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It’s Derek vs. the Yanks in Spring Training

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On March 3, the United States’ representatives to the World Baseball Classic will square off against the Yankees in Tampa. While it won’t be weird to see most of the U.S. team on the other side of the ball, it will be quite strange to see Derek Jeter facing his own team. The Yanks’ captain will be battling his teammates, and while Derek hopes none of the Yanks’ hurlers bust him up and in, he better watch out for that Jorge Posada character behind the plate.

Again with the Jeter standing up for A-Rod thing

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Things picked up last week in Yankeeland because of some book written by some guy who, I think used to manage the team. That’s still going, kind of, but you can’t write about it in every column, can you? Wallace Matthews doesn’t think so. He’s changed the topic this week, though it’s not any less insufferable than the Torre talk. He think that Derek Jeter should stick up for Alex Rodriguez. Great. We’re back on this again.

No one, of course, tells Derek Jeter what to do, and I don’t presume to try. But it is my considered opinion that Jeter can hide for only so long behind his stock answer, “I haven’t read the book yet.”

The book is out Tuesday. Time to start reading. And he doesn’t even have to read it to come out and say, simply: “Alex is my teammate. Alex is our guy. Everyone in this clubhouse stands behind him.”

And that has to include the captain. Because that’s what captains do.

Over the past few years, more than a few Yankees fans have wondered why Jeter doesn’t say something on A-Rod’s behalf. Fire Joe Morgan once criticized Jeter for coming to Jason Giambi’s defense but not A-Rod’s. The situations are a bit different, though.

No one thought Jeter didn’t have Giambi’s back. The fans were just peeved at Giambi for 1) the steroids thing, 2) missing most of 2004, and 3) getting off to a terrible start in 2005. So Jeter came out and publicly defended his teammate. So why doesn’t he do this for A-Rod? I can’t give an explanation, as I am not Derek Jeter, nor do I know anyone familiar with his thinking.

The difference in the situations is clear. Yankees fans presume Jeter doesn’t have A-Rod’s back. We all know about the incident where A-Rod tried to take Jeter down a peg, and the consensus is that Jeter still bears a grudge. That seems a bit extreme eight years later, especially when the object of the grudge is now a teammate. Something tells me that this is not the whole story.

The captain should have his teammates’ backs, implicitly or explicitly. Jeter was explicit with Giambi, but not with A-Rod. Does this mean Jeter doesn’t have A-Rod’s back? Not necessarily. I don’t think it’s as big a deal that Jeter comes out and says anything. Alex is a grown man. He can handle his own business. Or at least we hope he can.

Jeter’s prized Joe D theft

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Four months after Yankee Stadium closed, Derek Jeter finally owned up to his cut of the looting. He took the famous Joe DiMaggio sign that used to hang in the runway from the clubhouse to the dugout. Long visible only to non-Yankees on the Stadium tour, the sign will, as New Stadium Insider notes, now be on view only to those who see the insides of Derek’s bedroom.

Tying down New York’s most eligible bachelor

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For the last 13 seasons, girls of all ages have screamed with delight whenever Derek Jeter, the city’s most eligible bachelor, steps to the plate. Now, it seems, Derek, no spring chicken as he nears his 35th birthday, may be getting ready to settle down. According to FoxSports.com, Jeter and his recent girlfriend Minka Kelly were house-hunting in LA. Now, it’s perfectly likely that Jeter was simply helping his LA-native lady friend pick out a new home, but you never know. It’ll be a big day in New York when Jeter finally ties the knot.

Jeter’s future and Mark Teixeira

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Now that the Yanks have wrapped up Mark Teixeira for the next eight years, they can, as many fans have noted, no longer store their old and aging players at first base. Personally, I don’t like this approach of basically wasting a lineup spot for convenience’s or nostalgia’s sake, and the Yanks have shown they don’t buy this philosophy either. Meanwhile, Bob Klapisch wonders if the Teixeira signing foreshadows the end of Derek Jeter in the Bronx. I don’t really agree either, but this will be a looming issue over the next two years.