MLB

ALEX NOT IN SAME CLASS AS CAPTAIN AMERICA

TAMPA – The trendy thing to do among skeptics, cynics and statistical analysts is to diminish who Derek Jeter is, what Jeter is, what he brings to the ballpark every day. His range has shrunk. He is neither slugger nor perennial batting champion. Since signing his $189 million contract, he hasn’t even been a part of a World Series winner.

“Intangibles, my eye!” the skeptics and the cynics scoff, laughing.

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But here’s the thing: Yesterday afternoon at Steinbrenner Field, there were two baseball teams competing against each other – one representing America, the other America’s Team. But there was only one captain on the field, one designated leader for both Team USA and the Yankees.

You can snicker at what being a baseball captain mean. Baseball players don’t snicker at what it means.

“It isn’t a question of who should be the captain on this team,” Jimmy Rollins, a pepperpot leader in his own right, said recently. “There’s only one possibility, and that’s Derek Jeter.”

“He is our leader,” Mariano Rivera said a few days back. “Everything he does, everything he says, it reminds you of it. And that is so important to our success.”

The fact is, there were nearly 60 players on the field during USA’s 6-5 win over the Yankees who would tell you they wouldn’t trade Derek Jeter for anyone – even Rollins, which is interesting given that Jeter’s presence will guarantee Rollins’ absence from the lineup many days of the World Baseball Classic.

There may be one prominent player who disagrees with that, but he was in Jupiter, Fla., yesterday, telling reporters how much he would enjoy having Jose Reyes on his team – which, of course, would only be possible if the incumbent shortstop were playing somewhere else. Later, naturally, once his brain caught up to his tongue – and before a surprising medical announcement blunted the impact to a degree – Alex Rodriguez corrected himself and said, “That’s not what I meant.”

But that’s what he said.

“I wish [Reyes] was leading off on our team, playing on our team,” Rodriguez said. “That’s fun to watch. Anytime you have that type of speed. I mean, we have a guy in [Brett] Gardner that’ll be fun. That’s probably the most you can have, watching those guys run.”

So, to recount, in the space of 47 words Rodriguez buried Jeter, buried Johnny Damon, then said he didn’t mean it. It is only lately Rodriguez has had to learn that he is not above the consequences of his actions, or his words, but it will come as no news flash to his teammates what a titan of ego Rodriguez really is.

And that’s the thing: Those who choose A-Rod as the Yankees’ current foundation do so only because of his numbers, which are historic (regardless of artificial inflation) and awe-inspiring – and for this they can harbor rightful concern at the prospect of the cyst found in A-Rod’s hip forcing any kind of absence from the Yankees’ batting order. But they have translated to none of the things Rodriguez claims he wants – rings, recognition as a winner and the respect of his teammates as a leader.

A leader? Would you like to know what a leader does? A leader, when asked the other day about David Wright, says something like this: “I have a great deal of respect for him, because he’s talented and he loves to win, and he plays hard. It’s a great challenge playing against him, so I’m happy to have the chance to play with him for a little while.”

That’s what Jeter said about Wright. He didn’t say how wonderful it would be if Wright joined the Yankees – even though there have to be moments when he feels exactly that. He has been criticized for not publicly defending A-Rod more, but it is on days like this that you realize his silences are as loud as any words he might employ.

You can’t be appointed to that kind of leadership. You either have it or you don’t.

“He’s a natural leader and a great ballplayer,” Davey Johnson said of Jeter, “and that’s a hell of a combination. And that’s why he’s the captain.”

And it’s why the other Yankee working on the other side of the state never will be. Jeter knows exactly when to talk and exactly when to keep his mouth shut. A-Rod hasn’t learned that trick yet. Why would you ever expect he would?

michael.vaccaro@nypost.com