Derek Jeter: How I was right all along

RAY STUBBLEBINE/REUTERS

In May I wrote The End of Derek Jeter? I wrote about how expecting him to come back and really play shortstop at all was just wrong. I said that at 39 and coming off a broken ankle he just would not be able to do it and unfortunately I was right. Derek Jeters season ended yesterday and he managed 17 games, 12 hits and had four stints on the DL if you include this one and the one he had coming into the season. I was at both of the first two Jeter returns to Yankee stadium games and in those I managed to see a quarter of his hits on the season, including his only Homerus which just so happened to be four rows in front of where I was sitting. Both those games were fun but even in those games he looked like such a shell of himself and the only time a ball with any authority was when he had his Home run and it was a Yankee stadium dinger. Jeter didn't officially miss the season but really he did and now going into this off season the Yankees are going to have to look at a plan for Shortstop that isn't Derek Jeter. I said before that I though Jeter would be a 100 game DH if they wanted to play him for a full season and now the idea of Jeter playing 50 games in the field seems like wishful thinking. This is on top of the idea that Jeter might very well not play for the Yankees ever again, imagine if Jeter comes into the off season and wants a new contract? The Yankees and Yankees fans love Derek Jeter but if he thinks that the Steinbrenners will open their checkbooks and give him a big new deal then he is nuts.Remember Jeter was overpaid in his last contract and Jeter was upset that he did not get more money. In terms of career accomplishments Jeters resume is littered with them and he currently ranks 10th all time in total hits with 3,316, that's a huge accomplishment and nothing else needs to be said about it. If  Jeter played next year at anything resembling a major league hitter he would probably move above Cap Anson at 6th overall with 3,445 career hits and I guess it really comes down to if he views moving higher and higher on the all time hit list as reason enough to come back next year.
This season really isn't something you can truly blame Jeter for, but his drive to get back on the field as soon as possible likely hurt him more than anything else. He wanted to be ready for opening day, but at 39 he just wasn't physically capable of it and pushing to get back as soon as possible only served to aggravate his injury further which is why he never looked like he was really ready to be back at any point in his brief 17 game season. That push though is who Jeter is and without it you don't really know if he ever could have accomplished what he did in his career. I said it in May and I will say it again you can shut the book on Jeter as an everyday Shortstop and now what it really comes down to is does Jeter want to continue on in his Major League career if he is no longer a star caliber player? Can he accept being a mostly Full time DH? Can he accept having a bench role and getting paid a lot less money to do so? We have seen some players whose desire to play, no matter what, is so strong that former super stars will play in the minors or go oversees to keep playing, but is that what Jeter wants to do? Its not a criticism of his either way or any kind of judgment on him as a player or person but that is what the outlook for the rest of his career is. Either way Derek Jeter is one of the all time greatest Yankees and if his career is over tomorrow then it was an amazing experience for all of us as fans and if not then we all get more Derek Jeter.