Just a week left now. Seven days to get your last look at Derek Jeter, baseball player.
What you see is really a personal decision, just like when the Rolling Stones take the stage now or Robert De Niro goes after a Focker.
You may be the kind who loved the prime-aged versions so much, it bothers you little to not at all to watch the diminished product. Heck, you might have such nostalgia-covered glasses, you can convince yourself that “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and the jump throw are the same as they ever were.
Or you fall into the sadness camp, remembering De Niro was once compared to Brando and Jeter to DiMaggio, and now Jeter is having an offensive season comparable to something from the Horace Clarke collection.
Wherever you are positioned, understand that a major league front office has to do the cold calculus. After so many years when Jeter made it easier for Yankees brass to construct a team around a great, durable shortstop, this year was the opposite. This year the Yanks were trying to figure out how to win with a limited shortstop and feeble second-place hitter.
It really is about as horrible a spot as a front office can find itself in — not wanting to disrespect a beloved legend and anger fans while still trying to win because, if not, the fans will be angry.
The Yankees just have seven more days of it. However, you can see many places on the major league landscape involving teams dealing with a beloved, fading, homegrown icon where it already is uncomfortable with a forecast to grow worse.
Here are the top 10 looming Jeter problems:
1. Mets
David Wright might not be Jeter, but he is the Mets’ Jeter. Their captain, not to mention Captain America of the American World Baseball Classic team and winner of the Face of Baseball tournament run last spring by the MLB Network.
His popularity convinced the Mets to crowbar open their wallets and give Wright an eight-year, $138 million extension. But it is possible he is shot as a high-end player with six years at $107 million left after this season. He turns 32 in December, just had a .698 OPS, has significant shoulder and back injuries on his ledger and plays in a home park that suffocates his strengths.
Maybe the Citi Field fences will be pulled in further and his shoulder will fully heal and Wright will go back to impact in 2015. But it also is possible we will be hearing questions if he should be moved down in the order and play less a lot earlier in his career than Jeter endured.
2. Red Sox
On truth serum, do you think the Red Sox would rather have Dustin Pedroia or Mookie Betts play second base from now until 2021?
Boston was hailed for the team-friendliness of the eight-year, $110 million extension done with Pedroia — the Red Sox’s Jeter. But one year into that deal, the 31-year-old Pedroia again is done after needing thumb surgery, and his overall numbers have fallen for a third straight season, down to a .712 OPS. Betts is 21 and has a .790 OPS with growing power — a bright spot in a dark Red Sox season. He will be asked to play out of position in center for Pedroia.
3. Reds
Two years before they had to, the Reds signed Joey Votto to a 10-year, $225 million extension. He just played the first year on that contract. His worst year. His least healthy year. He is 31. There are nine years and $213 million left. Forget Jeter, Votto is about to become Cincy’s A-Rod, a financial albatross. Votto already was a lightning-rod player — adored by the stats crowd for his high on-base percentage, not so much by scouts who thought he should hit for more power and drive in more runs. Will he be doing either at a decent level even three years from now?
4. Twins
At the midway point of his eight-year, $184 million contract, Joe Mauer is no longer a catcher or an impact player. His four homers are the same as Jeter, his problems similar to Wright’s — a relatively new home park that sucks the life out of his power. Still, he has one fewer homer at Target Field this year than teammate Eduardo Nunez in more than twice as many at-bats. How long can the Twins — even with a Minnesota native — go with a third-place-hitting first baseman who produces this little oomph?
5. Nationals
Like Votto, Ryan Zimmerman signed an extension two years early, and his six-year, $100 million pact began this season when it became evident Wright’s childhood friend probably can’t play third anymore due to a combination of shoulder problems, throwing issues and Anthony Rendon blossoming into a star at the position in Zimmerman’s absence. Zimmerman is returning late this season from a torn hamstring, but to do what? The Nats won big without him. If he goes to left, Bryce Harper doesn’t play. If he goes to third, Rendon goes to second and defensive glue Asdrubal Cabrera doesn’t play. If he goes to first, Adam LaRoche doesn’t play.
And the questions don’t get easier moving forward. Cabrera and LaRoche can be free agents. LaRoche has a mutual $12 million option he likely will turn down. So Zimmerman can just go to first. But that leaves the injury-prone Harper as the lone lefty threat in the lineup. What to do?
6. Phillies
They have kept together three-quarters of their championship infield — Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins. At $8 million, Rollins’ final contractual season is next year. Utley is signed through next season with three options after that. Howard is due $25 million next year and a $10 million buyout on a $23 million 2016 option. At a time when even a hardheaded organization recognizes it held onto its title core too long and must rebuild, how do the Phillies navigate around these three historic players? It might get to the point where they just have to release Howard.
7. Rockies
Troy Tulowitzki wears No. 2 in honor of Jeter, and for a time it was imaginable that the Yanks would unload the farm for him to be Jeter’s successor. But now the injury-prone Tulo has needed the same hip surgery as Alex Rodriguez. He turns 30 next month. He has six years at $118 million left. And after all these years of the non-contending Rockies stubbornly refusing to deal their star, his value has deteriorated.
8. Rays
Tulowitzki’s Long Beach State teammate, Evan Longoria, also is injury-prone, though not this year. The problem is this is his worst season (.725 OPS). Like with Pedroia, Tampa Bay was hailed for the team-friendliness of the third baseman’s deal when it extended him in 2012. But with eight years at $122.5 million left, that now looks like a potential killer impediment for perhaps the smallest of small-market teams.
9. Tigers
Justin Verlander is another guy who was awarded an extension two years early (see a trend here?). When he signed, he was arguably the majors’ best pitcher. Now, he leads the majors in earned runs (103), which has his ERA at 4.68. While that has risen, his fastball has decreased in the last two years. And the five-year, $140 million extension does not begin until next season, when the righty will be 32.
10. Brewers
Ryan Braun teetered out of the beloved category after his steroid lies and suspension (though he is still way more appreciated in Milwaukee than anyplace else). But when he signed his five-year, $105 million extension in 2011 (that doesn’t even begin until 2016), he was a fair-haired boy. Now, he has trouble staying healthy and handling good fastballs. Braun’s .797 OPS, though still good, is down for a third straight year. And which team would trade for a declining player with a big contract and one of the worst reps in the game?