Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - July 12, 2013

The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast focuses on The Bronx today.

The Yankees plan of waiting for the veterans to save them might be imploding. Why can't Yankee fans just cheer for this team of overachievers instead of pining for the past?

Edwin Jackson, Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Moore and Freddie Freeman  all owned baseball on July 11, 2013.


To see the up to date tally of "Who Owns Baseball?," click HERE.
Subscribe on iTunes HERE.

Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - July 12, 2013

Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - May 23, 2013

The Giants remind me of the Yankees.

Specifically the current San Francisco Giants remind me of the Joe Torre Yankees of the 1990's and early 2000's.

I make the comparison today on The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast, Remove all the negative associations with the Yankees and bear with me. The analogy makes sense.
 
Jose Bautista, C. J. Wilson, Francisco Liriano and Carlos Gonzalez all owned baseball on May 22, 2013.

To see the up to date tally of "Who Owns Baseball?," click HERE.

Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - May 23, 2013


 

Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - February 1, 2013

Travis Hafner signed a contract to be the Yankees DH... because they had a shortage of aging veterans with injury issues.

The main reason he was signed? Because he once beat the Yankees in the post season.

It makes sense on The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast!


 Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - February 1, 2013

I may hate the Yankees, but Jeter breaking his ankle sucks

I am no Yankee fan. I get some sick pleasure in seeing Derek Jeter at the end of a Yankee series loss where he stares off and looks angry.

I took no pleasure in seeing Derek Jeter's ankle give out on him.
This stinks. I like seeing the Yankees at full strength lose.

But seeing a player get hurt is awful.

This loss would have been devastating for the Yankees had Jeter played the whole game. They would have wasted Pettitte's outing and the Ibanez home run.

The loss at home put the Yankees in a 0-1 hole knowing that Justin Verlander will be waiting for them in Detroit for Game 3.

Game 2 became a must win for the Yankees and one they will be playing tomorrow afternoon, their fifth straight day with a game.

But now the shadow of Jeter will cast a pall over the game.

The team can't hit. And now they lost their leader. And this was the same year that they lost Mariano Rivera.

The cruel irony is this would not have happened had Ibanez struck out.
If the Yankees lost in 9 innings, Jeter would be ready to play tomorrow.

Instead he is gone and who knows if he will ever play shortstop again.

Someone needs to take the leadership role of the team.

But the 2012 season might be over for the Yankees.
I take glee in seeing the Yankees eliminated.

I take no pleasure in seeing their fallen captain taken off the field.

The 15 Greatest Moments for Losing World Series Teams - My new piece for Bleacher Report

My first contribution to Bleacher Report is a compilation of the best moments in World Series history by the losing team.

Cookie Lavagetto breaking up a no hitter... Bob Gibson's domination of the Tigers... Fisk's homer... the post 9/11 World Series and the heroic Yankees... All amazing moments. And NONE were World Champs that year.

Read the whole article here.

The Yankees replace Jeter with a .300 hitter

I hate it when reality messes up a perfectly lazy prewritten scenario.
I mean all year haven't we been saying how Jeter is just an average hitter now and that he was dead weight.

And here he is batting .353 since coming off the DL and has his season average at .300.

Damn it. How can we write the same story over and over if it is no longer factual?

As for today's Yankees/A's game. Forgive me if I thought the A's were going to win when they were up 7-1.

I didn't think the Yankees were going to get 3 grand slams in the same game.

I guess we all learn.

Who was the "Player of the Game" for the Yankees today?

5 for 5 including the game winning hit and his 3,000th hit?
OK, color me impressed.

My hat is tipped to you Mr. Jeter.
Now I hope your team goes on a terrible slump.

I hope whoever caught Jeter's homer sells it for top dollar

Seriously, the Hall of Fame can have Jeter's helmet, hat. uniform, bat and jockstrap.
No need for the ball.

Whoever caught the ball should sell it and send their kids to City College undergrad and Baruch College business school courtesy of Jeter's 3,000.

I had to watch the Rays broadcast for Jeter's 3,000

I don't think I could handle hearing the Yankees broadcasters for this.

I couldn't handle the term "Jeterian".

Congrats Derek.

You don't have much to do on your Bucket List.

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I suppose I should have wanted the Rays to lose but...

It is too much fun seeing the Yankees unravel like this.
6 losses in a row?
Blowing a 5-1 lead?
Seeing A. J. Burnett showing that those initials stand for "Awww Jeez"?
The Posada nonsense still hanging over the team?
O-fers for Jeter and A-Rod and Teixeria?
Nearly dropping to .500?

And oh yeah, the Red Sox in a virtual tie.
It is too good.

I know the idea is to win the Division... but Yankee misery is so wonderful.

Is Jorge Posada classy or a diva?

Joe Girardi put slumping Jorge Posada in the 9th spot in the lineup for today's Red Sox - Yankees game.

This isn't a situation like Jason Varitek's miserable start. The Sox captain is batting ninth with his rotten numbers because the pitching staff just doesn't like throwing to Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Posada is no longer a catcher. He is a DH. His ONLY job is to hit. And roughly 25% of the way he is doing anything BUT that.

He has no batting average, his on base percentage sucks, he has 8 extra base hits total and is slower than dial up service.

Where is a bat like that supposed to hit?

Cleanup?

Girardi put him 9th because there is no 10th spot.

And he asked out of the game.

Now there are two different scenarios for what happened. And they are at the polar opposites of the "Respect Meter."

FIRST SCENARIO...

Posada shows what a great teammate he is

He realizes that his bat has become a liability and tells his former teammate and current manager Girardi "Look, this is a Red Sox and Yankees game. We need to win this game. Put someone else in the lineup. And let's go get them!"

The rest of the team see what a great Yankee he is and this is used in the last act of the Yankeeography.

SECOND SCENARIO...

Posada shows was a Diva he is...

If Posada is insulted by batting 9th and if he asked to be taken out, then he is a bigger diva than Aretha Frankin ever was.

Do you know why?

Because when you are batting .165 with 38 total bases in 32 games, you are lucky that you aren't designated for assignment.

Seriously, shouldn't he be kissing Girardi's buttocks for keeping him in the lineup? Is Joe supposed to have him higher in the line up for old time's sake?

That didn't work for Tessio, why would that work for Posada?

There are already rumors going around the internet that there was some sort of hissy fit. Could you imagine if A-Rod had made a hissy fit when Joe Torre dropped him to 8th in the 2006 Division Series? And that was a year removed from an MVP season for Rodriguez.

Posada is a 39 year old former catcher who can't hit. Yes, he has given the Yankees 14+ seasons of All Star championship caliber play. But he stinks now.

The Yankees stars seem to want to be rewarded for their past excellence. This is reminding me of Derek Jeter's shockingly petty press conference where he complained that he had to actually go and become a free agent.

Wahhhhh! I should just be automatically given a huge contract.

Now if Posada is saying "Wahhhhhh I want to bat higher in the lineup because I got that hit off of Pedro in 2003" then the super classy Yankees for life are showing a very unclassy side.

For now, I will give Posada the benefit of the doubt.

If the rumors are true... then we are in Diva land!

Aww... Wittle Derek's Feelings Got Hurt

Now before I get bombarded with Yankee fan e mails calling me a gutless, hating Red Sox fan, let me get a few things out of the way.

1) Derek Jeter is a great Yankee.

2) Derek Jeter has been a wonderful superstar.

3) Derek Jeter belongs in the Hall of Fame.

4) I would have loved to have seen Derek Jeter in a Red Sox uniform.

5) I have praised Jeter on this blog with this post, this post and this post. And I defended Jeter FROM Yankee fans on this post. So I've been as positive and fair minded as a lifelong Red Sox fan can be about #2.

Did you catch all of that?

Good.

Now let's get to the heart of this.
He went from winner to WHINER with that press conference.

Ooooo... free agency was so tough.

Listening to him complain through that press conference was a little startling because he's always played the media game so well. But this should have been the easiest press conference in history.

"All the business stuff aside, I am proud to be a Yankee and hammer this contract out. I know they wanted me back and I wanted to come back. It took a little bit of time but we're here and let's win number 28."

Boom. Easy. Simple. Totally forgettable.

Instead we have tripe like "I was more angry at the process and how I was being portrayed."

Really?
You mean being portrayed as someone asking WAY more than the open market would ever get you?

Because that's what happened.

"I heard greed."

It's funny. So did we. We heard a guy who had already been paid incredibly well for his services and clearly well into the last half of his career essentially being asked to be paid AGAIN for what he did in the past.

But the worst thing was when he said "When the organization says, ’go shop’ when I said I wasn’t going to, yeah, I wasn’t happy about it."

Sorry, but I have to call B.S. on this.

You weren't happy about being asked to find what your actual worth on the open market was? You weren't happy being told "Hey, before we keep shoveling more money to you, how's about seeing what OTHER PEOPLE think your price tag is"?

I wrote that that was the only fair thing to do. To truly find the REAL market value of Derek Jeter and see if the Yankees would match it.

Guess what Derek? The Yankees wanted to make a decision on whether or not to keep you based on reality, not on Yankee prices.

And do you know what? When other teams do that, Derek Jeter has benefitted.

Other teams make decisions of whether or not to keep a player based on the actual open market price. And many times those decisions lead to teams saying "We're not going to match the market price."

And lookee here!
Jeter, did you like playing with John Wetteland?
Jimmy Key?
David Cone?
David Wells?
Roger Clemens?
Chuck Knoblauch?
David Justice?
Mike Mussina?
Jason Giambi?
CC Sabathia?

The Yankees got all of them either through free agency or salary dumps because their original teams didn't ante up.

So you had no problem when OTHER teams made decisions based on costs.

But not when it came to you.
You had to be paid like an elite player, even though you are not anymore, for your intangibles, for which you've been made a millionaire nearly 200 times over.

And he STILL got paid at least twice what any other team would pay him. The Yankees raised the offer even though no other team was bidding on him.

If you ask me it sounds like an awesome process.

Hank... you are no George

I never want to hear Hank Steinbrenner try to talk tough about the players ever again.
It's like hearing Julian Lennon. You kind of look like your dad and sound like him... but you aren't the real thing.

He tried to talk tough about Jeter and his contract and how they don't owe him anything.
And guess what? The Yankees caved.

Was ANYONE ELSE offering Jeter a contract remotely close to what he signed? Of course not.
Does the contract make sense in terms of his market value? Not a chance.
Was he already generously paid over a 10 year contract as an elite player? You bet.

But the Yankees, bidding against nobody and holding all sorts of contract leverage folded like a tent.

You think George in his hey day would have stood for this?

Hank is all bark.
Jeter knew this from the start and knew that he was going to get a sweetheart deal even if nobody else in baseball would offer him HALF of that contract.

Now the love fest will begin and Jeter is indeed a great Yankee... and like any great Yankee, he squeezed every last dime out of the franchise while people praised his loyalty.

Would someone else PLEASE bid on Derek Jeter?

Derek Jeter will be a New York Yankee in 2011.
Everyone on the planet Earth knows that.

I am sure there is a bushman in the Kalahari desert bewildered by a Coke bottle who when asked about Jeter's contract status would reply "Jeter? *Click* He's not going anywhere! *Click*"

And yet both Jeter and management are playing out a bizarre charade as if he could play elsewhere.

One Yankee executive (whose name probably rhymes with "Pank Peinbrenner") asked "Where is he going to go? Cincinnati?"

As if the idea of a player ending his career in a place other than the Bronx is so insane.

And Jeter's agent is "baffled" by the fact that the Yankees are offering a shortstop closer to 40 than to 35 ONLY a three year deal that would keep paying him as one of the elite players in the game.

And all the Jeter defenders are waxing poetic about Jeter's place among legends like DiMaggio and Mantle and shouldn't the Yankees pay him for his leadership qualities and what he has done in the past for the Yankees?

As if he took less money to play for the Yankees when he signed that 10 year, $189 million contract.

As if HE went to third to make room when a superior shortstop came to town.

Wasn't he already well compensated for past services rendered?

So I have a crazy way to settle this nonsense... have Jeter go out on the open market!
See what he is worth! And then have the Yankees match the best offer.

Isn't that the fair thing?

That way we get to see how fair the Yankee offer is... and we get to see what Jeter's loyalty to the Yankees truly is.

I suggested in a tongue and cheek manner that the Pirates should make a bid for him.

But Vince Caramela at the Hardball Times broke down Jeter's possible destinations.
And Peter Abraham at the Boston Globe speculated about Jeter collecting his 3,000 hit in a Red Sox uniform.

So go out there and find a number.

And Yankees, see what he is worth and consider if you want to ante up.
Even iconic franchise players can part ways with their teams.

The 49ers parted ways with Joe Montana.
The Bruins said toodleloo to Bobby Orr.

In baseball even the likes of Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg and Christy Mathewson wrapped up their careers elsewhere.

And oh yeah, Babe Ruth finished his career as a Boston Brave.

Perhaps the Yankees might say "Do you know what? We're not going to match the Padres offer."
And in a way, can you blame them?

They signed Jorge Posada to a "let's be loyal to our boys" contract after the 2007 off season. Not one team could possibly have offered him 3 years... the Yankees gave him 4. And he was worthless after 2 seasons.

Maybe they don't want to get in the habit of over compensating for players they have already paid a fortune for.

And if Jeter signed elsewhere, I NEVER want to hear a Yankee fans complain. The Yankees and their fans treat each off season like a Brewster's Millions spending spree with the automatic assumption that each and every star will eventually wear pinstripes.

It wouldn't kill the fan base to see a Yankee legend wear someone else's uniform.

All of this insanity can be solved the good old fashioned American way.
Find out Jeter's worth and decide to pay it or not.

That way there is no question.
Is the Yankee offer an insult? If it beats the market, then obviously it isn't.
Is being a Yankee the most important thing to Jeter? If he resigns for less money, then no doubt.

Of course because I am a Red Sox fan, I will get accused of slighting Derek Jeter. I practically wrote a love letter to Jeter last year. He's obviously a Hall of Famer and a great Yankee.

He is clearly the last Yankee to ever wear #2.

But he HAS been paid for the intangibles. Now? He should play what he is WORTH.

SO come on, other teams... let's set the price and see if the Yankees will blink.

I guess I have to address the Derek Cheater incident

Derek Jeter did the whole Caddyshack "Ow my arm" routine a few days ago and frankly I didn't give a damn.

Yeah, I thought it was kind of silly but all I cared about was the Yankees lost the game.

Of course if the Yankees WON the game (and they took the lead after Granderson's homer) I would probably be a little P.O.ed, but I saw it as karma.

But man, if you read my e mail box, you would have thought I was Walter Cronkite not giving his opinions about the moon landing.

I only have 3 thoughts on the subject:

1 - JETER SHOWS THE ADVANTAGE OF HAVING GOOD WILL IN THE BANK.

Take note, Colby Rasmus, who thinks he is already good enough to be making waves in St. Louis. If you act like a pro for 16 years and do everything right, you can get a pass when you do something kind of Bush League.

The great Lisa Swan pointed out the double standard between how Jeter has been treated in this situation and how A-Rod was treated on things like yelling "HA!" or slapping Arroyo's glove in the 2004 ALCS.

Imagine if Manny Ramirez, Milton Bradley, Miguel Cabrera or A. J. Pierzynski tried to pull this off.

2 - INSTANT REPLAY ANYONE?

We ALL saw almost instantly (and while Joe Maddon was still arguing) that the ball hit the bat. It wasn't a matter of opinion... it was a matter of fact. EVERYONE on the planet Earth could see what the correct call was, except the people who actually make the calls.

Folks, this could have been all taken care of in one minute with zero controversy.

But of course that would make too much sense. We CAN'T have that!
(Insanity).

3 - THIS IS A REFRESHING CONTROVERSY

It wasn't that long ago that when people called out cheaters, it was because they were injecting hormones designed for horses into their buttocks.

This is more fun. It's silly and in the end harmless. There will be no Senate panels and parents of dead kids saying "My son pretending to be hit like a pitch like Derek Jeter... AND NOW HE'S DEAD!"

And it goes to something I wrote before... cheating will ALWAYS be tolerated in baseball. People will just have trouble with things that are against the law.

It's subtle.

That's all I got.
Back to baseball.

The Pirates should TRY to sign Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter is going to be a free agent at the end of this year and it is a foregone conclusion that he will resign with the Yankees.

He's given the Yankees 16 seasons and is only 102 hits away from being the first Yankee to reach 3,000.

And of course he is the most beloved New York sports star in the last quarter century. (Seriously, who has come close?)

All of that being said... this should not be a free agency where he gets no other bids.

The Pirates need to throw in a bid.

Yup. I am dead serious.

So all of you Pirate fans who think I am picking on you guys... I am not. There is some logic to my insanity.

The Pirates have been bad for so long that there are Pirate fans who can legally buy a drink and have no memory of their team winning 82 games in a season... and not because they are drunk.

And guess what? That is now the identity of the team. In Buster Olney's great book The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, he wrote about Luis Sojo's brief time in Pittsburgh. Sojo was stunned how there was complacency in the clubhouse that they are simply not going to contend.

That was 10 seasons ago. They haven't come close to relevance since and are currently the worst team in baseball.

But as I wrote before, there is some hope for the 2011 team. They are cobbling together some nice talent, including Pedro Alvarez at third and an outfield of Jose Tabata, Andrew McCutchen and the grizzled 25 year old veteran Lastings Milledge. Plus there are some decent arms that are going through some growing pains.

I was thinking about teams that made and unexpected turn arounds over the years.
I can think of teams like the 1986 Red Sox... 1988 Dodgers... the 1991 Twins and Braves... the 2006 Tigers... the 2008 Rays.

Each of those teams had a new comer who had post season experience and simply wouldn't tolerate losing. And it rubbed off.

Don Baylor came into the Red Sox clubhouse and helped turn a fractured team into almost a World Series winner.

Kirk Gibson stormed out of the Dodgers spring training when he felt there was too much joking. He led by example and even homered when he couldn't walk.

The 1991 World Series was between teams that were in last place the year before. Charlie Liebrandt helped anchor Atlanta's rotation and Terry Pendleton had an MVP season sparking the line up. Meanwhile the Twins imported Jack Morris to the rotation and 10 innings in Game 7 later, the Twins were champs.

Jim Leyland turned the 2006 Tigers around with some help from Pudge Rodriguez, who started the change in the culture a few years prior.

And importing some veterans like Cliff Floyd transformed Tampa from the laughing stock of baseball to a pennant winner.

Now of course each of these teams won because their talent clicked... but you can point to those veterans who helped turn the proverbial rag tag bunch of also rans into contenders.

Which brings us to the Pirates.
They desperately need someone to help change the culture and stop the "They haven't been above .500 since 1992" clock.

They need someone to tell Milledge and Alvarez how to play the game and not let the Pirates be content with losing.

And we're not even pining for a World Series winner. An 82-80 record will get the monkey off their back.

Who commands more respect than Jeter?
Who do you think would be LESS tolerant of a clubhouse that has all the peppiness of a Droopy cartoon?

The players would play UP to his level... or at least try to the same way any of us try to do a good job when someone we respect is watching us.

The Pirates NEED to go into this free agency period and put in an offer for him and do it publicly.

Now do the Pirates have a shot?
Of course not. Jeter is a Yankee for life. We all know it. And the Yankees will out bid the Pirates in a matter of nanoseconds.

And in the end the Pirates won't have to spend the money they bid.
But at least it would be a positive gesture.

And telling their fans "We see what part of the problem is" is a start.

(But man, wouldn't it be cool to see him in Gold and black?)

Yankee fans are throwing Jeter under the bus? This Red Sox fan WON'T HAVE IT!

Wow... it is a strange world we live in. I am a Red Sox fan and I am coming to the defense of Derek Jeter who is being dog piled by Yankee fans.

Even Bizarro finds this odd.

Yesterday I gave Jeter what I thought was a deserved tip of the cap for his class and understanding his role on the team.

Kind of a quick harmless post from me. And it is good ammo against anyone who says I don't give the Yankees any credit.

I figured that was that and I would move on with my life.

But nooooooooooooooo.

I got a few comments on my page and even more private e mails from people all KILLING Derek Jeter.

My cousin Chris e mailed me wanting to know my opinion on Jeter not being at Bob Sheppard's funeral.

Lisa at Subway Squawkers, one of my favorite New York baseball sites, is on Jeter's case.
So is John Harper at the Daily News.
And Bill Madden at the Daily News.
And Mike Mazzeo from the Star Ledger.

And I bet a lot more if I had the time or energy to look more.

REALLY? We're really going to throw Jeter under a bus?
We're going to act like Derek Jeter hasn't been 100% respectful of the Yankee tradition and specifically the legacy of Bob Sheppard this whole time?

After all Jeter has done in a Yankee uniform, and this is coming from a Red Sox fan, to represent its tradition, its titles, its link to the past and its place in New Yorkers lives, you are telling me Jeter has NOTHING in the bank in terms of credit?

This is not some knucklehead like Ben Roethlisberger or some Rent a Yankee who couldn't get out of town fast enough like Randy Johnson. This isn't a dope like Vince Coleman who didn't know who Jackie Robinson was or Jack McDowell flipping off the Yankee fans.

This is the captain of the team.
This is the man who continued to have Sheppard's voice announce him when they went to the new stadium.
He's the one who paid tribute to him and The Boss in front of 50,000+ fans and did so without notes and was clearly choked up.

He's earned the benefit of the doubt.
If he wasn't at the funeral then he should be given a pass. There was probably a reason. Maybe it was a "if the whole team doesn't go, then nobody should go" thing. Maybe it was a "we will pay tribute our way... publicly and in a heartfelt way."

Whatever it was... maybe you shouldn't jump to the conclusion that he did the wrong thing or isn't showing class.

This isn't Steve Howe. It's Derek Jeter... and some day there will be a day for him in the Bronx and will have earned it. (I am assuming he has earned it. According to some Yankee fans he evidently still needs to prove his reverence for the franchise.)

By the way, the next time one of you Yankee fans accuse me of just slamming your team, remember how I came to your captain's defense.

(But if you don't give Jeter credit, what hope do I have?)

Say what you want about Derek Jeter... he gets it

He's a guy who understands exactly who he is and what his role is with the team.

He knows that he represents the link to Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra and Ford.
He knows that when there is a tremendous shift in Yankeedom, they don't turn to A-Rod or the latest superstar.

Losing Steinbrenner AND Bob Sheppard back to back? That's a double punch that nobody could have imagined.

He is self aware of his role and knows that someday he'll have a monument out there.

He's entered that territory for Boston fans that Magic Johnson eventually entered:
You couldn't stand to face him, but you have to respect him.

And to think the Marlins almost got him for Bryan Harvey!

Derek Jeter's Bucket List

First of all it makes me sick that I am going to be referring to the movie The Bucket List in this post.

I don't know anyone who liked that movie, and yet its title has become a pretty efficient short hand of describing an essential to do list while facing a definite deadline.

So damn you Rob Reiner for sneaking that expression into our vocabulary.

But I am going to apply it to Derek Jeter's career.

Jeter doesn't have a lot left to accomplish in his career.
He's a five time World Series Champion.
He's been a World Series MVP.
He's had post season heroics.
He has hit 20 post season homers including a walk off shot in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series.
He's won the Hank Aaron Award twice.
He's won the Roberto Clemente Award.
He's a 4 time Silver Slugger Award winner.
He's a 4 time Gold Glove winner.
He won Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year.
He has more hits than any Yankee player ever.
He has become the Yankee captain.
He is the biggest New York sports star of his generation.
He has played 14+ seasons in New York without great controversy nor scandal.
He had the last great moment in the old Yankee Stadium with his impromptu thank you to the fans.
He appeared on Seinfeld.
He slept with Mariah Carey (as Chris DeLuca would say, back when that meant something!)


He has a place in Cooperstown secure for him.

AND his #2 is a lock to be retired and he will be mentioned for all time as one of the great champions in the pantheon of heroes in the most glorious franchise in baseball.

(Forgive me as this Red Sox fan just threw up as he wrote that last sentence.)

What else could he POSSIBLY have left on his to do list?

I am NOT going to say "Win the AL MVP." He has no real control over that and he SHOULD have won it in 2006. No offense Justin Morneau, but you weren't even the most valuable TWIN that year! (Joe Mauer, Johan Santana and I would argue Joe Nathan were more valuable for their division title that year.)

But there are a few things he can do that will, if you can believe it, make his legacy even greater.


1. GET 253 MORE HITS TO JOIN THE 3,000 HIT CLUB

It's hard to believe with all their legends over the years, the Yankees have yet to have anyone get 3,000 hits in pinstripes.

Heck, nobody has 2,800 hits in pinstripes for that matter.

Jeter is the All Time hits leader for the Yankees, but 2,747 isn't a round number. Get to 3,000 and reach the gold standard.


2. STEAL 22 MORE BASES AND BECOME THE YANKEES ALL TIME STOLEN BASE CHAMPION

As of this writing, Rickey Henderson is the Yankees all time stolen base champion. No offense to Rickey, but he was a rented Yankee.

A franchise like the Yankees should have a Yankee under the "All Time" title.



3. WIN AT LEAST ONE MORE WORLD SERIES

Trust me, it is super rough for me to type that.

And with all the superstars in history, what difference would a 6th ring make for Jeter.

First of all, it will give him the same number of titles as Michael Jordan, the modern gold standard of champions.

Also no player has won as many as 6 World Series rings since Mickey Mantle retired with 7 after the 1968 season.

6 World Series rings would equal the total of Whitey Ford and Lefty Gomez (and a bunch of other role players like Bob Cerv who happened to play for the Yankees at the right time.)


4. MAKE SURE ROBINSON CANO BECOMES THE NEXT GREAT YANKEE

Cano is already an All Star, finished in the top 10 for batting average twice and has a World Series ring.

Most people would be content with a career like that. But he is sharing the middle of the infield with a legend.

And seeing that he is Jeter's junior by 9 years, it is reasonable to assume Cano will be around after Jeter hangs them up. Cano could become the leader of the team in a similar was that Jeter took over the leadership mantle from the Paul O'Neills and David Cones of the world.

If he hasn't drilled that into Cano's head by now, then he should start now!


5. GROOM HIS SUCCESSOR

This may make some Yankee fans confused. Some may not believe it.

But there will come a day that Derek Jeter is no longer the shortstop for the New York Yankees.

Somewhere, now, alive on the planet Earth, there is a super talented shortstop who will someday play for the Yankees and have to endure the inevitable comparisons to a Yankee icon.

And the Yankees had better hope that Jeter's successor will be handled more gracefully than Mariano's transition to the Joba era.

When the Yankees have a dynamic new shortstop, Jeter needs to take him under his wing and make sure the press is positive.

Meanwhile Jeter will probably move to first base and push Teixeira out of position. (Kind of like how A-Rod had to move to third for Jeter!)


6. GIVE US ONE REALLY FUNNY COMMERCIAL

The Harvey Keitel commercials were OK. I liked the ones with Steinbrenner taking him to task for partying too much.

But unless I am mistaken, he hasn't hit one out of the ballpark like the Roger Clemens/Debbie Clemens cell phone commercial.

Or even the Joe Torre coming to LA commercial.

So let's go, Derek. Give us one real solid funny one.


7. RESIGN AND RETIRE WITH THE YANKEES

Bobby Orr played his last games as a Chicago Blackhawk.
Babe Ruth played his last games as a Boston Brave.
Ty Cobb played his last games as a Philadelphia Athletic.
Yogi Berra played his last games as a New York Met.
Michael Jordan played his last games as a Washington Wizard.
Joe Namath played his last games as a Los Angeles Ram.
Rickey Henderson played his last games for Mamma's Pizza Softball Team.

We can't have Jeter finish his career as a Padre or a Brewer.


8. HE NEEDS TO GIVE ONE WHOPPER OF A JUICY QUOTE

He has played the New York media better than any sports figure than you will ever see EVER!

And one of his best tricks to say NOTHING interesting when a mike is shoved in his face.

In his last year, I just want him to say ONE explosive thing. Like after a tough loss say "Well, we would have won but there is one player on the team who is always drunk" and have the press try and figure it out.


9. MAKE SURE THE HALL OF FAME SPEECH IS GREAT

Seriously Derek, you are in.

You are in NOW! So let's say you play for 4 more seasons... that gives you 10 years to make sure the speech is terrific.

No excuse for ramblings. No excuse for a single "um" or "urrr."

I say he should hire a solid writer to create a witty, charming and memorable speech.

Why not Woody Allen? He's already been a front!

10. MARRY SANDRA BULLOCK


Come on Derek!
You've never been married and let's face it, Sandra has had some bad luck.

You have no kids. Sandra has adopted Jesse James' kid but I am sure would love to have her own biological child.

How awesome would the off spring of Derek Jeter and Sandra Bullock be?



Now of course Derek's reputation doesn't NEED all of this... but it would mean there would be no stone left unturned.

Now I must end this post.
I started off with references to the Bucket List and it turned into a Derek Jeter love letter.

I may have to listen to some Dropkick Murphy's just to cleanse the pallet.