This Week In Yankees Baseball: ESPN´S Buster Olney Is Wrong About Derek Jeter

Well, hello there everybody, Welcome to This Week In Yankees Baseball. Breaking News. Buster Olney of ESPN has taken a shot at Derek Jeter and the Yankees. Well, listen here, Buster!

“Years from now, according to Olney, ¨there will be folks who worked for the New York Yankees this year who will say the same thing about Derek Jeter‘s final season — that the organization’s long-established devotion to winning games has been superseded by its effort to cast Jeter in the best possible light, pretending, with his placement in the field and the lineup, that he gives the team the best possible chance to win.¨

First of all, Buster, Jeter could have won the triple crown this year and that still would not have replaced the four starters that went down, and the numerous position players that have battled various ailments. Mark Teixeira, Jacoby Ellsbury, Martin Prado, Carlos Beltran, one after another. That´s not to make excuses. But none of that is Derek Jeter´s fault.

Just how well would you do without the guys who get you your information, Buster? Where would you be without your cameramen and the guys in the booth who work you into the telecast? I´ll tell you where you would be-nowhere. Jeter can´t do it by himself.

And Joe Girardi said very early in the season that he and the Yankees were here to win, not to run a farewell tour. How did you miss that? A player like Derek Jeter comes along only once in a generation. Those standing ovations are not only coming at Yankees Stadium. It is in every city that he goes. Name me one team in history, Buster, that has won the World Series without four of their five starters in the rotation. Come on, Mr. Baseball Encyclopedia, name me one.

There will never be another Derek Jeter. The captain of a ship may be old and may not have the physical skills that he once had. But he is kept on board because he is a leader. He has that intangible quality that the crew looks up to. That´s what Derek Jeter is, the Yankees leader. And when he is gone he will be missed tremendously.

So take that, Buster!