That's one of the most heads-up defensive plays I've ever seen. I'm still mad at Giambi for not sliding.
MLB Postseason
- Thread starter UGLI baby
- Start date
That's one of the most heads-up defensive plays I've ever seen. I'm still mad at Giambi for not sliding.
candrew
Well-Known Member
Correct - but that's only half the story. At practice one day Jeter told Don Zimmer that on singles to right with the play to home, the SS pretty much had no purpose, he suggested that he should start backing up the cut off man much like the pitcher customarily backs up home plate. The point is, it wasn't a fluke or merely a heads-up play that Jeter was where he was when he made the flip. He was where he was because he understands what it takes to win. These are the kinds of things that Sabermetrics or any stat can't quantify. And these are the types of things that Yankee fans see Jeter do 10 - 12 times a year every year that win baseball games.
trigg3r
Well-Known Member
You would have a point if this was a common practice by Jeter. We have seen it once and that's it. It was a fantastic play but it certainly isn't something that you can count on to be honest. You are speaking more to his baseball IQ in one play then to him being a great defensive shortstop. I agree that sabremetrics can't account for every little detail(especially defensively), but it gives us the best picture we have right now. Is Jeter someone everyone would want on their team? Of course. We can't however go as far as to say he is a great defensive shortstop. Like I said, the gold glove argument died when they took offensive statistics into consideration for a defensive award. They obviously started doing this when they gave guys like Rafael Palmero(who started a total of 28 games at 1st base) a gold glove.
//r00t 4 Jazz
Well-Known Member
Maybe it is just me but Giambi still looked safe to me, like tie goes to the runner type safe, however I am a yankee hater so my judgement is clouded no doubt.
He is over the course of his career a great SS even if he is currently a slightly above average SS with highly touted or renowned leadership skills. If you took contract size out of it I'm sure more teams then not would take him as their starting SS, however he is over paid and Jeter knew he had the yankees by the short hairs or they'd take a bad PR hit letting him go after giving all that $$$ to keep AfRod.
He is over the course of his career a great SS even if he is currently a slightly above average SS with highly touted or renowned leadership skills. If you took contract size out of it I'm sure more teams then not would take him as their starting SS, however he is over paid and Jeter knew he had the yankees by the short hairs or they'd take a bad PR hit letting him go after giving all that $$$ to keep AfRod.
It's just you. He was out, forever cementing his reputation as a bonehead player who was more interested in the perks of the game than playing the game.
I don't follow baseball a ton, so maybe this would apply to either brother and you could very well be talking about the correct one, but it was Jeremy Giambi who got out on the play, not Jason.
I know it was Jeremy. Jason also loves the perks, but he took the game fairly seriously. You can't be an MVP without being a fairly serious player; Jeremy was a bonehead and not sliding was one of the biggest bonehead plays ever.
I can't look up video of the play while at work, but was anybody (base coach, player on deck) calling for him to slide? It seems fairly obvious he should have known to do that on his own, but someone else should have been helping in that regard.
I think Ramon (?) Hernandez was waving him to slide.
trigg3r
Well-Known Member
Fixed. Obviously roiding didn't help his hand/eye coordination, but it sure didn't hurt his performance when he made contact.
I wondered how to fit roiding into the conversation and you did it perfectly.