Terry Francona did not like what he was seeing. Sure, it had only been two games. But the Red Sox manager sensed Carl Crawford was pressing. So on Sunday he dropped Crawford from third to seventh in the lineup.
Though it was just the finale of the season-opening series. Though the Red Sox had given Crawford a $142 million contract in the offseason to ignite the top of the lineup.
Francona thought it was the right move, so he did something brash and rash. He did what Joe Girardi is not yet ready to do with Derek Jeter — if he is ever ready to do it.
Because Girardi knows when it is time to diminish Jeter’s role by either moving him to the back of the order or playing him less frequently altogether, it is going to be so much bigger than even dropping a $142 million man in the lineup three games into his time with a new team. It is going to be seismic, impacting elements of the organization way beyond the lineup.
Jeter is the face of the Yankees; beloved by the fan base. He also is a stubborn man who will probably not take such a public rebuke of his skills well. So Girardi is going to have to gauge the temperature of his clubhouse and the temperament of Jeter if and when he makes such a grand decision. He is going to have to size up if he loses Jeter mentally, if he loses his leadership, if that then fosters losing factions of a clubhouse in which Jeter presides as captain.
“I am paid to make tough decisions and I recognize that would be a tough decision because we are talking about an icon,” Girardi said before the Yankees’ 4-3 victory over the Twins last night. “But I don’t think it is ever wrong to do what is right for the team. And I don’t think it is right for the team to move [Jeter out of the top of the lineup]. When it is the right time — if it ever is the right time — we’ll know.”
For now, Girardi is saying four games is too tiny a snapshot for a monumental decision. But is it four games? Or is it four games plus last season? Or do you just ignore the career-low .270 last year? Or that Jeter turns 37 in June? Or that his problems in 2011 — small sample size that it might be — sure look like last year’s problem: An inability to hit the ball with authority in the air.
He has two hits in 14 at-bats — one off an infielder’s glove and one that rolled about 30 feet into no-man’s land. The ball is flying at Yankee Stadium this year, but not for Jeter. Between a well-struck sacrifice fly in the season opener and a dart line drive to left in his final at-bat of last night’s game, Jeter had not gotten a ball out of the infield.
“I’m not ready to jump ship or go crazy,” said hitting coach Kevin Long, who has worked to alter Jeter’s swing. “I think it would be wrong to go game by game, day by day, analyzing this. I think he’s doing fine and we’ll get there.”
That might be right. Last year, for example, David Ortiz was all but pronounced done as he produced a .143, one-homer April. He finished with 32 homers and an .899 OPS. So you don’t want to kick dirt on special players without the full story. Especially because Jeter said after last night’s game that he blocked out thinking about the mechanics of his new swing and felt like he had better at-bats because of it.
So maybe that seventh-inning line drive was a bellwether. Maybe it will help to rise — not fall — in the lineup to leadoff tonight against lefty Brian Duensing, since even in a tough 2010 Jeter still hit southpaws well.
“I don’t consider 15 at-bats a start,” said Jeter, who is 2-for-14. “I have to get a few more games under my belt to consider it a start.”
Girardi will honor that; honor Jeter’s whole career in fact by not making any brash, rash choices. He sees the ugly first snapshot for Jeter, not just on offense, but in the field, as well. Girardi is paid for tough decisions. This is just not one he wants to have to make for a long time — if ever.