Gom

Keep in mind the following observations: 1) Jeter is pretty sure-handed. You tend to notice errors and errors, but not missed plays, especially in the infield. 2) Jeter is quite acrobatic for his size. His jump-throw, his dive in the stands against the Sox, his flip toss against Oakland, i.g., are what fans remember. 3) He's been there for a long time and is very durable. I really noticed the difference when Alberto Gonzalez was the shortstop, but it's been 13 years that Jeter's manned the position. It's not easy to remember someone's range after all those years, or objectively critique the lack thereof of the current shortstop's range. It's not like we compare it to someone else with ease. 4) It's tough to see on TV. You see a ball hit up the middle, and it gets past Jeter. It's tough to see that another shortstop would have had it. The ball is hit, the camera angle changes, and the ball goes through. I see a lot of games at the stadium, so I see what other's miss on TV. 5) Defense is harder to quantify for most people. Most people can see that someone is a good hitter or pitcher. You can study someone's stance, or pitching mechanics, etc., It's harder to see how a player sets his feet, his positioning on defense. I don't buy the crap that most Red Sox fans "knew" Jeter was a poor defensive shortstop. They heard it from someone who heard it from someone who read a statistical analysis. To tell you the truth, I didn't realize it until a) I started going to the games regularly and I was told that statistical research back up the claim. I would have probably thrown it out myself if I didn't actively look for it at the Stadium. 6) It's Derek Jeter. That can't be overstated. He's the Golden Boy for most Yankee fans. That's like telling you that Varitek is a s***** game-caller. We know that, but many Red Sox fans refuse to see it. So cut them some slack. When you think about it, you have a lot of better targets than this guy.

I love how Red Sox fans delight at the poor defensive play of the greatest overall shortstop to ever play for either team. It's not like they wouldn't have gone apeshit over the guy if he was a Red Sox. It figures you wouldn't read the whole article BoSox21. I found his analysis that the worst fielder at a position would inarguably be an offensive force that would be nearly unparalleled to be a very strong hypothesis.

Hey, Moose won his 20th. That's the only one that mattered to us.

UPDATE: George A. King of the NY Post reports that Cashman will return. A sad day in Yankee fandom, if it's true. Hank, save us from this buffoon [it's pathetic that I am hoping for one buffoon to rescue us from another].

Although I think that there really isn't room for him, the Yankees probably will find a way for him to remain. I see the Yankees offering a one year deal to him, which I think is a mistake. Moose will come back. Maybe you did go to med school after all. I defer to you on this one. I don't question your medical knowledge, just your baseball knowledge. I figure since you don't know much about baseball, you probably know a shitload about medicine. :harhar:

The Beckett injury makes it even that much more important to split the first two games.

I'm sure in your tenure as a Red Sox fan, you've felt similar heartache. Unless of course, you just became a Red Sox fan in 2004.

If it's true, Angels in 3. No Manny, no Beckett...not good. For you guys. For me, I'm lovin it!

Ditto.

Yes. I take it back. You don't suck Kilo.

I feel bad for my friends who are Mets fans. Damn...that really sucks for them. You Red Sox fans should have an idea of what they're feeling. Wow...two seasons in a row, controlling your own destiny, you lose to the Marlins on the final day. Damn.

You guys are terrible. I'm undefeated, and I don't know s*** about football. Kilo...I'm disappointed. I thought you were good, but you suck too.

One nice moment in a terrible season of disappointments.

Congrats SFOC. I gave it my best shot, but just fell short. I'll get ya next year!

The only game that matters...game 1. Go Moose! Guess Tito doesn't want to make it easy for Moose.

I really think Beckett is the 2nd most over rated pitcher in the AL East after Wang. I'd put Lester, Kaz and Burnett over him. We agree on one thing. No one comes close to touching Halladay. What a horse.

The argument really is Halladay, Lester, or Burnett. The others really don't match up, based on the criteria I've established.

Double Post. My bad.

I categorize MVP as the "Most Valuable Player". The one player from which a team owes the greatest amount of it's success to in getting to the post-season. I do not believe that an MVP should come from a last-place team ala Andre Dawson. Although Pujols has the best numbers in the National League, I would give the award to Ryan Howard, whose solid bat and torrid September propelled the Phillies to the NL East crown. That said, who is really more valuable to his team? Pedroia or Morneau? Well, Morneau is the only power threat on his team. I give more value to RBI's than Runs. So do most of the writers who decide the award. Even giving Pedroia the added weight of Runs over RBIs, Morneau had more RBI's than Pedroia had runs, and he had less RBIs than Morneau had runs. The edge goes to Pedroia in the field, and on the bases, but I really believe that the Red Sox make the playoffs without Pedroia, and the Twins don't even come close without Morneau.

I don't think it's even a question, fellas. Morneau is singularly the most important player on any team. The Twins aren't even in the race if not for Morneau. This is not a knock on Pedroia, who makes the most of his talent and then some. He is nowhere near as valuable to his team as Morneau is to his team. I also picked Morneau over Jeter in Jeter's near MVP season. You like to think that that "scrappy" player makes a difference, and he does, but it's like comparing apples to oranges. Jeter's 2006 Stats: .343 BA .417 OBP .483 SLG 34 SB Pedroia 2008 Stats: .325 BA .375 OBP .493 SLG 20 SB Jeter didn't deserve to win [his stats are better than Pedroia's] over 2006 Morneau. Pedroia stats aren't as good [neither are Morneau's], but Morneau deserves it again. That said, hats off to a great season by Pedroia. This puts to bed the debate as to who's better, Dustin or Cano. He's better than Cano in every single facet of the game.

I'm in the minority of Yankee fans that believe that Jeter is a poor defensive SS. However, Bill James makes an excellent point. In order to be a bad fielder, Jeter had to be a tremendous offensive player. His logic is that the only way he could get away with being a bad fielder was to be such a good hitter. His logic on how the worst fielder at a position would have to be very good at other talents is very logical and makes a lot of sense. I quotued the article in its entirety [i simply edited the tables since the format didn't carry over, but that's it]. Enjoy.

I honestly didn't realize Burnett was that good.