The Yankees Should Keep Derek Jeter For Another Four Years

Derek Jeter's 10-year contract worth $189 million has expired and he is now a free agent. Hal Steinbrenner, Yankees owner, can play hardball with one feather in his cap - that Jeter's production fell in 2010. But in a city where the fans can be ruthless and hard, Jeter is still a strong New York Yankee fan favorite.

There is no doubt that Derek Jeter has been the workhorse of the Yankee''s franchise. He's earned much respect among the baseball community for his heroic play and gutty performances. His Golden Glove play at shortstop and class act both on and off the field makes him a winner. And New York City loves winners. The Yankees should do whatever it takes to keep him within reason.

But the reality is, Derek Jeter is peetering out.

Time flies and Jeter is now thirty six years old. This is not a young age for a baseball player, no siree. Most MLB players have a 10 year career. The successful one's perform the best in the early middle stages of their career. Derek Jeter has already accomplished both in an already very rewarding 18 years.

Is Jeter worth the $22,600,000 he is making this year? Is his value less or more than when he signed his mega contract back in 2001? To answer that, let's look at his historical RBI and batting average charts - two good measures of offensive production:

I think its pretty clear here, that Derek Jeter's production is on a decline. Although this year resulted in what Derek and agent will say as an off year, to me it's a sign of a career that is starting to end. One look at his historical RBI production chart and its easy to see it has been on a downward tilt. The same goes with his batting average now declining under 0.310. Whether he can continue to hit around the 0.300 level consistently until he retires is a big question.

Having seen that, let's take a look at his career salary chart.

In 2001, Jeter signed a 10-year, $189 million contract. This was second only to Alex Rodriguez which made him the highest paid athlete at the time. Jeter started out making $12,600,000 (year 6 in the chart) and each successive year was given a salary increase..The average yearly salary over the period was around $19,000,000.

Derek Jeter should not be making this kind of cash now. He now has age working against him and as we've seen declining performance. Don't get me wrong, he's a fabulous shortstop and great ambassador to baseball. However, it boils down to the facts at hand - he has 5 years left just like Cal Ripkin Jr. did before he retired after 20 years in the league.

With that said, Yankee ownership should keep Derek Jeter for another four years to age 40, and pay him out $15-16 million/year which is more than enough given the facts above. And Derek Jeter should stick with the franchise that gave him the opportunity to be the great baseball player that he is today. He should remind himself that he is at the end of his baseball career cycle, not midstream. He is not chasing any records like a Barry Bonds. He is not the Tiger Woods of baseball.

Derek Jeter is going to be a Hall of Fame shortstop and no money can be placed on that highest of honors in the world of baseball.

About Kerry Kobashi

Kerry is the founder of KerryOnWorld. He lives in Silicon Valley and has worked as an engineer and project manager. He owns Kobashi Computing a consulting company.