BALTIMORE — If the Yankees do find a way to get to the playoffs, they’re going to have to do it without Derek Jeter.
The shortstop was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday, ending his season after multiple failed attempts to come back from last year’s fractured left ankle because of lingering pain and soreness.
But neither Jeter nor general manager Brian Cashman was ready to concede he might not be back next year.
“It’s very disappointing not to be able to play,” Jeter said at Camden Yards after the move was made. “Especially this time of the year. This is when you want to play. This is when I want to play the most, and unfortunately, that’s not the case.
“The entire year has been like a nightmare for me physically, so I guess it’s fitting that it ends like this.”
Despite the issues he has had since last October, when he crumpled to the ground at Yankee Stadium during Game 1 of the ALCS, Jeter said a full offseason of strengthening his legs will allow him to return next season.
“I truly believe with a true offseason of working out and getting strength back in my legs I’ll get back to doing what I’ve always done,” said Jeter, adding he was reassured by the clean CT scan he underwent over the weekend. “Once you get the test and realize everything is fine, then mentally I won’t think about this again.”
And he insisted he can regain his old form.
“I’ll have opportunity to strengthen it,” Jeter said. “There’s no doubt in my mind I’ll be back to where I was.”
Cashman also sounded convinced Jeter would be on the field again.
“I have not watched his last game,” Cashman said. “No one has.”
Jeter bristled at the numerous questions about the possibility he wouldn’t be able to return at all.
“There’s a lot of end talk here, man,” said Jeter, who has no new damage to the ankle or any soft tissue surrounding it. “Do you guys want this to be the end for me? It seems that’s what everyone is asking.”
He insisted he hadn’t even considered that.
“Have I thought about it? No,” Jeter said. “I don’t think you think about the end of anything. … I’ve tried to come back this year as quickly as possible every time I came back, and looking back, maybe that wasn’t the best thing to do. But my job now is to get ready for next year, and I’ll do that.”
Jeter played in just 17 games in 2013, hitting just .190 with one home run. In recent weeks, his mobility worsened and his performance fell along with it.
After a conversation before Tuesday’s game against the Orioles — following discussions with team physician Chris Ahmad and Charlotte, N.C., surgeon Robert Anderson who performed the procedure on Jeter — all sides came to the conclusion no amount of rest would enable Jeter to regain the strength necessary for him to be productive at any point the rest of this year.
“No one thought that we would be sitting here after the injury last October, still dealing with it,” Cashman said. “We’ve learned since that time how severe and difficult it is to solve that break from last October. It’s a very, very complex circumstance, and we learned the hard way, every step of the way, that this was a much more difficult rehabilitation than we thought.”
Jeter said he agreed with the decision.
“I’m not surprised because if you can’t play how you’re capable of playing and what you’re used to doing, then you’re not helping out,” Jeter said.
He has a player option worth $9.5 million for next season and declined to talk about whether he would exercise it.
“I haven’t thought of it,” Jeter said. “I just found out this was the result. I’ve never played a season thinking about the next one. I haven’t thought about next year really at all. Now it’s just about digesting this, and then we’ll figure out what the next step is.”
If he regrets one thing, it was saying he would return by Opening Day.
“They told me how long they thought it would take for the bone to heal, which they were right about,” Jeter said. “I’m the one who said I’m going to play on this day. I probably wouldn’t have said that, if I could go back.”
Cashman said his decision to shut down Jeter after trading for shortstop Brendan Ryan had as much to do with what Jeter told him as anything else.
“It was recognition from his end that his season might be over, as well,” Cashman said. “That’s reality you’re not used to hearing from someone like him. We cannot be in a position to have another [ankle] break, because then you could be talking about a career-ending situation.”
So for the next few weeks, he will remain on the bench, cheering for the Yankees to get back to the playoffs.
“I’ll have my pom poms and go out there and root for my teammates,” Jeter said. “There’s been plenty of times when they’ve been rooting for me.”