Yankees: Jeter Is Gone, But His Scent Permeates The Clubhouse

The Yankees shortstop and future Hall Of Famer is gone, but his scent still permeates the clubhouse. And the Baby Bombers are catching a whiff of it and reacting to it by winning. Because even if it’s only Spring Training, a pattern is developing that quickly gets passed on from player to player like the flu. Only this time, it’s not a disease, it’s a renaissance.

The Yankees invited Derek Jeter to spend a few days in camp this spring, and he obliged. He hung around and then took a bunch of players out for dinner to a Tampa steakhouse, answered questions, posed for pictures, and then went home to prepare himself for a new role in life as a father.

By all accounts, the Baby Bombers were rapt and engaged. But, here’s an interesting little footnote. Gleyber Torres wasn’t even born on the day that Jeter first stepped on the field as a New York Yankee.

And if Derek Jeter were Reggie Jackson, he might have worn his five championship rings to that dinner to make a statement, but he chose not to. Because that’s not The Jeter Way.

The Yankees Are Looking For “The Jeter Way.”

The Jeter Way is to prepare yourself adequately for every game and at-bat over the course of 162 grueling games that, for some, become monotonous and boring. And you show up at the ballpark on-time and ready to play with a built-in determination that says we’re going to win today.

But if you don’t win, because baseball is a game that accents failure where hitters in the Hall of Fame fail seven out of every ten at-bats, you come back the next day repeating what you did the day before. And striving to keep the highs from being too high and the lows from being too low.

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So far (including a loss to the Pirates on Monday), the Yankees have won three out of every four games they’ve played this spring. Nothing counts, not even the monstrous home run that Aaron Judge hit that put a permanent dent in the scoreboard at Boss Field. But at the same time, for the Yankees this spring, everything counts.

And that’s because this is a team that is struggling and will continue to fight, to find its identity. The team, as currently constructed, is a blend of the old and the new with aging veterans like Brett Gardner and CC Sabathia who are more than willing and able to mentor “the kids.” And then, you have the kids themselves who are trying to find their way to become a full-fledged major league ballplayer and a New York Yankee.

Derek Jeter provided, even above his 3400+ hits for the Yankees, not only a winning attitude but a cohesiveness that extended onto the playing field where it counts the most. Jeter knew that if Andy Pettite could get the ball to Mariano Rivera, the game was iced. And even if Pettite had an off day, he could rely on a middle reliever to do the same, and the game would still be iced.

You win, and you lose together

These Yankees must learn the same thing, and the good news is that, even with the disjointed conglomerate of lineups in Spring Training games, they are doing just that. Everyone contributes.

And that contribution doesn’t always make the box score the next day. For instance, Dellin Betances stood in awe of Gary Sanchez when he threw a runner out from his knees.

Betances will remember that, and not only because the Yankees criticized him for his inability to hold runners on last year. And from now on, he might say to himself, “Hey, if I can keep this guy a few inches closer to the bag, I know my catcher will throw him out.” That’s cohesiveness. That’s a clubhouse that is melding together.

It’s no secret in baseball. The clubs that win are the clubs that blend and form together. And you need to look no further that the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs last year to prove that. They gelled, they coagulated, they won.

The tone set by the Yankees so far this spring is set to accomplish that. And Jeter is gone, no doubt about that. But gone doesn’t have to mean forgotten.

Yankees: Four Takeaways From Spring Training 2017 So Far

Already, we've seen enough of the Yankees in Spring Training to reach some conclusions about the state of the team and its players.

You win, and you lose together. But just make you sure you show up at the ballpark each day with a winning mindset. The Yankees are doing just that, and the only challenge that remains is whether or not they can, not necessarily win every game because that’s virtually impossible, but can they expect to win every game they play.