THE END GAME
Hold the tears, Captain still must steer this ship
TAMPA — A season of pomp and press conferences officially begins here on Wednesday for Derek Jeter, but as curious as I am to hear more about what motivated him to announce his impending retirement, I’m more curious to find out if he can still play shortstop. At a high level, that is. Millions of words will be written and spoken in appreciation of The Captain now that he’s announced he’s headed for the finish line. Millions more, actually, considering that Jeter for the most part has been treated like royalty — and rightfully so — since he showed up in the Bronx 18 years ago.
But the real intrigue is whether he has one last vintage Jeter season left as he turns 40 in June and returns from the twice-broken ankle that wrecked 2013 for him.
Everybody wants a happy ending to the story, but in addition, it’s vital to any championship hopes for these Yankees that Jeter not only produces with the bat but has the mobility to play at least an adequate shortstop on a near-everyday basis.
There are enough questions in the infield as it is. Indeed, GM Brian Cashman was rather candid on Tuesday in essentially admitting that this won’t exactly be a match for the 2009 infield that was the centerpiece to a championship, featuring Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez all in or near their prime.
This infield, expected to consist of Jeter, Teixiera, and newcomers Brian Roberts and Kelly Johnson, is full of questions.
Indeed, when Cashman was asked if he’s comfortable with it, the best he could do was hedge.
“I think I can answer that later in camp,” he said. “I think it’s a developing story.”
He spoke of his hope that Jeter and Teixeira will bounce back from their injuries, that the injury-prone Roberts can stay healthy at age 36, and didn’t sound sure at all about what he can expect from third base.
“Kelly Johnson, he’s going to get a crash course at third and we have to find a platoon partner for him,’’ Cashman said. “(The infield) is an emerging situation. We’re hopeful we can catch some lightning in a bottle in some area and hope for some good health in others. It’s something everybody should be watching as we move forward.”
No, that doesn’t sound like a blueprint for another title. And I’ve said all along I think the Yankees will miss Cano’s combination of consistent offensive production and defensive brilliance more than they want to believe.
Still, the everyday lineup could be among the best in baseball, thanks to the big-ticket free agents the Yankees added to the outfield and behind the plate. It’s just that you can see the pieces falling into place a little more smoothly if Jeter can hit, say, .290 and, range issues aside, make all the plays he’s supposed to make while playing 120 or so games at short.
That would give Joe Girardi the latitude he’ll need at DH for Alfonso Soriano and/or Carlos Beltran, freeing him to play Brett Gardner in the outfield regularly and improve the defense dramatically. Even then the manager would need some DH days for catcher Brian McCann and perhaps Teixeira, so you can see what an issue it would be if Jeter can’t play short regularly due to any lingering effect from the broken ankle.
In addition, as good as backup shortstop Brendan Ryan is with the glove, the Yankees would pay a significant price offensively if he has to play several times a week.
So obviously the Yankees are hoping for the best. On another level, they certainly don’t want to be put in the position of agonizing over whether to keep Jeter in the lineup as he is being canonized on his final trip around the majors.
No surprise, then, that Cashman downplayed any curiosity he might have about seeing Jeter play as full-squad camp opens in a couple of days.
“He’s our man,” said the GM, “so it kind of removes everything around it. Tex is going to be at first, DJ is going to be at short and what we’re goI ing to get is what we’re going to get. I’m hopeful.” In other words, Jeter would have to struggle mightily before anyone connected to the Yankees is likely to intervene. And in that case, they’d surely hope Jeter would have too much pride to play at a substandard level. For the moment, however, there’s no reason to believe Jeter won’t at least hit as he has in the past, slashing the ball through the right side. But there’s no avoiding the lingering question about whether he can play shortstop with a creaky ankle at age 40.
And that’s not one he can answer Wednesday at his press conference.