The Decline of True Yankees (TM)

I was originally going to mention this Fangraphs article about replacement-level players on playoff teams in a Fanshot, but I have a little bit more to say on the matter. There's an important lesson to be learned from it for the Yankees, and it's unfortunate that they don't get it. The lowest WAR total ever for a player receving 500+ plate appearances on a playoff team is Bernie Williams in 2005, who finished at an astonishing -2.2 WAR. Here's the scoop from the article:

Bernie Williams, CF, -2.2 WAR over 546 plate appearances for the 2005 AL East Champion Yankees. I’m not sure what is most hilarious: that the Yankees kept starting Bernie in center despite him being obviously unable to handle the position for years, that the Yankees brought Bernie back in 2005 although he’d been washed up since 2003, that they brought him back again in 2006 and gave him another 462 plate appearances ["good" for -1.2 WAR], or that they managed to win the division both seasons anyway. A sad end to an otherwise distinguished career.

Let's make one thing perfectly clear- Bernie Williams was a superb player for many years, and other than Rickey Henderson's monster 31.7 WAR stint in 4.5 seasons during the '80s, he's been the best centerfielder they've had since Mantle. I am not here to diminish Bernie Williams's legacy, because he was so important to the Yankee teams of the '90s and early 2000s that he probably deserves number retirement (way more than O'Neill, Martin, Maris, and Howard anyway, and arguably even more than Torre, Rizzuto, Mattingly, and Guidry). That being said, he was just crap for the Yankees in the last few years of his career. More after the jump.

Bernie's last good season was 2002, when he contended for the batting title and ended up at .333/.415/.493 with a .396 wOBA, 146 wRC+, and a 5.1 WAR. He was always about a league-average defender (apologies to those non-Gold Glove winners from '97-'00), but his defense just became absolutely atrocious in his later years. It didn't take defensive metrics for people to realize that- he wasn't as fast as he used to be, so his range fell drastically (let's not even get into how crappy his arm was). In almost 16,663 innings, his UZR from 2002-06 was -109.5 Jesus. So why was he being run out there? Because he was a "True Yankee" (TM). Joe Torre was very loyal to him, and he was also under a lengthy 7-year $87.5 million contract beginning in 1999. He was able to keep numbers decent and his wRC+ & OPS+ above 100 in 2003 & 2004, but it sunk below that in 2005. (with only a slight increase in 2006). His bat could no longer compensate for his crappy defense. So let's see, we have a formerly great player being run out to a position that he couldn't properly defend anymore that pretty much couldn't be benched and was making a ton of money. Sound familiar?

The Yankees should have realized their mistakes from the Williams fiasco. They had their first chance when it became apparent that Jorge Posada could no longer properly field the catcher's position after the 2007 season. They had just locked him up to a new 4-year, $52.4 million contract, so they probably should have sat down and had a chat with him about transitioning to primary DH in the near future (not three whole years later) so that they could sign a more legitimate second catcher than Jose Molina who could play the majority of the games behind the dish while Posada caught occasionally and DH'd the rest. They did not, and Posada got injured in 2008, ruining his season (possibly because of the catching overload). In 2009, the Yankees ended up fortunate that Matsui's knees turned to dust and he had to become the DH while Posada's bat was able to mask his defense. Without a DH in 2010 and with Posada's glove in further decline, the opportunity was there again to make the transition but again the Yankees did not, and as a result, Posada's terrible defense began to overshadow his decline in offense. (Tangent: 2010 would have been the perfect year for a Russell Martin type catcher while Jesus learned the tricks in Scranton and then Jesus could have been in a better position to possibly get the pro job in 2011... but I digress).

Now, the Yankees are at a crossroads again with a franchise player whose defense is really falling and whose offense isn't good enough to hide it anymore. They have Derek Jeter under contract through 2013 with a player option for 2014, so unless they want a repeat of the Bernie & Posada conundrums, they're going to have to sit down and have a nice chatskies with their Captain. Surely as a team leader and of course "Captain," he should realize that his weakened glove is hurting the team? I hate to cite a Red Sox player, but it would seem their captain has made an egoless change to backup just fine (though he still sucks). Just because the Yankees are paying Jeter a ridiculous $51 million contract over the next three years shouldn't handcuff them into sticking a defensive liability out there. If he's a real leader, then he'll have no problem transitioning to a reduced role in some way. I don't think they can really do it now, mid-season, but this could certainly be a project for 2012. As some people have mentioned (who I now agree with), maybe Jeter could learn a little 3rd base and 2nd (hell, even 1st) to become a sort of backup jack-of-all-trades. Yes, Omar Vizquel was a way better fielding talent than Jeter ever was, but he seemed to figure it out at age 43. Jeter's six years younger than Vizquel was when he did that. Why can't he? It sucks to see a guy who was one of your best players decline the way Jeter currently is and how WIlliams & Posada did, but you have to make adjustments. I don't want to have to see Jeter become a negative WAR player, and I especially don't want to see him do it as a regular. Jeter, save yourself the embarrassment and step aside with pride. Yankees, bite the bullet and help him do so. It's for the best.