Bronx is Boiling: Replacing a Yankees Legend?

By Wayne Cavadi | Dec 8, 2014

The New York Yankees offseason got a little exciting this past week. They amped up their super bullpen with a big-time lefty addition. The left side of the infield found a little more clarity with the addition of a new short stop. And the rotation now has a hole open that maybe, just maybe, Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners will go after Max Scherzer to fill.

The big trade of the week has had quite a few people commenting. I think the trade was a steal. It isn’t so much the comments on the actual trade that has me reeling. It’s the shoes they are making young Didi Gregorius attempt to fill, when in reality, he doesn’t have to at all. The Bronx is boiling and I need to blow some steam.

THE NEW LOOK YANKEES

The Yankees pulled off a great trade in sending away Shane Greene for Gregorius. A lot of people are down because Greene was fantastic last season and Gregorius is still unproven. Here’s the thing about Shane Greene, folks. He has had a very inconsistent minor league career, with none of his years ever equating to what he did in his big league debut in 2014.

The Yankees caught lightening in a bottle, and in all honesty, if there weren’t a ton of injuries, most Yankees fans wouldn’t know who Greene even was. His value was sky high based on a small sample size. May he wind up a great fixture in the Tigers rotation? Maybe, but the numbers don’t suggest that. They made a killer move trading someone with high value that may lose it by midseason.

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That trade brought in Didi Gregorius. Gregorius was once a Top 100 prospect by both Baseball America and MLB.com. He’s struggled in the majors with plate discipline but has been pretty decent with the glove. And now he is “replacing” Derek Jeter.

This is absurd. No one ever, ever will replace Derek Jeter. It is insane to believe that anyone can. No one will match the stats, no one will match the late-game heroics and no one will match the post season leadership Jeter brings to the field. No one has to, either.

The Yankees history is full of legends and lore and none of them have ever been replaced. Want proof? How many of you were rooting for the Dodgers this past offseason simply because they are managed by one of the best Yankees of our generation. I love Tino Martinez, he was a solid anchor in the middle of the late-Yankees dynasty, but he didn’t replace Don Mattingly.

Jeter was unique beyond stats. If Gregorius goes out and hits .360 with 48 home runs and 163 RBI, people will still miss Jeter. If Gregorius helps turn around the Yankees past two sorry seasons and wins a World Series, he still won’t replace Jeter. It’s silly, and unfair to Gregorius, to even breathe that sentence.

How do you replace Jeter? Jeter is part of the Core Four. Gregorius is the youngest Yankee to crack the starting line-up in awhile. Jeter was a homegrown talent that was almost born to be a Yankee and not only played, but defined 20 years of Yankees baseball. This is Gregorius’s third team in four years. I’m willing to bet the casual Yankees fan didn’t even know who he was until five days ago.

Simply playing a position does not replace a legend. Gregorius could never bring what Jeter brought to the table. Jeter was the kid who failed in his first 1995 stint, but we all waited for to come back.

Jeter was the kid that came back the following season, won Rookie of the Year and was a major component in the first World Series title in a decade and a half. Jeter was the quiet leader of the greatest dynasty of the end of the 20th century. No matter what Gregorius ever does in pinstripes, he can never do all of that.

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