Derek Jeter Due Back Soon But Do the Yankees Really Want Him?

The New York Yankees have been without a mainstay of the roster this season; two actually, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. In the last week or so both superstars were finally cleared to start playing and well--it's not going so well for either of them.

Word is that the club plans on letting A-Rod take all the time he can in the minors to get back up to speed, but it sounds like the plan is to bring Jeter back pretty soon--Thursday. However, in light of how he has played in his rehab games that may not be the best of ideas.

Keith Allison/Flickr

Wednesday wasn't a good day for Jeter with the team's Triple-A team. At the plate he was 0-3 with one strikeout, but what is more troubling to the Yankees were his fielding troubles. Of the seven plays that came his way he committed a throwing error and mishandled a flip that allowed a run to score.

It wasn't just Wednesday where he struggled either. So far he is 1-9 at the plate with four walks and two strikeouts. His play has been so sub-par that when the rumor floated around that the team might call him back up this weekend one scout was overheard by a writer from the Newark Star Ledger saying this:

One scout who saw a rusty Derek Jeter tonight, when informed about plan to have him in the majors by Friday: "Good luck."
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughSL) July 11, 2013

So than why are they doing it? Because the guys they've had playing shortstop are not doing any better.

The team has a couple of  guys who have played shortstop on the roster (not including Robinson Cano) and there hasn't really been any one player that has been impressive in the bunch. Eduardo Nunez has spent a lot of time there, but has only hit .211 in the 95 at-bats that he has had. Luis Cruz has filled in some as well; he's only batting .150.

One argument could be that shortstops are not supposed to be offensive monsters, but defensive beasts. However, when your team has one of the worst batting averages in baseball can you really afford to have anyone in the roster with a poor batting average?

That is, if there is someone better?

While you would love to have your superstar back up to speed before throwing him back to the wolves, in this case he can't do any worse than the guys already playing. Hopefully being back with the club will be the catalyst he needs to get going again.