TAMPA — Let’s not say that Derek Jeter’s final Grapefruit League debut failed to generate much buzz here at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Let’s go with this idea: Yankees fans want to save their emotional bouquets for further down the road.
Under cloudy skies, through chilly 60-degree weather (sorry, New Yorkers) and in front of enough empty seats to fill The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Jeter received a polite standing ovation as he kicked off his retirement/rehabilitation tour at the Yankees’ Grapefruit League home opener. Starting at shortstop and hitting second, he showed off his improved left ankle as he went hitless in two at-bats and tagged out Pittsburgh’s Josh Harrison trying to steal second base in the fifth inning.
Despite the lack of fanfare, Jeter’s day — his whole 2014 adventure, really — is more than just a nostalgia ride. It’s vital to the Yankees’ hopes. It’s exactly how The Captain wants it.
“I’ve always been an important part of the team,” Jeter said, after the Yankees dropped an 8-2 decision to the Pirates. “I’ve never gone into the season thinking I wasn’t important. I understand that my job is important. If I ever felt that I wasn’t important, then I would have left a long time ago.”
“I think it’s important that we’re able to run him out there on a pretty consistent basis, and that he is Derek,” Joe Girardi echoed. “He splits up left-handers. He just gives more of a continuity to our lineup, and to our club.”
Jeter surely would like to acquire a neuralyzer from the “Men in Black” movies and clean everyone’s memory — including his own — of the 2013 season. The worst part may not even have been that he missed 145 games last year. It could be that he looked so awful, so uncomfortable and fragile, in the 17 games he actually played amidst four trips to the disabled list. The Yankees’ inability to overcome his absence, as well as those of his other injured teammates, just added to the nightmare.
The Yankees’ $500 million-plus offseason spending spree gave them a better club, undisputedly, yet not such an improved roster they can coast with another subpar showing from their shortstops. And Plan B for Jeter, if the ankle doesn’t hold up or if he simply can’t perform at a high level anymore as he approaches 40, underwhelms us. Brendan Ryan ideally serves as Jeter’s late-inning replacement, and Eduardo Nunez remains a fragile, frustrating talent who might be needed at third base, anyway.
That leaves Jeter, who put up an All-Star 2012 with his .316/.362/.429 slash line and 216 hits in 133 starts at shortstop and 25 more at designated hitter.
“I think everyone is hoping that’s who we get this year,” said Brian Roberts, Jeter’s new (and profoundly fragile) double-play partner at second base.
The Yankees probably would settle for closer to 100 starts at shortstop and a slash line in the .280/.330/.400 neighborhood, when you consider their shortstops last year provided a ghastly .228/.286/.312. Defensively, we all know Jeter will be a significant liability with his range, and the Yankees will accept the trade-off of his sure-handedness.
The downside of a Jeter downslide would be more than just wins and losses, of course. There would be the psychological turbulence of Girardi playing Jeter less often, or dropping him in the lineup.
“Offensively and defensively, it’s important for me to be out there every day,” Jeter said. “That’s the approach that I’ve always had. It doesn’t change. That mind-set has always remained the same since I came up in ’96.”
Many players enjoy their retirement tour while representing past glory far more than present potential. Cal Ripken Jr. stopped playing every day and toiled for a lousy 2001 Orioles team. Tony Gwynn could still hit yet couldn’t stay healthy, and his 2001 Padres finished under .500, too. Craig Biggio regressed dramatically.
Jeter’s role models here can be his longtime teammate Mariano Rivera and longtime interleague foe Chipper Jones, both of whom remained excellent for ambitious teams in their last round. And whose clubs depended on them.
If he matches those guys and gets the expected help from his teammates? Rest assured, there will be far more fanfare surrounding his October goodbye than his February hello.