Jeter may not be ready to return to the field just yet

September 18, 2012 by Mike Axisa 39 Comments

Via Pat Leonard, Derek Jeter‘s bone-bruised left ankle may not yet be where it needs to be for him to return to the field. “(The ankle is) not re-injured,” said Joe Girardi on Sunday. “I think it still hurts. I don’t think he is a shortstop yet, right now as we speak. We’re going to have to see how he feels on Tuesday.”

Jeter has been nursing the injury for weeks and has spent the last four games at DH, though he was noticeably favoring the ankle while running the bases on Sunday. The Yankees (theoretically) have a capable shortstop replacement in Eduardo Nunez — who should be getting more at-bats anyway — as well as Jayson Nix behind him, though I guess the concern is that if Jeter is unable to return to the field anytime soon, how will Alex Rodriguez hold up playing third base everyday?

RetroRob

I’m pretty sure he’ll have another day off today based on the weather.

Jeter DHing and Nunez playing SS if not a bad thing. The main drawback is A-Rod can’t DH and have both Jeter and A-Rod in the lineup.
RetroRob

I’m pretty sure he’ll have another day off today based on the weather.

Jeter DHing and Nunez playing SS if not a bad thing. The main drawback is A-Rod can’t DH and have both Jeter and A-Rod in the lineup.
Trish

Considering that pretty much every outlet’s predicting that the rain and wind’s going to get worse as the day goes on I don’t see this game happening. I have tickets but I’d rather they call it before I make the trek up to the stadium.

As far as Jeter goes, let him DH and heal up some more. Better a DHing Jeter in the last couple weeks of the season than a banged-up fielding Jeter in hte playoffs.
mt

This is what we have to look forward to in 2013 and 2014:
both Jeter and Arod cannot DH at the same time.

For right now, Yanks need to play Nunez – one factor not discussed is that in addition to bringing foot speed and bat speed, even the threat of Nunez (or Ichiro, for that matter) stealing unnnerves pitcher. Matt Moore was clearly unnerved when Nunez was on Sunday and he contributed to what was a little bit of a meltdown inning for Moore (walks and wild pitches.)
mt

After Jeter gets back to SS, it is also too bad Nunez cannot play left field. Andruw Jones is begging to be removed fom line-up.

Arod – DH
Nix – 3B
Jeter – SS
Nunez – LF?? (won’t happen since they focused Nunez on SS)
- RetroRob
  
  Nunez looked horrible in the OF earlier this season. As bad as any player I’ve seen out there. Ever.
  
  He might have the skills to be an OFer, but they need to have him work on that during the offseason.
  - Mike
    
    Nunez has played a career of 43 innings in the OF. It’s an extremely small sample size. I’d take my chances with Nunez in LF over Andruw Jones easily.
    
    And if you like going on small sample sizes, his UZR/150 in the OF this year (25 innings) is 22.9. I recall him making 1 very bad play, but I also recall him making one excellent play.
    - RetroRob
      
      UZR/150 is useless in SS sizes. (UZR in general is pretty flawed and has been replaced by better systems, but that’s a whole nother dicussion. BTW UZR still likes Andruw Jones.) You don’t need to be a talent evaluator to see the poor jumps he’d get, how he’d get twisted around on fly balls, and would take poor routes. The Yankees ended that OF experiment pretty darn quickly, and for reason.
      
      He’s bad. I’m not even sure he has the ability to be a good OFer. The assumption is because he has good speed that he can that his skills that can then be translated to the OF. It’s possible but it takes skill and instincts too. Let him learn in the offseason or the minors. Not in the seasons final 15 days.
      - Mike
        
        I never said he wasn’t bad. I said it’s too early to judge his defensive OF “skills”. I’m not saying he’s good, I”m not saying he’s bad.
        
        Yankees won’t need him in the OF for the rest of the season once Tex gets back. It will be Ichiro, Granderson and Swish. For now, I just hope they stick with Dickerson out there. Sick of seeing Jones and Ibanez.
Chop It Up

Stop coaching Pat…
dkidd

until the yanks get younger, this is what september will look like
- Syrio Forel/Eddard/Occasional Troll
  
  no idea what age or the month of september has to do with jeters ankle.
  - dkidd
    
    yankees are old
    steroids are (mostly) gone
    baseball season is long
    - Syrio Forel/Eddard/Occasional Troll
      
      well, yes, im not arguing those 3 points. theyre all fairly accurate. i just dont know what they have to do with jeters left ankle (a bone, not a muscle)… his injury doesnt have to do with age, it doesnt have to do with steroids, and it couldve happened any time of year.
    - Yankee Fan 1
      
      only the old players on the yanks get hurt, see: Tex, Gardner
      - RetroRob
        
        …and I’m guessing he believes that Pettitte and A-Rod wouldn’t have been injured and/or would have come back quicker if they could take steroids.
Marcy

At least tomorrow they go against a RHP so they can use Chavez @ 3rd — if they need him and give Jeter a full day off…maybe.

Doesn’t Nunez still make you a little nervous on the field? I know Jeter isn’t a great fielding shortstop but at least 99.9% of the time you know the ball is going to the right place…and it even gets there.

I’d say more but – let’s just hope Derek is in a lot better shape come the playoffs – those intangibles and stuff ;-)

Bone bruises take a long time to heal — think Ike Davis last year.
- Mike
  
  “Doesn’t Nunez still make you a little nervous on the field?”
  
  Lol, duh. It’s the reason they sent him down in the first place.
- Laz
  
  A bit, but I would rather have him out there than Nix who pretty much has no bat. I would like Jeter to just rest a bit more.
Marcy

Trish – I hope you’re right. I don’t even want Andy getting his 1st start back in bad weather.

I also wonder what they do with/about Escobar. Do they sit him again? Does he take abuse? I was unavailable the past few days and just read about his “eye black.”
- Pat D
  
  They just suspended him for 3 games.
Marcy

MLB Network just said it would be bad for the Yanks if the game gets rained out. It was a tease so I’m not sure why-
- CountryClub
  
  Rain out means Andy only gets 3 starts before the playoffs start. Also, a DHer tomorrow with Pettite only throwing 5 innings (hopefully) is bad for the pen…especially without another off day in sight.
  - c2012
    
    …And Garcia would have to start Sunday against the A’s unless Pettite or Hughes go on 3 days rest.
  - Mister D
    
    Looks like I never refreshed and it indeed the bad option.
  - Marcy
    
    Thank you. I too am having trouble refreshing.
- Mister D
  
  Depends. Would they force in a mid-week double header or move it to the end of the season? The former would be bad, the latter would be good.
  - RetroRob
    
    There is no open day on the schedule. If the game is rained out, there needs to be a DH sometime over the next two days.
    - Mister D
      
      Yeah, I was more hoping they’d move it to the end of the season instead. Would have benefitted the team (and isn’t logistically impossible; its what they would have had to do if it were the last game of the series rained out rather than the first).
      - RetroRob
        
        It’s not logistically impossible, but that day open after the season ends is needed for the impending tie. : -)
        
        Serioiusly, there is no room for error on the MLB schedule this year since this new playoff format was forced in, so they’re going to do everything they can to get all games in now.
Rich in NJ

Yeah, the injury has forced Girardi to finally give Nunez a shot and it has paid off. If only something similar could occur in LF before the playoffs.
Robert

Play Nunez at short and start Melky Mesa instead of Andrew Jones. With Ichiro,Nunez and Mesa at the 7-8-9- slots….. Hey Giraldi this would actually show you are trying!!!
Marcy

Anyone listening to Bobby Richardson?
Joe

NUNEY!
this space for rent

Oh, I’m sure Jeter’s playing the field tonight, just like he did last night.

/envy
- King of Fruitless Hypotheticals
  
  IETC
Better off Eddard

And that’s just fine. Eduardo Nunez is playing better than anyone, with the possible exception of myself, expected. The lineup is just better with Nunez in it. He gives us a speed element and he has some pop in his bat which is more than we can say for Andruw Jones.
- CS Yankee
  
  Some old guys avoid injury…take Raul & Andruw for example.
  
  Andruw Jones is incaple of hustle, therefore he’ll stay healthy. Raul is incaple of speed, therfore he stays healthy. I never rooted for an injury, but…nah, perish the thought.
Marcy

Rainout!