Jetting Jeter to the Outfield

Derek Jeter never had very good range at shortstop, but now it seems to be plummeting, and fast. Jeter, who always ranged well to his backhand and poorly to his glove-side, is now only average ranging to his backhand well below average ranging to his glove-side. 

For those of you who contest Jeter's poor defensive ability, look at the stats. According to baseball-reference.com, he has a 4.04 range factor in his career. Over his time in the league, the average shortstop has a 4.11 range factor. Jeter's range factor has decreased in every year since 2005 (4.56 in 2005, 3.97 in 2006, 3.80 in 2007 and 3.79 this year). Although Jeter still has soft hands in the field - he has a .980 fielding percentage this year - he is hurting the team too much at shortstop. Thus, I propose that it's time for Joe Girardi, Brian Cashman and the rest of the Yankees' organization to move Jeter to right field next year and start to find a replacement for him.

Bobby Abreu is a free agent at the end of the season. There will be a hole to fill in right field and Jeter would be the perfect player to fill it. He has always been great on pop-ups. The most impressive part of his game in the field is ranging back and towards the line for fly balls. He still has the arm to play right field, as exemplified by his almost-great backhanded jump-spin-and-throw play against Texas on Monday. 

You may ask, who would play shortstop if Jeter moves? If the Yanks are moving him for defensive reasons, they should be signing a defensively capable shortstop. Orlando Cabrera and Rafael Furcal are both free agents at the end of the season. Cabrera has great hands and a good arm in the field. Although he is not known for his hitting, he is competent at the plate. Furcal has good hands and a tremendous arm, not to mention that he was hitting .366 before he got hurt earlier this year.

If Derek Jeter is truly about the team, he will realize that his defense is only hurting the Yankees at this point. It would take an adjustment, but there is no reason Jeter can't be as good in right field as he was in the prime of his career at shortstop. Now, all the Yankees have to do is realize that Derek's not the player that he once was. The real question is: will they ever come to that realization?

- D. Spell