If Jeter is truly a team player, and I know he is….I’m sure he would make whatever switch was necessary for the good of the team. I guess they’ll have to cross this bridge sooner or later.

something I posted last night on the subject:

The only way this happens is that it has to at least appear that Jeter is the catalyst for this move, not Cashman or (heaven forbid) Hank/Hal. And even then, at this late date, could you find a buyer for Melky? Or do you just grab Orlando Cabrera and move Jeter to CF and later worry about Melky? What if Jeter fails miserably in CF? Do you jerk his chain under the brightest of lights, risking embarrassing your cornerstone? This has to come from Jeter, or it has to at least be told that way, if it’s ever going to happen.

No, this can’t happen this year. And it might not happen next year. We might come back after the 2010 season and settle in for another Varitek-like showdown, pitting the legendary Captain of a legendary team against its ownership and fans. And we saw with Varitek that the fans sided with management this season; will the Yanks fans still side with Jeter if his decline lasts two more years and he wants in-the-prime money to remain at SS?

Jeter’s seemingly had a fairly solid grasp of his position in the game, with the organization. Totally self-aware of everything about him and the game. Honestly, the one thing that no one seems to want to even consider is that after 2010, Jeter realizes that he’s no longer playing to the level in which he’s accustomed and simply decides to walk away, retire. Really, I see this as entirely more likely than him hanging on just to play. I just can’t see that happening. Jeter won’t let himself become baseball’s version of Brett Favre. I think he retires before he allows others to discuss him as an impediment to the team’s on-field performance.

I can see him calling a press conference right around Thanksgiving 2010 to tell the world he’s hanging them up for good, that his wife (some uber super-model/actress/starlet) is expecting their first child and he’s ready to move onto the next phase of his life rather than change positions or go and fight for a job. He’d take a few questions, say all the right things, smile that trademark smile with a wink, be ultra-polite with everyone, say thank you and be gone.

And that will be that. The era will end.

not playing short?

here:

There are a great number of variables in this equation, and there’s another that has not been included yet: Brett Gardner. Granted, Gardner was terrible as a New York Yankee last season. But as a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankee, he posted a .414 on-base percentage. He’s got a .389 career OBP in the minors. Gardner is also exceptionally fast, can steal a base and cover some serious ground in center field (his defensive stats last season were fantastic).

My guess is that if we add Gardner to our equation — if we assume he shares center field with Cabrera, and even gets two-thirds of the playing time — then the benefit of adding Orlando Cabrera and moving Derek Jeter drops to something like zero wins. In which case it’s not worth doing … unless the real point isn’t to win games, but rather to get Derek Jeter into center field for good. Which might make sense, except the Yankees’ No. 1 prospect is actually a center fielder named Austin Jackson, who figures to take over the position in 2010.

Jeter’s contract runs through 2010. Given the personnel at hand, the Yankees should probably just leave him at shortstop this season and probably next, and then let him go.

and i’m afraid I agree with him.