1) Jeter being the Yankees captain and winning several championships – IRRELEVANT. Baseball is a team game. Jeter didn’t play 1-on-1 baseball vs. other shortstops to win that World Series, he was aided by the highest payroll in the league. I’ll put it this way, if you put Jeter on those Phillies teams during that time, the Phillies wouldn’t have been World Series champions. Jeter was a key component of great teams, not the reason for championships.

2) His offense has nothing to do with this article. But now that you mention it, besides batting average, Jeter and Rollins are similar in most stats.

Jimmy: 17 HR, 60 RBI, 34 2B, 3 3B, 80 R, 25-33 SB, .415 SLG,
Jeter: 17 HR, 60 RBI, 25 2B, 1 3B, 94 R, 23-28 SB, .482 SLG

Yes, the batting average is 90 points higher, but considering the Yankees play in a lineup with 9 hitters, not 8, and have scored more runs than the Phillies, shouldn’t Jeter’s much higher batting average have resulted in more than a 14-run difference to Jimmy? Just saying…

3) You are correct that a ball booted in the hole may be ruled an infield hit…or it may not. It depends on the runner and the official scorer. Say Adam LaRoche, a plodding first baseman hits a ball in the hole that Jimmy gets to and boots, or makes a poor throw on, that would be an error, because even though he made a nice play getting to it, he still should have had the out. That said, it is QUANTIFIABLY PROVEN that Rollins covers far more ground than Jeter. This year, the difference is small. The past 5-7 years, the difference is VAST.

4) You’re own point dooms your argument when you mention “What about a first baseman saving an errant throw”… last time I checked, the Yankees first baseman this season is Mark Teixeira, one of the best fielders in the business, and FAR superior with the glove to Ryan Howard. So thank you for bringing that up, as that may be a reason for Jeter’s better fielding this season.

Lastly, to say Rollins may not be playing short in five years while Jeter will is ridiculous. If anything, that statement should be vice versa. Jimmy will have his speed and defense long after his bat speed goes, and he will never be anything but a major league shortstop.

Yankee fans love Derek Jeter the way Phillies fans love Jimmy Rollins. They’re both exceptional players.

Jeter has had a better offensive career, without question. Jimmy has had a better defensive career, without question.

…
Yankee fan… Jeter is going to the Hall of Fame, Rollins probably is not..
Jeter is having a great year offensively, Rollins is not..

And while Jeter is having a very, very good year DEFENSIVELY.. Rollins is having a better year with the glove. .. I think when I looked last week, Jeter had only 7 errors .. but if Rollins really only has 3 errors (and definitely has more range than Jeter right now).. give props where they are due

Better overall player, better overall season.. Derek Jeter
Better “with the glove” … Jimmy Rollins

There’s two problems with your reasoning. First, throw all the stats at me you want but there’s simply no way to quantify how many grounders are – or are not – attainable by a shortstop. Period. And, secondly, if a shortstop has more range and reaches a grounder that another shortstop may not reach (such as Jeter), then boots it, it’s NOT an error!!! It’s an infield hit and does not affect their fielding stats. This season, Rollins only has a handful of more ‘total chances’ than Jeter and they’re fielding percentages are just a few points apart. How do explain that? And, what about other defensive attributes that you don’t mention?……the errant throws that a first baseman saves, getting pop-ups in shallow outfield areas, getting runners stealing, etc. What about the plays that Rollins may not even attempt – calling it an infield hit – when Jeter could make one of his “jump throws” (that you so enjoy watching on Sportscenter) to get the out? What about other factors…..how hard the grounder was hit? Turf of grass? Etc.

And, offensively, there’s simply no comparison to what Jeter still brings to the table everyday. Like I said, do yourself a favor and watch Jeter play a game or two. And, keep in mind that this is a 35 year old guy who is in the 9th year of an unprecedented 10 year contract and still putting up MVP worthy numbers both offensively and defensively. I’d be shocked if Rollins is even still playing shortstop 5 years from now.

I think that this article gets to the nuts of what many of us have been saying all year with J-Roll; I don’t care if he hits .225 because the guy is worth a ton of runs over any replacement player in the field. We take defense for granted but this team is really good defensively and that is a huge asset, especially in close games… I didn’t realize how spectacular this season has been for J-Roll. If you look at his progression as a defender, he has actually gotten better with age… he has improved his fielding percentage in each of the past five seasons. I love J-Roll… he’s one of my favorite players on this team. He makes it look easy… sometimes his laissez faire attitude can drive you nuts but he is supremely talented and has always backed up what he has said.

The Phils are in much better shape, Brooks. We’ve got a 7.5 game cushion (meaning we will be able to rest guys and set up our rotation), our offense is much better (Big Piece doing his thing, a healthy Utley, a healthy Feliz, Ibanez as a replacement for Burrell, Chooch improving, Werth playing the best baseball that he has played), if Hamels keeps improving (which I think he will) our starting rotation is 10X better, Lidge IS getting better, Myers could be added to that mix… our bench/pen is not even close (to where it was last year) but our starters are much better.

The reason I included him as an example is because in just about every year prior to 2009, he has been a below average defensive shortstop, despite the widespread public perception that he is a great defender. That perception is based on us being bombarded with Jeter highlights, Jeter stories, and Chuck Norris-like Jeter superhero remarks. Prior to 2009, Jeter was the perfect example of a high fielding pct. guy who can’t be accurately measured by errors because of a lack of range.

With that said, I also will tell you that according to Fangraph’s UZR, which is superior to ESPN’s ZR in every way, Jeter is slightly ahead of Jimmy. Here comes the big BUT:

The reason Jeter has a higher UZR than Jimmy is also the same reason why Jayson Werth has a terrible UZR…it depends on who you are surrounded by.

In Jeter’s case, he shares that side of the diamond with Alex Rodriguez, a once great defensive player, who ranks 15th out of 21 qualifying 3B in UZR, with a -5.2 rating. Only the notoriously poor fielding Michael Young, the youthful Mark Teahen, the overrated (defensively) David Wright, and old-timers Chipper Jones and Mike Lowell have covered less ground than A-Rod.

Jimmy, in contrast, is flanked by Pedro Feliz, a great defensive third baseman who covers a ton of ground, and ranks third in the NL in UZR (8th in MLB.) So that explains some of it.

In other news, the Dodgers just acquired Jim Thome from the White Sox, likely ending the White Sox season and making the Dodgers even more dangerous than they already were….

…But where does Thome play? Obviously, he is only a first baseman. But he hasn’t been playing the field at all since moving to the AL, is old, slow, and can’t field his position much anymore, and is a lefty-hitter along with James Loney. So you can’t even platoon the two. Weird, but interesting move.

P.S.: Feel free to criticize my writing style or posting now or in the future. There will be many games in the future where I will allow either alcohol, excitement, or sheer anger adversely affect the grammar and style in my posts.