State of the Yankees: Shortstop
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Feb 12, 2010 
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As you’re well aware, Derek Jeter is in the final year of his contract. He’s 35 years old, he’ll be 36 by the end of the season, and the Yankees have a long-standing policy of not negotiating extensions until the winter.* And so, the face of the Yankees will go through the season as a lame-duck shortstop, but there’s no reason to believe he won’t be back for 2011 and beyond. It’s just a matter of how much money and how many years. The Yankees have a handful of promising young shortstops knocking on the door to the big leagues, but I wouldn’t count on any of them taking the Captain’s place.
Starter: Derek Jeter
Backup: Ramiro Pena
Veteran insurance: none
Almost ready: Eduardo Nunez
Low rising: Jose Pirela
True, Jeter is well into his mid-30s, but he’s also coming off a season in which he won both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger, made his 10th all-star team and finished third in MVP voting. He’s been the American League’s Silver Slugger at shortstop each of the past four years. What can I say? The guy’s good. Behind him, the Yankees have a defensive shortstop in Pena and an offensive shortstop in Nunez, plus utility man Reegie Corona has considerable experience at the position. For now, Pena is probably the better option should something happen to Jeter, but Nunez could easily pass him if he can improve his defense (33 errors last season) and his plate discipline (only 22 walks). Pirela is probably the top shortstop in the lower levels, partially because Carmen Angelini’s development has been a struggle.
Worst-case scenario: It makes sense to worry about injuries and a lack of production from most 35-year-old shortstops, but Jeter has shown no signs of such problems. That said, if he does stumble this season, it could make for a messy contract negotiation in the offseason. Replacing Jeter from within — even slightly — would be impossible if Pena’s bat can’t handle prolonged exposure to the big leagues or if Nunez can’t handle his first real taste of Triple-A.
Best-case scenario: Jeter plays like the guy everyone is used to seeing. He puts himself in the discussion for another Gold Glove, he runs away with another Silver Slugger and he leads this team to another World Championship. When it’s over, the Yankees settle on a contract that comes together easily, with very little back and forth. All the while, Nunez continues to rebuild his prospect status, and Angelini finally starts to hit and finally gets his career moving.
The future: Pena’s glove is exciting, Nunez’s bat has come to life and Pirela hit .295 as a 19-year-old, but Jeter remains the past, present and future of the Yankees organization. The lineup might revolve around Mark Teixeira and the pitching staff falls in line behind CC Sabathia, but this is still Jeter’s team. I don’t know how much it will take, and I’m not sure it matters. One way or another, Jeter will be back in 2011, you can bet on it. Shortstop will be his as long as he can be productive at the position. The Yankees aren’t waiting for someone to take the torch, they’re waiting for Jeter to hand it off.
An attempt at the complete depth chart
An educated guess, but just a guess
Scranton: Eduardo Nunez
Trenton: Walter Ibbara (maybe Justin Snyder or Luis Nunez gets regular at-bats?)
Tampa: Jose Pirela (with Addison Maruszak in a versatile infield)
Charleston: Carmen Angelini
Extended: Jose Mojica (unless he swaps places with Angelini)
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* In my opinion, the negotiation policy makes sense. The only way it hurts anyone’s feelings is if an exception is made for one player and not another. That’s why the Yankees can’t negotiate with Jeter just because he’s Jeter. It would make everyone else feel second-class, and the policy lets Jeter know that there’s nothing to read into the decision to wait until the offseason.
Johnny Damon !
Angelini is apparently stuborn and keeps trying to prove that the things that worked for him in HS will work in the pros. Hopefully he’ll start to listen this year.
As much as I hate to see it, this year is a make or break season for Carmen Angelini to finally show improvement, both in the field and at the plate. He’s just been a miss so far. It’s too bad, because he’s a good kid.
It feels like he’s been in the system for awhile now and hasn’t progressed. I remember the hoopla about his coming to Yankee Stadium when he signed.
Derek Jeter should shock the world and retire after the 2010 season. Imagine the press he’d get for years with all of the “What Might Have been” headlines.
When Jeter and the Yankees do get around to negotiating that contract, Jeter will most likely be sitting in the neighborhood of 2950 hits. He currently has 2747. So we are then most likely looking at May 2011 for #3000.
Chad,
I absolutely 100% agree with you regarding the Yankees’ policy.
As far as Derek Jeter and his performance, he’s played a couple of seasons with nagging injuries and still done better than average – not better than Jeter average, but better than overall average. That in itself is comforting. Also, Pena did a great job last season, and if he does at least as well, how can anyone complain about him as a replacement?
I really thought that Justin snyder was going to come fast with the bat. He was a disaster with his defense his first two years, but, came around a bit at 2nd base. It was the bat the showed much promise. He totally tanked in 2009. He’s still got a promising bat, though. He’s no shortstop or 3rd baseman, though.
Joe Giradi on Mike F.
http://web.yesnetwork.com/medi.....id=7168215
Gb-
He should just change his name to Angel Carmelini and make a fresh start.
MTU, I’d settle for him to go to a sporting goods company instead of a junk yard to get the holes in his glove fixed. i’m sorry, but, an error every three games just won’t get it done and two strikeouts every three games doesn’t make it any better.
I cant wait for the State of the Yankees batboy/peanut vendor.
Starring Johnny D.
S.o.S…you’ve only had a few of those, “that boy just ain’t right”
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GB7,
If thats a weekly basis. Then its a huge improvement from the daily dose i used to have.
Oh, man, S.o.S. You must feel pretty safe behind that computer with Erica running amuck. Be afraid…be very afraid.
S.o.S. says:
February 12th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
S.o.S…you’ve only had a few of those, “that boy just ain’t right”
========
GB7,
If thats a weekly basis. Then its a huge improvement from the daily dose i used to have.
Reply
————————————————————
My hats off to you on your successful improvements. I’m trying to cut back to one-a-day.
GB-
” I’m trying to cut back to one-a-day.”
Not me I am just coming into my prime. The sky’s not a limit.
NOTE TO SELF. Stop being a buzz kill.
GB7,
I didnt think of that. Now its worse. She can actually be up in my grill.
Speaking of grill. Nick made a freaking pyramid with himself on the last thread. If there was anytime to remove the reply button, its gotta be now.
STAY AWAY FROM THE BLUE PILL(or button, whatever you want to call it).
If you keep replying to yourself for more than four hours, call a doctor.
Nick, if your still out there. I got the final word on your nervous breakdown/pyramid you did on the last thread.
I can’t believe you sunk to their level.
Baseball America is reporting this evening in its latest list of minor league transactions that Paul Bush, Marcus Vechionacci, and Edwar Gonzalez have again signed contracts with the Yankee organization.
If you keep replying to yourself for more than four hours, call a doctor.
=========
Dont call if you have diareah mouth, upset stomach or any miss spelled words. Youv probably been hanging out with either myself or GB7 for too long.
“If you keep replying to yourself for more than four hours, call a doctor.”
Stay away from walls and seek the nearest bathtub would also be good advice.
S.O.S.
You made a square with your final swat at Nick! Congratulations.
I sense another one of those LoHud clubs brewing.
First there was OPPC.
Now there will be the ONPC.
Official No Reply Club
It’s sad to see that kind of anger on public display.
S.O.S.
You made a square with your final swat at Nick! Congratulations.
=======
lol Doreen. Knowing Nick. He’ll make it rectangular very shortly again. You can’t win with this guy.
If I reply here, does that mean I can’t be a member of the ONPC?
bronx jeers
And there you have it folks. Randy killing it.
hmm…yeah…I been away from the blog lately…what had happened to the site? lol
“If I reply here, does that mean I can’t be a member of the ONPC?”
Doreen,
Consider yourself disqualified!
Notice I didn’t use the reply?
Personally, I feel like we just signed Randy Winn all over again.
Meh.
Nothing happened, Ed, are you drunk again???
“hmm…yeah…I been away from the blog lately…what had happened to the site? lol”
It all started when Nick posted for four hrs. straight and had to seek medical attention.
It was found that he suffered from “terminal boredom”.
The lunatics then escaped and began to run the Asylum.
And there you have it.
I am so bored, it’s not funny anymore. Between first me being sick, then my daughter getting sick and then the snow, I’ve had it!!!!! The only place I’ve been in 2 weeks is the supermarket, and you all know what a zoo that place gets to be when snow is in the forecast and multiply that by 1,000 when you live in a town that is overpopulated with “active adult communities (ha ha)”.
# 3,000 should come between 5/23 and 6/8 in 2011.
Just got home. Long day, for me and some families….
1. Loved the guest post today. Anyone who’s been following the Yankees for close to 50 years, and can write so wonderfully, has my respect. Interesting read.
2. What’s with the “Reply” things in the comments? Is this where you can reply specifically to that comment? I’m not sure I like that. We’ll see.
3. Hope everyone is well this holiday weekend. Five more days till pitchers and catchers – where did the winter go? Can’t wait to get to Tampa for some sun, ST baseball, and all that goes with it – new season, re-birth, hope….it’s a fun time of year.
LOL no…wait..I did had a drink or 2 before at work.
Doreen-
“Here’s Johnny”.
“active adult communities (ha ha)”
====
I wonder how many of those 1000 multiplied favorite color is blue?
Doreen, are you sick? Sorry to hear/read it. Get well soon.
Have I told you about my tea and brandy get well recipe?
Folks, relish this moment. We will be talking about THE CUBE for years to come.
A Georgian luger(?) died during practice earlier today.
Apparently this course they’re using for the Olympics is the fastest in the world.
Joe from LI -
No, I WAS sick last week. I’m fine now, thanks. But my daughter is now getting over something.
I do have cabin fever, though.
Meanwhile, while LoHudders fiddle, both Johnny Damon and Chien-ming Wang remain unsigned.
Oh, and that catcher guy too. No, not the one with the fancy eyes, the other one. Yeah, the one with the brothers.
MTU -
The Shining?
Doreen-
Seemed apropos.:)
kill the big banks, dammit!
just seeing how much of the “it’s a condition of use” paragraph i can violate in one five-word sentence.
oh, and sign johnny d.!
MTU -
Yes, it is. It took me a second to get the reference. I think I’m hanging around here too much……….
Never saw the movie, though. The book scared the living daylights out of me. I used to adore Steven King novels.
Doreen-
“Never saw the movie, though. The book scared the living daylights out of me. I used to adore Steven King novels.”
You owe it to yourself to see the movie.
Bronx, I just saw the video of that and I am heartsick. 21 years old. That poor poor soul. They’re saying that the olympiads from the smaller countries don’t have the practice time and experience as those of he larger countries. I also don’t think we needed to see that entire video.
I am sitting here in tears. I wish that competition (luge)would be closed down altogether. Can they make it safer in a day (scheduled to begin tomorrow.) Imagine the hearts of the Georgian olympians as they march into the stadium for the beginning of the olympics. Sometimes I hate life, if you know what I mean.
So very very sad.
God bless and watch over all of the olympiads and all of us – the world. Everything and everyone.
RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili
MTU -
I can’t. I can’t watch horror movies. The last one I saw was the original “The Omen.” I couldn’t sleep for days (nights?).
The Jack Nicholson movie is truly cheesy – and Shelley Duval is greasy and gross. Several years back, there was a tv movie version made of the Shining (Stephen King didn’t like the Kubrick one) and I liked it a lot (even though I get scared easily………AND I can’t stand the sight of blood). In this version (which I think might be closer to the book), you see that Jack Torrance is an alchoholic who loves his family, not that he’s a vile monster.
I’ve only read one King book – IT, which was fantastic. Ever see the tv movie with Tim Curry? Wow, Curry was incredibly scary.
Doreen-
“I can’t. I can’t watch horror movies. The last one I saw was the original “The Omen.” I couldn’t sleep for days (nights?).”
All I can say is “redrum”.
I refuse to watch that video – what a tragedy. Poor kid…it’s really depressing. I saw that he was born in 1988 – he was so young.
I’m glad I missed the video as well, and I hope i continue to miss it. It’s an awful tragedy, especially at his age.
Bets, I’ve been crying ever since I saw it. Imagine his family, his teammates, his coaches, what they’re all going through. IMO the luge run obviously was not safe enough or it wouldn’t have happened. It really sucks.
Doreen, swear to God I had set the DVR because I had to go out for a while but was on the phone so decided to turn the television on since it was already past 7:30. That was on the screen when I turned it on. I didn’t even have the chance to opt out of watching it (they may have announced it was going to be graphic, etc., at which point I wouldn’t have watched.) I wish I could erase what I saw. Absolutely do not watch it. It will break your heart.
I’m going out for a while. I am so sad.
I think this luge track has the rep of being the fastest (most dangerous?) in the world….. How many regrets will there be that they didn’t pad the steel pillars (or whatever it was the poor kid hit)? It’s too late….
Trish, I can’t imagine……
I was really surprised they showed the video. I kind of thought they were just showing old footage. If there was a warning prior, I didn’t catch it.
If it’s any solace though, it did look as if he died instantly.
I clearly have been away from this site too long. When did they put in the Reply functionality?
Laura –
Today.
Most are none too happy with it; some are ignoring it; some are having some fun with it.
Hey guys, just wanted to point out to all, there’s a reply button and no good reason not to use it when replying to specific people…
“Hey guys, just wanted to point out to all, there’s a reply button and no good reason not to use it when replying to specific people…”
What’s that you say?
Um, we know the button is there and most of us don’t want to use it…
Hey Laura, how’s it going?
Why not? That’s what it’s there for.
Those of us who live in “flyover” country don’t like the “button”.
We’re part of the “velvet revolution”
“Why not? That’s what it’s there for.”
pinstripes.
Actually, Nick had a good idea in one of the prior threads.
He suggested that all things Yankees stay on the outside – no reply button – but any off-topic or tangential posts use the reply button.
I think that could work.
randy l -
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Doreen, I was just talking about having a special place for Muppets comments. Das it!
Nick in SF -
But it could work for other things – 60s lunch boxes, what-have-you, couldn’t it?
I think getting rid of the reply button would work. I don’t get why it’s necessary – what, just to make changes for change sake? Seems like the IT guys have too much time on their hands.
It makes the website much more organized. Instead of needing to search through what will become by the start of the season a mountain of posts for one response to your comment, you can just respond specifically to that comment, thus making carrying specific conversations much easier.
Blogger, we went through this in previous threads and I completely disagree…..It’s time consuming, for one – too much like work, frankly. I don’t want to have to keep scrolling back to figure out what conversations I’ve missed. I make note of what time I leave the blog and when I come back to it, I just head for that time so I can read everything I missed.
Good grief, Betsy, they’re experimenting with something to see if it can improve the functionality of the blog and improve the user experience. It’s not because the IT professional has too much time on his hands.
Doreen, it could work like that in theory, but in practice I think there would be a mishmash and not everyone would adhere to the ‘rules’. But who knows?
Perhaps there were requests for that type of “nesting” from some posters here? I’m not a fan of it, but I’m for seeing if there are some positives to it before chucking it right off the bat. Hey, I had my fun with it, for sure. And there are more than a few negatives to it, but perhaps with some agreed-upon guidelines, it could work to everyone’s advantage.
There is no doubt that there are those who come here and don’t want to scroll through numerous posts about tv trivia or shoveling snow or whatnot.
Although, truth be told, even with the nesting, you’d have to scroll past things to get what you wanted anyway.
Whatever.
It did seem to slow the blog down this afternoon, though, and that’s not a good thing.
Button ? I don’t need any button. You think I need a button. I don’t need any stinking button !
It all comes down to what a particular person uses the blog for. There is no one-size fits all.
Didn’t Cashman already break his own rule when he wanted to negotiate with Alex before the end of the year in 2007?
When it means $21M in the Yankees pocket, extensions are okay I guess.
pinstripes
New Post Sheeple!
Or, are we lemmings?
pat -
Perhaps because the Alex situation was an “opt-out” thing, which is slightly different? In which case, will CC’s situation be comparable to that?
Or as it because Cash didn’t have full control at that time?
You think it might be closer to the book, but you didn’t read the book? WOW!
P.S. – the TV version was less true to the book then the Kubrick version.
Am I supposed to reply here or can we still reply in the next topic? I’m soooooo confused but willing to give it a fair shake.
With the way salaries are declining, unless CC has 2 Cy Young years, he’s more likely to opt in than out unless he hates NY which doesn’t seem to be the case so far.
I agree with you there.
testing…
Hey Nick! My life has been a bit hectic lately. That’s why I haven’t been around. Glad that LOST is back although this week’s episode was a tad dull.
I think talks over Derek Jeter not getting re-signed for 2011 would be ludacris. Let’s just say he does have a bad season. Everything that he has done to contribute to the 5 World Series Championships serves him the right to receive a contract hands down. His plays are featured as a top highlight in gatorade commercials because he does things other players cannot. Derek Jeter defines shortstop.