:
For Measuring the Fielder, There Are No Formulas Yet (ALAN SCHWARZ, 2/22/04, NY Times)
JOE TORRE offered the only explanation he could. Asked on Tuesday why the Yankees are moving their newest Fabergé egg, Alex Rodriguez, to third base rather than unseat Derek Jeter from shortstop, the team's diplomatic manager cited no hard evidence to support his claim that Jeter is the superior defender. The reams of statistics that baseball churns out every year were of no use. Instead, he burrowed into the impregnable haven of opinion, where baseball arguments go to die."It's really tough to try to measure," Torre said of Jeter's defense. "There's something special about Derek Jeter. It's something that you can't put down on paper."
And that was that. If one had suggested that Jeter is the better hitter, even Torre would trot out the many statistical categories (home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and so on) that prove that preposterous.
But any appraisal of Jeter as being the superior fielder (an equally untenable claim, given that Rodriguez has won the Gold Glove award two years running), one hears no statistical barrage of "A-Rod had a higher fielding percentage!" or "Derek made six more errors!"
The argument remains fuzzy - fuzzy enough to obscure that the Yankees plan to play their better shortstop at third base.
The joke is NY this week is that Derek Jeter is now only the 4th best defensive SS in the city. You can't overstate how bad a fielder Mr. Jeter is. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 22, 2004 9:49 AM
Yes, but unlike Nomar and A-Rod, he has been the heart of a team that's won 6 pennants and 4 World Series in his 8 seasons. Until the other guys do it in October, I'm happy with DJ. And besides, Torre and Jeter are smart enough to move ARod back to SS at the right time. In the meantime, to quote Roger Angell's great palindrome: Not so, Boston.
Posted by: Foos at February 22, 2004 12:20 PMPersonally, I think the Red Sox made a better acquisition with Schilling. Schilling and Pedro are a nice combo. With Roger and Andy gone, the Yanks are not as good a pitching team as they used to be.
Posted by: pchuck at February 22, 2004 1:47 PMThis isn't so bad. I will whine when the Yankees sign Nomar to play second next year.
Posted by: mike earl at February 22, 2004 10:04 PMI can't help but think that this winter's moves are going to back fire on George. The heart of that team has been Jeter and Williams. But, they both may be men with out a country or a position. The potential for this boiling over in the tabloids is very high.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at February 22, 2004 10:59 PMIf this were like football they'd give
each SS 1000 hard ground balls and and
200 double play opportunities and whoever
bobbled the fewest would get the start on
opening day.