Jeter moving down in lineup “not even an option”

Via Marc Carig, if the Yanks decide to move Derek Jeter down in the lineup it won’t be out of the top three spots. Kevin Long said that Jeet moving out of the upper third of the batting order is, as the headline suggests, “not even an option.”

I wonder if that would be the case if his name wasn’t Derek Jeter.

Let’s cut right to the chase here. Gardner should absolutely be hitting leadoff, that’s not even up for discussion and some Yankees higher-ups (see: Hank Steinbrenner) have said they want Gardy leading off. He had a team-best .383 OBP last year and is too fast not to be at the top spot.

And Tex isn’t moving out of the third spot, so by process of elimination that means Captain will most likely be in the two hole (which, ironically, is what she said). Do the Yanks really want a guy who hit into 22 double plays last year (the second most of his career; he had 24 GIDPs in 2008) and will be 37 in June batting in that spot?

In Jeet’s defense, his numbers against lefties were pretty good last year. I wouldn’t be opposed to keeping him in the top three spots against southpaws, but this guy needs to swallow his pride and accept a drop in the lineup.