Derek Jeter Out For Season, Not Forever

It’s been quite a run for The Jeet.

For the second consecutive year New York Yankees star Derek Jeter has had his season cut short by injury. Last October he broke his ankle in Game 1 of a playoff series against the Detroit Tigers. Jeter sustained the injury in the 12th inning while diving to grab a grounder to the left of second base.

This season Jeter struggled mightily to get healthy and get back on the field for the Yanks. Having played a career average of 151 games per season between 1996 and 2012, it marked the first time since his rookie season that Jeter wasn’t a staple in the lineup.

Just one year after he led the MLB in plate appearances (740), at-bats (683) and hits (216), Jeter played just 17 games in 2013 and recognized his repeated attempts to come back at less than 100 percent haven’t been beneficial to the team. Said Jeter:

“If you can’t play how you’re capable of playing or what you’re used to doing, then you’re really not helping out. If I’m not able to play how I want to play, then I’m not benefiting the team.”

Would you expect anything less from him at this point? Jeter has been one of the most reliably productive—not to mention likable—players in baseball for nearly two decades. He has earned the right to make decisions like this himself, on his own timetable.

And he certainly evaluated his current situation correctly, choosing to remove himself from the conversation entirely as the Yankees battle the division rival Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles for a playoff spot in the final three weeks of the season.

Of course Jeter may be out of the conversation for the remainder of this season, but speculation about his future has already begun. Next June he’ll turn 40, which means a comeback is anything but certain. Not that he sees it that way…

Two hours after being placed on the disabled list, Jeter sat down for a media session and commented on those who had been commenting about him:

“A lot of end talk here. … You guys want this to be the end for me? … Just because of an ankle injury? … You don’t start thinking about the end because of an injury. There’s no doubt in my mind I’ll get back to where I was.”

The last thing anyone wants this to be is the end for Jeter. Speculation on his future hasn’t reached a fever pitch because they want to see him gone, quite the opposite really.

There’s a generation of young fans that have never known baseball without Derek Jeter. And there’s a generation right ahead of them that may have experienced the game without him, but today that time is nothing but a distant memory.

So you can’t blame the media for asking the question on the mind of millions of fans who aren’t quite ready to say goodbye. Not that we’ll all be ready to say goodbye next season, but he’s Derek F*&@$!#G Jeter for crissakes and he deserves a far better sendoff than what he’s stuck with this year.

And if he says he’s coming back next season, well then that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

The Jeet would never toy with our emotions like that.