Edgy MD

�I just know it took Joe Torre and I only two weeks into that first spring training in �96 to know we had a shortstop,� Don Zimmer, Jeter�s mentor, was saying by phone from St. Petersburg on Wednesday. �It wasn�t any one thing. It was everything, the way he hit, the way he fielded the position, the way he threw, the way he ran and mostly just the way he carried himself. Now all these years later you think of things like this: You know how Yogi always used to say DiMaggio never made a mistake? Well, how many mistakes do you think Jeter made in his entire career? I remember one time early on, he got himself picked off second base. What does he do? He comes back to the dugout, pushes himself right between me and Torre on the bench, just to aggravate us." Best forgotten footnote in his career is that George Steinbrenner had so little faith in rookies that he not only tried to countermand Watson, Torre, and Zim in installing Jeter at shortstop, he set up a deal to send Rivera to Seattle for Felix Fermin, before Watson stood firm.

Frayed Knot wrote: "He wants to go out like Michael Jordan" What, playing for the Wizards? Is it even possible for a top player to go out any worse than Jordan? Well, Joe Jackson I guess, but not too many others. Mark McGwire. Sammy Sosa. Lance Armstrong. Marion Jones. Pete Rose. Danny Almonte. Tonya Harding. Mike Tyson. Ben Johnson. Dora Ratjen.

The only really relevant part is the Mantle/Mays/Paige thing. That shit just steams my shorts.

C.C. Sabathia Pablo Sandoval: No that there isn't a good chance both these guys fall into the chocolate pool during the Wonka Factory tour, but, well, your move, Bartolo.

I had the wrong article. I clicked the link and it took me to the front page. I searched for Jeter, and it sent me to this squishy piece. Commentary: Derek Jeter does it his way, the right way Feb. 13, 2014 Now, see, you lose me before you're done with the title. It happens whenever somebody is described as playing the game "the right way." This allegedly objective standard is never described beforehand, and then it's demonstrated how the paragon reaches it. It's his way first, the right way second. It's the right way because it's his way. What is this? The mafia? Written by Bob Nightengale USA Today I like the "written by." Classy. This isn't one of them "as told by" columns. TAMPA � Derek Jeter could have walked away whenever he wanted from the Yankees. Or perhaps, when they got wise and stopped wasting their money on him. Like they almost did (and in retrospect, should have done) last contract. Remember all the photographs of Jetes in other uniforms, Bob? They threw Bernie Williams over the side and they would have thrown Jeter over. It was his choice. Yes, he's not a slave. But the reality that nobody is going to pay him very long to throw up a .542 OPS and field like a statue must've fed into a little, huh? (By the way, how does this guy get away with the one-sentence paragraph thingie?) If he wanted to look like a stumbling Willie Mays at the end of his career, a hobbled Mickey Mantle or an old Satchel Paige, Jeter earned the privilege to inform the Yankees when he was retiring. OK, let's look at the last few seasons of Mays, Mantle and Jeter in terms of WAR: MaysMantleJeter5.21.81.86.33.50.91.83.92.20.02.6-0.7RetiredRetiredActive! Which one of these guys held on for too long? Which one used his stature to keep collecting big paydays and adulation while he was hurting the team? Your insult to Satchell Paige, who waited a lifetime to play big league ball, I won't even get into. But he was a three-war player, pitching out of the bullpen, at the end of his career! The Yankees sensed it was coming at some point this season, but not Wednesday, not a week before their first spring training workout. Earthworms knew it was coming. The day of the week is irrelevant. Lots of allegedly HOF-bound dudes announce their retirements in spring training. Rivera did. Guarantees the entire season focuses on you. But it's Wednesday. Oooh... way to get another one-sentence paragraph out of nothing, there. �We�ve got to respect his decision,� Yankees President Randy Levine said. ...which we've been praying for. If the Yankees had their druthers, Jeter would have announced his decision in front of the world in New York. If the Yankees had their druthers, Jeter would have cashed his chips in two years ago. Certainly, he could have saved the announcement at his annual spring training news conference in Tampa. First of all, who edited that paragraph/sentence? He could have made the announcement at. He could have saved the announcement for. Second of all, he has an annual spring training news conference of his own? How sad? What does he have to announce? "Hi, I'm back. I'm going to try real hard, and HEY! here are some words that rhyme with Jeter!" Instead, he revealed his intentions in typical Jeter style. He called a second press conference? He gave you a gift basket? He telephoned Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner in the morning and announced it on his Facebook page Wednesday in the middle of the afternoon after his teammates had gone home from their early spring training workout. This is typical of him, how? Did he pump his fist afterwards? �So really it was months ago when I realized that this season would likely be my last,� Jeter wrote. �As I came to this conclusion and shared it with my friends and family, they all told me to hold off saying anything until I was absolutely 100% sure. Note that Nightie's only two-sentence paragraph so far has been an excerpt. �And the thing is, I could not be more sure.� Duh. He became absolutely certain before he even stepped onto the spring training field. This distinguishes him from nobody ever. �He�s been such a great Yankee, a great person, a great icon,� Levine said. �We�ve been so fortunate to watch him play and be a champion. We didn�t know what was going to happen. Another two-sentence paragraph. Another excerpt. �But nobody knows his body better than him, and, at the end of the day, he wants to go out on top. On top of what? On top of whom? On top of the fawning fawns who don't want to say what's obvious? That he's got nothing left and he's leading his team toward fourth place? �He wants to go out like Michael Jordan.� Michael Jordan retired three times! This is nothing like that! I don't have the basketball equivalent of WAR at my disposal, but I feel comfortable in saying that Jordan at these three junctures of his career was four times, three times, and ultimately twice the player Jeter is right now. Unless we're talking about Michael Jordan the baseball player. Then maybe. Jeter could have waited to see how his body responded. He�s coming off the worst year of his career. He played in 17 games because of a broken ankle and thigh injury, trying to recover from his broken ankle suffered during the 2012 playoffs. Wow, you're really thinking hard about how to turn this into a positive, because there's a couple of sentences in that paragraph. How about this? He already knows how his body is responding, and he knows things aren't going to get any prettier. Now, he either believes that he�ll never be the Derek Jeter of old or fears the ankle will hinder him all season. Like any human being. So how is this somehow a demonstration of the height of human grace? It doesn�t really matter. Of course it doesn't. The end is here. And thus, I've already taken the hemlock. Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and now Jeter. You forgot Steinbrenner. Yes, it�s like Paul McCartney just sang his last song. Don't you ever do that again EVER! The Fab Four is over. YOU DID IT AGAIN! The Yankees� final regular-season game, by happenstance, will be Sept. 28 at Fenway Park. Or, by schedulestance. I love the unspoken acceptance that the Yankees are highly unlikely to play in October. Oh, yes, and Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have played their last game together, too. It's like... Denny Laine and Paul McCartney! Jeter will be honored throughout baseball just like Rivera was last year, only the pomp and circumstances will be greater. There will be sellout crowds on the road for one last glimpse. There will be tributes. Lavish gifts. Trips. And everything possible to make sure Jeter is forever remembered. Who? He won�t be remembered as the greatest shortstop to play the game. I should hope not. But he will be remembered as perhaps the classiest superstar to play this game. Class, like the right way, has no meaning until we retrofit a meaning based on what we can glean from Jeter. �In the 21-plus years in which I have served as commissioner, Major League Baseball has had no finer ambassador than Derek Jeter,� Bud Selig said in a statement. Ripken was a bum. Tony Gwynn was a tool. �Since his championship rookie season of 1996... Fake homerun. ...Derek has represented all the best of the national pastime on and off the field. He is one of the most accomplished and memorable players of his, or any, era. The shining paragon of Michael Corleone in a family full of Sonnies. �Derek is the kind of person that generations have emulated proudly, and he remains an exemplary face of our sport.� Generations of the gullible. We�re talking about one of the game�s greatest players who helped revive baseball�s most iconic franchise, winning five World Series championships, and doing it with class. Class. Always class. Never once did Jeter embarrass the game, the Yankees or himself. The Yankees can not BE embarrassed. This should be clear. Never was he involved in a scandal, not even as one of New York�s most eligible bachelors, living in a fishbowl with paparazzi waiting for a slip-up. Never did we WRITE about it. And never, ever, was he implicated or even whispered to be involved in the use of performance-enhancing drugs, a temptation that brought down several of his high-profile teammates, including Roger Clemens, Pettitte, Jason Giambi and, of course, A-Rod. Let's all whisper REALLY LOUDLY that he's a suspect like any other. He always said the right thing. FUN?! I don't want to know about FUN! I don't UNDERSTAND fun! I don't WANT to understand! "He always gave me vapid shit I could spin into a dream of classy nonsense," is more like it. He always did the right thing. Except by continuing to play shortstop when he wasn't the best option for the team, insisting on sharing shortstop with Jimmy Rollins in the WBC when Rollins was the MVP, hurting the team and HURTING AMERICA! Except by continuing to play this year, which looks like it has a good chance to be a disaster. He always acted the right way. How is this different from doing the right thing? Oh and... Fucking classy! �For nearly 20 years, there has been no greater ambassador to the game of baseball than Derek Jeter,� Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark said. �Day in and day out, on the world�s greatest stage and through the peaks and valleys of a 162-game schedule, Derek consistently demonstrates awe-inspiring levels of passion, determination and excellence. Awe-inspriing levels of bullshit. Tony, I want to like you. I realize you have a job to do, but... �A champion on and off the field, Derek�s impact cannot be understated.� Try to understate it. For me. Or, you know, just state it. Just don't over-state it. The hyperbole serves nobody, no even Jeter, in the end. Jeter, a no-brainer, first-ballot, perhaps even close to unanimous Hall of Famer, will be forever revered in New York just like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mantle and Rivera. All of whom the media rolled over for. The Yankees knew there would be a day he�d eventually have to retire. And prayed it would come soon. They figured there would even be a conversation this summer. I call BS. They knew about this all winter Sorry, but Jeter figured there was no reason for any talk. Because you would do all the talking. He wanted to go out on his terms. A gaudy museum piece and an over-celebrated millstone. . �At the end of the day,�� Levine says, �he leaves as a champion.�� Or, as an also-ran. Was there ever any doubt? If you can call a fourth-place part-time shortstop a champion, then no, no doubt.

Nymr83 wrote: Maybe we should induct Smoltz and Jones this summer with Maddux Glavine and Cox too? Im already sick of this. Its going to be a long year. It's going to be a great year. They'll spin it every way they want to, but unless he gets his hands on a barrel of steroids and somehow doesn't fail a test, the season is going to be disaster for Jeter. They'll end up replacing him with a going-nowhere journeyman, and pretend he's injured and that he's dying to get out there, but he's doing what's best for the team, but the reality will be that he's wasting their money and hurting the team. At the end of the year, like with Willie Randolph, they'll send him out there for two teary innings, and we'll be asked to think on what might of been, and that somehow Jeter made it perfect anyway, that he really worked his ass of to be here, and played in pain. But we'll all know the truth, that it could never have been otherwise, that he was mailing it in, and he was an millstone to his team even for those two innings.

Frayed Knot wrote: The only names I ever heard were Cliff and also Daryl Hamilton. On the other hand, we also don't know who was mentioning them or how often, only that reports that there was talk about wanting a former player in the booth. That speculation from that immediately jumps to making this a direct Jeff Wilpon project is simply par for the course. Other speculation seemingly accepted as fact: That other names bandied about were meant to replace, not augment, the personalities already in place. That the date of this announcement reflects a winter-long effort to do anything but what they ended up doing. That any and all contract issues reflect 100% on the Mets --- not on the radio broadcaster, not on the personalities, not on their ageints. That radio broadcasters, even ones with two years on the assignment, typically get multi-year contracts.

Very sorry to hear. Was rooting for his redemption too. What's with the marionette?

Even the title doesn't make any logical sense.

I'm more offended by the "stumbling Willie Mays" comment.

It's, like, evil Brooke Shields.

Mex17 wrote: ...but how would you interpret it if the first day that he shows his face is also the first day that he is contractually obligated to do so? As a good thing.

Anybody want to help me out with the John Franco thing? Did his name really come up?

That's one way of looking at it. But cool, we may well have made a difference. How about that? And how about Josh putting two compound quotes in one note?

Confused Yankee Fan on Facebook wrote: As a Yankees fan you can never replace Jeter but THANK GOD he's retiring! Or "I love him, but pretending he's better than he is has just been EXHAUSTING!"

Now what happened to the apathy about this competition?

As much as his name and height and back story garnered him attention, Strawberry wasn't an obvious consensus number one overall pick among MLB cognescenti. The Mets actually had Billy Beane (among others) in consideration as well and were delighted (d'oh) when he was still around with the number-23 overall pick. The same argument would maybe get the team Andy Van Slyke or Tim Wallach instead of Tim Leary in 1979. (Or maybe they get Jay Schroeder and win a Super Bowl.) Even Sherlock couldn't figure out all the angles, but in general, believing losing is healthier for an organization than winning is a logical morass. It leads to a suicidal logical death spiral.

I hate myself for thinking it.

I'm resolved to give these both a full listen, but "The End" is a challenge and a half for me. I had friends who ran a saloon and had The Doors Greatest Hits on their CD jukebox, but just blacked out "The End" and I think shut the box down anytime someone figured out it was there and played it anyway. It just sucked all energy out of the room and they knew it.

Jeff may be my new hero.

Reportedly suffered a stroke while on an MLB alumni cruise. Being hospitalized in the Cayman Islands, says Adam Rubin. He's 71.

Alex Rodriguez: 2014 write-in All-Star candidate.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Exactly. Wherever there's a veteran beatin' up a last-man-in-the-bullpen for a tongue-in-cheek comment, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys burn when they pee. I'll be in the way kids say "no comment" when their parents ask them questions and deserve an answer but they know the answers will get 'em in hot water, and when the people are eatin' the bullshit and cedin' the parkland for parkin' lots and payin' for the privilege, I'll be there, too. Dammit! Where's the damn LIKE button?!

You know, if your specialty is intangibles, do you ever really retire?

I might support that rule. No way he breaks Seaver's percentage record under such circumstances.