An All-Star Game related musing

As Derek Jeter came up to bat the second time around, my immediate reaction was something along the lines of “his hitting second is even more of a disgrace than his being voted into the All-Star Game at all, which was a whopper itself.” And of course, he grounded weakly into a double-play (not to be confused with his third at-bat, in which he grounded out weakly with runners on first and second). But it reminded me of a thought I had a long time ago that probably still holds up:

Jeter is simultaneously the most overrated hitter and fielder in the game. (Or at least in the American League, which is all I know about.)

Defense: Three Gold Gloves, in years in which he had a just below-average Range Factor, a just above-average Range Factor, and a pretty awful Range Factor. Keep in mind these statistics are normalized by position, meaning that over the course of his three Gold Glove seasons, Derek Jeter was a below-average defensive shortstop.

Offense: Two Silver Sluggers, conveniently timed after 7-time Silver Slugger and 7-time Gold Glove shortstop Alex Rodriguez moved to third base to accommodate the incredibly mediocre Jeter. That’s the most insane part, although as my husband pointed out when I was ranting about this to him, I certainly don’t have a problem with the Yankees horrible mismanagement of their resources. Anyway, I feel bad for Carlos Guillen, who had a superior OPS+ in both of Jeter’s Silver Slugger seasons, but at least Jeter is a pretty good hitter for a shortstop (if you’re willing to accept his defensive liabilities at the most difficult position). But this idea that he’s one of the premier hitters in baseball? (And don’t get me started on how “clutch” he is.) Nonsense for a guy who only once in his career has ranked in the top 10 in the league in OPS+. Just nonsense.

As for this year’s All-Star Game, you decide whether the fans or Terry Francona made the worse decision:

Fans: This year Jeter ranks third among AL shortstops in OPS+, with his below-average-for-all-hitters 99 ranking behind the Rangers’ Michael Young at 109 and Jhonny Peralta at 106. Indeed, this year is as much like David freaking Eckstein (OPS+ of 92) than he is like Peralta.

Francona: Jeter’s OPS+ is worst among the AL’s nine starters, and by at least 38 points with respect to everyone except Ichiro Suzuki and Dustin Pedroia. You want your No. 2 hitter to be more of an on-base guy rather than a power-hitter? Well, in that case…Jeter also has the worst on-base percentage of the nine AL starters. If it were Joe Girardi, that would be one thing. But it’s Terry Francona, who by virtue of his job already is persona non grata at Yankee Stadium. It’s not like those crazies can hate him even more, so why not put the best lineup on the field?

Who knows, if Francona had put any of the eight better hitters in Jeter’s spot, that guy might not have grounded out twice (once into a double play) with runners on base in what was then and remained e a very close game. But it’s not like Francona had anything on the line…except for the hugely-important-given-the-DH home-field-advantage in the World Series, which his team is the favorite to reach.

On second thought, at least he might be punished for this idiocy.