Derek Jeter
2009 Stats: .334/18/66/30
Did anyone stave off the effects of aging bettter than Jeter last season? After a dissapointing 2008 campaign, where he hit a measly .300, Jeter came back in 2009 ready to tear up the league. His inside out swing combined with a wind tunnel that leads balls to right field helped bring his power numbers up, but the most impressive thing to me was his 30 stolen bases. Jeter thrived at the leadoff position, and this year is a contract year for him. That should play heavily in how he performs.
Fearless Prediction:
Jeter wins an MVP. You heard it here first.
Little Known Jeter Fact:
In his last contract negotiation, Derek Jeter drafted, revised, signed and submitted his own contract, which the Yankees accepted without even looking at it. He's that gangster.
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9 comments:
Gangster.
The other day, I was thinking about how much he really deserved to win that MVP in 1999 and 2006 and then I got really annoyed that he didn't because a. he TOTALLY deserved it, damn you Ivan Rodriguez and there were like, 10 better choices than Morneau in 2006; b. I know, if Jeter retired after 2009 and when it was time to vote for him for the HoF, someone would be like "welllll he never won an MVP."
But then I ate a cookie and it was delicious so I was less annoyed.
No way. Pedro deserved that MVP in 1999. 2006, yes, Jetes got hosed, as did Mauer.
I don't believe in giving pitchers the MVP but if I did, yeah Pedro would deserve it in 1999.
"don't believe in," heh, someone (AKA me) is pretentious. And yeah, Mauer was a better choice than Morneau in 2006.
I remember reading that Morneau was not even the runner-up MVP of his own team in 2006 (Mauer and Santana were each more valuable).
This Jeter preview is dead on but omits one thing: Jeter's defense improved significantly in 2009 because he increased his range to his left. He had one of his best defensive seasons ever, according to fancy UZR and such.
Actually Jeter did not improve to his left, he just told everyone they weren't allowed to hit balls to his left anymore and they listened because, again, he's that gangster.
I love the whole "Jeter can't go left" thing because it makes me think he's like Zoolander or something. It was nice to see him win a Gold Glove in a year when it wasn't embarrassing on the part of whoever votes for these things for him to get a Gold Glove, too.
yeah, his defense has improved significantly. I remember a baseball prospectus book that called him "Pasta Diving Jeter" in 03, I think.
It's hard to believe this article made it to yankees.com because it (a) criticizes Jeter and (b) references UZR and FanGraphs, but it's a good summary of Jeter's range problems and improvements.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090727&content_id=6094262&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy&partnerId=rss_nyy
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