Once upon a time, Derek Jeter was the Yankee Golden Boy. In 2000, he captured both the World Series and All Star Game MVP to complement his fourth World Series ring in five professional seasons, and it seemed as though many more would be on the horizon.

Well, over the last eight seasons, by and large, Derek during the regular season has not disappointed. He is six hits shy of 2500 and has a lifetime batting line of .316/.387/.459. While the World Series title to complete the hand of rings has eluded him, that’s more a reflection of the team than of Derek. The Yanks, after all, have made the playoffs every year of his career.

But lately, something’s happened with Derek. The New York media, once the biggest fans of the Yanks’ media-savvy — and don’t forget attractive — young short stop, have come to regard him with a skeptical eye. It’s a prime example of “What have you done for me lately?”

Case in point: This year, Derek, who entered 2008 amid MVP expectations, is having a very quiet year. While a 4-for-4 day yesterday moved his triple slash numbers upward, he’s hitting a very un-Jeterian .295/.356/.404 on the year. His power is well below his career norms, and he’s hit into 19 double plays already this year. Playing his age 34 season, Derek has turned in a singles hitter — one very expensive singles hitter.

And therein lies the rub. As a recent column in The Publication That Must Not Be Named opined, the Yanks could very well be facing a future without Derek Jeter as soon as 2011. His contract, which now pays him over $21 million a year, is up in 2010, and if Derek continues the decline brought about, whether we like it or not, by his age, the Yanks will have a short stop on their hands who can’t really field the position and won’t be the hitter he once was.

Of course, there’s a flipside. There’s always a flipside in baseball. Derek Jeter is the Yankees. He’s been their captain for a long time, and while A-Rod is more or less the face of the franchise these day, the team is still Derek’s. The Steinbrenners, as iYankees remind us, also plan to take care of Jeter once this deal is up, and I don’t think Hank meant in the Tony Soprano sense of the word.

So this is what I leave you with on an off-day in August prior to a vital six-game road trip: What do you do with Derek Jeter? The Red Sox are about to unceremoniously dump their captain, but Derek’s line is far cry from Jason Varitek’s pitiful .215/.305/.339 effort this year.

Should the Yanks re-sign Derek and prime fans for a potential run at 4000 hits? Should he be their short stop? Should he move? And how much should a 36-year-old Derek Jeter earn? I’d hate to be in Brian Cashman’s, Hank Steinbrener’s or Hal Steinbrenner’s shoes when it’s time to pull the trigger on this move in two years?

In the bottom of the first last night, Derek Jeter grounded out to third on the first pitch. This prompted a discussion regarding Jeter’s propensity this year to swing at the first pitch. It seems like he does it all the time. Anyone else agree? I’m sure there are at least some that have noticed this.

However, looking at Baseball Reference, this is not the case at all. In fact, Jeter has swung at the first pitch in just 31 percent of his plate appearances. That ties his career low mark, as he put up the same percentage over the course of last year.

What’s stranger is that Jeter seems to do better when he swings at the first pitch more and makes contact overall less. In 1999, Jeter’s best overall season, he swung at the first pitch in 41 percent of his plate appearances, a career high, and made contact 80 percent of the time. This year, as last year, he’s making contact in 85 percent of his plate appearances. In 2006, when he should have been MVP, he swung at the first pitch 37 percent of the time, and made contact 82 percent.

So what’s wrong with Derek Jeter this season? He’s not hitting poorly, per se. A .286/.348/.404 line isn’t horribly by any stretch, but we’ve come to expect a bit more from the captain. Is he in a decline phase? It’s possible, though no one wants to admit it. It’s one of the only explanations I can come up with. Anyone else seeing anything else?

Late add: His line drive percentage is down and his groundball percentage is up a little. That goes some way in explaining things.

We all know that Derek Jeter’s defense isn’t the greatest part of the game. In case you want a full recap, Slate’s Nate DiMeo breaks down the years-old debate. One day soon, Derek may have to move off of short. I don’t envy the man who has to tell him that.

As reported at the Biz of Baseball, Derek Jeter is set to join Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Thierry Henry (a soccer player) in the Gillette Champions ad campaign. As Chip Bergh, the vice president for global personal care at Proctor & Gamble, Gillette’s parent company put it, the shaving product giant chose Derek as their first baseball rep “not only for his outstanding sporting performances, but also for his performance off the field, in his charitable actions and his reputation as an icon of true sporting values.” I guess that means Derek, as a bachelor, is being rewarded for his efforts at dating every starlet around. As long as he stays away from Madonna, he should be a-OK.

Update: Jimmy Traina of SI.com caught up with Jeter at the Gillette announcement. Jeter talks about “hanging out” with Minka Kelly and that whole parking incident in Florida. (Hat tip to Mr. Belth at the Banter.)

While the three guys behind him in the order spent Friday night hitting, Derek Jeter in the leadoff spot took the evening off from that pastime. He went 0 for 5 to drop his average down to a very un-Jeterian .272, and I have to wonder if Derek rushed back too quickly from his May 20th HBP. While Jeter says the Daniel Cabrera beanball isn’t impacting his hitting, the numbers tell a different story. Since coming back the next day, the Yankee Captain is 3 for 34. That’s an .088 average if you’re keeping score at home, and he’s slugging just .118 over that span. That’s not looking so great.

Yankee fans are very possessive of Derek Jeter. He is, after all, the team captain, and he is the proud owner of four World Series rings. On the other hand, though, are fans of other teams who can’t stand Jeter and all the accolades Yankee lovers toss his way. Over the weekend, Joe Posnanski coined a new word that sums up why non-Yankee fans don’t like Jeter. The word is Jeterate. Check out Posnanski’s piece; and don’t take it too seriously. The Bobby Abreu acronym is a good one too.

Life is rough for Derek Jeter. The Yanks’ star short stop has, according to an amNew York report, dated six members of Maxim’s 2008 Hot List. Jessica Biel, Scarlett Johansson, Mariah Carey, Vanessa Minnillo, Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba make up the lucky six.

Mark Feinsand is reporting that Alberto Gonzalez is with the team in Kansas City. This suggests one of two things. 1) Jeter is headed for the DL. 2) Shelley Duncan is headed down temporarily. Feinsand notes, and I can’t argue with his logic, that if Posada was the one hitting the DL, we’d also be seeing Chad Moeller in KC. Still, the possibility exists that both Jetes and Po hit the DL.

Earlier today, I offhandedly mentioned Derek Jeter’s weekend comments about blood tests in baseball, and frequent commenter Geno took me to task for dismissing something newsworthy. So let me fix that.

Over the weekend, Derek Jeter opined on Bloomberg Radio that blood tests for HGH would not be intrusive and openly advocated for these tests. “You can test for whatever you want to test for,” he said. “We get pricked by needles anyway in spring training, so we have a lot of blood work to begin with.”

On Monday, he drew flak from the Players’ Union over these comments. Jeter had to explain his position while Union leaders were a bit more outspoken about it:

“(The problem) has gotten so much attention now, I think it would probably silence a lot of people that were critical of guys … so I wouldn’t mind it,” Jeter said. “I can only comment on myself; I don’t know about other people. I don’t like needles very much, but I wouldn’t mind it.”

“I’m not saying I would ever be in favor of it, but if we did do it, that would be the only way the general public would finally believe that baseball is completely clean,” said Mike Mussina, the Yankees’ players union representative. “But I don’t know if it will ever come to that.”

Jason Giambi, who was at the center of the BALCO scandal, said: “I’m up for whatever they want to do. I don’t really care.”

“This has to be a union decision, not an individual one,” he added.

And that’s the problem. That’s the problem with this whole Mitchell Report and the flap over Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee.

The Mitchell Report was intended to produce change in Major League Baseball’s supposed drug culture. It was supposed to draw attention the shortcomings of its drug testing policies and the institutions and institutional attitudes in place that prevented and still prevent the sport from developing top-notch testing procedures. When Union members start speaking out and the Union forces them back into line, it’s clear that the Report utterly failed.

Instead, we get a Congressional circus with no real denouement or any sense of resolution. A hearing supposedly about drug use in baseball turned into a “he said, he said” fight.

While the Union will always defend itself, Jeter should be praised for taking a stand. Maybe his comments were off-the-cuff, and had he thought about it, he wouldn’t have broken ranks with the MLBPA. But he has, and baseball needs more players to step forward if the drug policy and public perception of the game is to change for the better.

Whenever Derek Jeter talks, someone is around to record his musings. It’s as though his inner monologue makes it to the press everyday. From the weekend: Derek Jeter supports blood testing for MLB players and also wants to play in 2009’s World Baseball Classic. Check back tomorrow when Jeter wonders what he wants for dinner and if he’s in the mood for There Will Be Blood or some lighter movie fare.