Should the Yankees let Jeter walk?

The Yankees will eventually re-sign Derek Jeter. That's pretty much a given. But, should they really let him go? Ignoring Jeter's legacy and all that, and assuming the Yankees don't sign or trade for a big-name shortstop, Eduardo Nunez will be, or at least compete for, the starting shortstop job. Is he anywhere near as good as Jeter is right now? Despite Jeter's down year, he still did OK. Nunez is unproven. Would handing him the starting job be a good idea?

Let's talk about Nunez. Nunez burst onto the scene in 2005, hitting .313 at SS-A Staten Island. But, from '06 to '08, he hit just .241. He did steal 22 bases in '06 and 29 in '07, but you just can't hit .240. Also, his OBP's over that time frame were just .261, .305, and .305 again. But in '09, he hit .322 at Double-A Trenton with 26 doubles, 9 homers, 55 RBI, 19 SB, and a .349 OBP in 123 games. In '10, he was promoted to Triple-A Scranton, and he did well again, hitting .289 with 25 doubles, 4 homers, 50 RBI, 23 SB, and a .340 OBP in 118 games. Then, when A-rod went down in August, Nunez was promoted to the majors and did pretty well, hitting .280 with 1 double, 1 homer, 7 RBI, 5 SB (0 CS), 12 runs and a .321 OBP in 30 games. He posted just a .944 Fld% at 3B (1 error), but posted a perfect 1.000 Fld% at SS. His RF/9 (range factor per 9 innings) at SS was 5.26- Jeter, the AL Gold Glove winner, posted just a 3.78 RF/9! Nunez is a definitely better defensive shortstop than Jeter! Jeter NEVER posted a RF/9 anywhere near as high as 5.26! (His highest was 4.76 in '05.)

Even Nunez's .280 BA- it was certainly better than Jeter's .270 BA! Let's look at Jeter's 2010 stats: the aforementioned .270 BA, 30 doubles, 10 homers, 67 RBI, 18 SB, 111 runs, and a .340 OBP in 157 games. He had 663 AB's. Nunez had 50. If you multiply Nunez's stats by 13.26 (50 X 13.26= 663), he would have still hit .280, but with 13 doubles, 13 homers, 93 RBI, 66 SB, 159 runs, and the same .321 OBP. Those are ridiculous numbers! There's no way Nunez will EVER have a year like that, but if you project his 2010 numbers over 400 AB's (multiply his stats by 8), he would have hit .280 with 8 doubles, 8 homers, 56 RBI, 40 SB, 96 runs, and a .321 OBP. Those are still All-Star caliber numbers! (I have to note that his 12 runs in '10, and therefore his runs projection for 663 and 400 AB's, are a bit inflated because he appeared in 7 games as a pinch-runner, scoring 3 runs, a quarter of his season total.) You can definitely make an argument that if Nunez was given a starting job in '10, he would be a better player than Jeter would be as a starter in '10. Jeter is declining, while Nunez is just 23- he will only improve. Over the next 5 years, Nunez would certainly put up better numbers as a starter than Jeter would. You can argue the other way for 2011, but not for the next 5 years. It would be a better move for the Yankees to let Jeter leave and make Nunez the starter in 2011. Unfortunately, it won't happen.