Ripken "adapted" so well at age 35 that by his age 36 season he had adapted his way over to 3B.

Is this the active Yankees thread? Jose Veras DFA'd, folks!

Ripken "adapted" so well at age 35 that by his age 36 season he had adapted his way over to 3B.

That was a terrible baseball decision.

This article's okay as far as it goes, but what I'm really waiting for is the backlash to the backlash to the backlash to the backlash to the backlash to the anti-pro-anti-anti-pro-anti-Jeter backlash.

Ripken "adapted" so well at age 35 that by his age 36 season he had adapted his way over to 3B.

At the end of the 1996 season, it appeared to me that Ripken needed to put some air under the ball to make the longer throws from SS. Opponents were beating out balls in the hole that Cal had consistently turned into outs in his younger days. Now maybe it was just a temporary late-season arm strain, but it also may have been a problem that's not all that predictive of Jeter's fate, since he still seems to be throwing well.

but this wasn't a late-career adjustment for Ripken--he was ALWAYS a master at positioning and anticipation

FWIW I've seen about 75% of the Yankees' games this year, and Jeter HAS looked quite a bit better on defense, even on balls up the middle. Probably just a short term thing, but it's nice to see.

Ripken "adapted" so well at age 35 that by his age 36 season he had adapted his way over to 3B.

That was also the year Baltimore acquired the slick-fielding Mike Bordick, though I can't say whether that was cause or effect of Ripkin's move.

FWIW I've seen about 75% of the Yankees' games this year, and Jeter HAS looked quite a bit better on defense, even on balls up the middle. Probably just a short term thing, but it's nice to see.

I'd agree with that, he got a ball up the middle on someone--Church, maybe?--the other day that I had actually groaned when it was hit because I was sure it was a single.

Anyway, I'm sure he'll play through his bad ankle for a week and thereby tank both his offense and his defense for the rest of the year. Nice while it lasted.

Defensive statistics don’t necessarily provide a full picture of a player’s fielding ability.

Except when they says something good about our beloved Captain.

I wrote this yesterday because I was bothered by the Nationals announcers telling us that Jeter would have won more gold gloves earlier in his career except for the fact Omar Vizquel was blocking him:

Fact: Omar Vizquel won AL gold gloves every year from 1993 to 2001.

Fact: When Omar's streak was broken, the new gold glove shortstop was a guy who currently plays on the left side of the infield for the Yankees.

Fact: It was not Derek Jeter.

A-Rod broke the Vizquel streak, and had Vizquel declined/gotten hurt/been traded to the National league earlier, it is likely that A-Rod would have had a gold glove earlier, not Jeter. Jeter did break A-Rod's streak, of course, with some help from his manager and team, who decided to take A-Rod out of the competition.

Concur that Jeter has looked at least decent defensively this season.

Ripken "adapted" so well at age 35 that by his age 36 season he had adapted his way over to 3B.

There was talk of moving Ripken to 3B since his early days and I can't help but wonder if a lot of that was due more to Ripken not "looking" like a rangy no-hit shortstop like many of his contemporaries, and looking more like a 3B with his six foot plus frame and power bat, than anything to do with his defense.

but this wasn't a late-career adjustment for Ripken--he was ALWAYS a master at positioning and anticipation

Bill James' take on it was that part of it was that Ripken had an absolute gun of an arm, which allowed him to set up deeper, which allowed him to make more plays. Others have extolled his positioning and anticipation, and the statistics that I have seen bear out the fact that he was a truly excellent fielder for most of his career.

Jeter is right in the middle of the UZR pack for shortstops, this year.

Elvis Andrus -- 6.7
J.J. Hardy -- 5.8
Ryan Theriot -- 4.7
Marco Scutaro -- 4.5
Rafael Furcal -- 3.2
Jimmy Rollins -- 3.2
Alex Gonzalez -- 1.8
Derek Jeter -- 1.6
Alexei Ramirez -- 1.5
Hanley Ramirez -- 1.3
Erick Aybar -- 0.9
Troy Tulowitzki -- 0.6
Edgar Renteria -- -2.1
Yunel Escobar -- -4
Orlando Cabrera -- -5.2
Miguel Tejada -- -7
Yuniesky Betancourt -- -9.6

However, he was pretty much right in the middle of the pack last year in UZR, too:

Mike Aviles -- 15.6
Orlando Cabrera -- 14
Jimmy Rollins -- 12.8
Jack Wilson -- 9.7
Miguel Tejada -- 9.3
Cesar Izturis -- 9.2
J.J. Hardy -- 8.2
Erick Aybar -- 6.2
Omar Vizquel -- 4.9
Bobby Crosby -- 2.8
Jason Bartlett -- 2.1
Yunel Escobar -- 1.7
Ryan Theriot -- 0.4
Jose Reyes -- 0
Troy Tulowitzki -- -0.2
Derek Jeter -- -0.5
Hanley Ramirez -- -0.7
Edgar Renteria -- -0.9
Julio Lugo -- -1.2
Jhonny Peralta -- -1.2
Cristian Guzman -- -3.4
Michael Young -- -5.8
Khalil Greene -- -7.5
Yuniesky Betancourt -- -12.6
Stephen Drew -- -12.8
Jeff Keppinger -- -13.8

Jeter is right in the middle of the UZR pack for shortstops, this year.
However, he was pretty much right in the middle of the pack last year in UZR, too:

Which will make him the best SS in the league if he can keep up the 830 OPS and the stolen bases.

snapper, VORP suggests you are right. (Even more so considering that Bartlett has been on the DL for some time.)

Jason Bartlett -- 32.7
Derek Jeter -- 23.9
Marco Scutaro -- 22.7
Erick Aybar -- 7.8
Brendan Harris -- 6.7
Nick Green -- 6.7
Maicer Izturis -- 6.6
Julio Lugo -- 6
Elvis Andrus -- 5.7
Ramon Santiago -- 5.1
Omar Vizquel -- 4.7
Adam Everett -- 2.8
Alexei Ramirez -- 2.8
Cesar Izturis -- 1.8
Jhonny Peralta -- 1.8
Reid Brignac -- 0.3
Gil Velazquez -- -0.3
Robert Andino -- -2.7
Luis Hernandez -- -3
Jed Lowrie -- -3.3
Nick Punto -- -4.6
Yuniesky Betancourt -- -5
Tony Pena -- -5
Orlando Cabrera -- -7.2
Ronny Cedeno -- -8.4
Mike Aviles -- -9.9

There was talk of moving Ripken to 3B since his early days and I can't help but wonder if a lot of that was due more to Ripken not "looking" like a rangy no-hit shortstop like many of his contemporaries, and looking more like a 3B with his six foot plus frame and power bat, than anything to do with his defense.

Yes. But in his earliest days, the talk wasn't of moving Ripken to 3B, it was of keeping him at 3B, since that was where he mostly played in the minors, and that was where he played for most of the first half of 1982.

And here comes the snark!

Concur that Jeter has looked at least decent defensively this season

Well when you wallow like a bottom feeder on the defensive rankings for so long, the only way to go is UP!

However, in saying that(and as a Red Sox fan, it pains me to type this), and considering the woe my guys have had to suffer over the past few years, he's been much better than what the Sox have thrown out there for some time...

Yes. But in his earliest days, the talk wasn't of moving Ripken to 3B, it was of keeping him at 3B, since that was where he mostly played in the minors, and that was where he played for most of the first half of 1982.

Curses! Beaten to the punch!

Ripken played 220 games at third in the minors, and 60 at short.

I have no evidence from this season, and I'm not disputing whether it's accurate. However, it is so unlikely to be accurate that this statement:

Jeter getting better with age on defense

might be my favorite headline of the year.

It's not about Jeter, it's about the sheer unlikelihood of any shortstop getting "better with age" past the age of what, mid-20s? Sure, there's positioning and some other stuff with experience. After that, when even any what have to be rapidly diminishing marginal gains in experience start competing with the effects of aging, which robs explosiveness and blinding, lightning-quick reflexes first? And only then we add in the fact that the guy in question's biggest weakness has always been his first step, and that he's 34, about to be 35, and has not just 15 seasons and 2000 games behind him, he's got almost another entire season of only postseason games on top?

Come on.

Well when you wallow like a bottom feeder on the defensive rankings for so long, the only way to go is UP!

That's only true if there was some bad luck/distortion in the ratings to cause him to rank that low. If he was really, truly, a -25/-30 run defender, you'd expect age to make him even worse, to the point where his play was so obviously bad that even Michael Kay would be screaming to replace him.

My current guess: He was a bad defender, but not worse than -10 runs or so true talent, has kept himself in good enough shape to avoid the age related decline so far, and is playing a bit over his head right now. If I had to bet on his UZR from now to season's end, I'd say he plays at a -10 pace.