Quote:
Originally posted by Marmel
You mean the 20+ error per year, .270 lifetime BA Tejada? You must be joking.
A-Rod and Nomar do things better than Jeter for the most part, but I'll take Jeter over either of them. Jeter played a part in 4 titles. I am not going to buy the arguments about lack of talent on Nomar and A-Rod's teams. A-Rod had Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey, Edgar Martinez et al. in Seattle for years and never even reached the WS. Nomar has had Pedro, Manny, and a huge payroll in Boston to work with and never even sniffed a Series. There is a reason Jeter is captain of the Yankees. Anybody who truly thinks stats are the end all and be all of a players worth either does not watch much baseball, or just doesn't get it, IMO. I get frustrated with some of Jeter's antics in the field, but he will come right back with a play that nobody else in the majors can make to make up for it. He will shrug off an error, or a muffed play and be determined to make up for it with the bat or with some nifty base running.
Here is one example....about a week and half ago, Jeter gets blasted on his wrist with a fastball. He stays in the game, tells the first baseman he is stealing second, procedes to steal second and then scores the (go-ahead, I think) run on the next hit. The stat sheet shows that as a SB and a Run Scored.
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Plu-heez. First, A-Rod was a rookie when he had Johnson and Griffey. That was his only shot to win with those two. As for payroll, the Sox HAVE sniffed at a series, but they haven't been able to break the door down. Why? A lot of it has to do with the fact that the Yankees payroll is FIFTY PERCENT higher than theirs. Just because you play for a team that can afford (and does) buy the World Series doesn't mean that you're a winner. If you think anything else, you're just kidding yourself.
Both Nomar and A-Rod are better defensively (even with Nomar's errors) as they have much better range. Read any statistical breakdown of range, players vs. backups, etc. and Jeter is always close to last for shortstops.
Nomar and A-Rod are also MUCH better offensively. If Jeter gets to 3,000 hits (and he could), then he's a HOFer. Now? His slugging percentage is a paltry .461 in an age of offensive shortstops. Nomar? A full 100 points higher. A-Rod? .578. They also have significantly higher OPS as well.
Jeter is a good, solid player who is also a team leader. No doubt. But better than Nomar or A-Rod? Not a chance. HOFer? Not at this stage in his career.