Derek Jeter

Everyone knows by now that Derek Jeter is having the worst season of his career.

Derek Jeter is a household name.

In case you didn't know, Jeter is the starting shortstop and Captain of the New York Yankees.

He has five World Series rings, four Silver Slugger Awards, and  four Golden Gloves along with countless other awards. Some of them recognized Jeter the player, others Derek the person.

Jeter is the ultimate Captain. Find me a professional athlete, fan, manager or coach that would disagree.

Of all the major team sports, baseball is, uniquely, a game of great matchups and showdowns. Mostly, it’s a game of individual showdowns within the construct of team ball.

While postseason baseball already brings us to the edge of our seats, there are certain pitcher versus batter showdowns that take us out of our seats altogether.

This winter Derek Jeter will be paid a lot of money by the New York Yankees. 

The New York Yankees are a team that promotes their history better than any franchise in sports today.  Jeter is the living embodiment of the team's return to glory.  That makes his value unique to the Yankees, but not to the rest of baseball. 

He will make more money than any other shortstop in baseball in 2011 (and a few years thereafter) and by a significant margin.  This is undeniable.  There is no chance that Jeter or the New York Yankees end in divorce. 

We've seen it throughout the years, as teams encounter difficult decisions, when long-serving veterans and fan-favorites enter the inevitable, athletic decline phase of their careers.

No one can escape the clutches of the dreaded father time, when a player's body simply cannot do the same things that it could during the prime of his youth. Maybe it's the eyesight, maybe the legs feel heavier and the footwork slower, the hands a tick behind Major League fastballs.

There is a reason why people say "You can't predict baseball." Teams have to actually play out all 162 games. And one day in August does not make or break a team's chances in October.

With his retirement now as a player and manager complete, Lou Pinella will wait for a call from Cooperstown as one of this generation's most successful managers having won 1,835 games with five major league clubs.

A World Series-winning manager with the Cincinnati Reds in 1990, Pinella won six divisional championships in 23 seasons including a record 116 games versus just 46 losses with a Seattle team that included future Hall of Famers Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson in 2001.

After losing the first game 3-2, the New York Yankees need to win Tuesday night against the Blue Jays at Rogers Center.

The Tampa Bay Rays have caught up to tie in the standings, and the Boston Red Sox are still very much alive.

Translation...inter-division games can kill a team’s chances for playoff berth, so the Yankees cannot lose this series for starters.

Who is the best hitter in Major League Baseball?

Well, that depends on several factors:

Are you asking for the most skilled hitter, or the most valuable?

Do you want a guy who can winning batting titles, or home runs titles?

Should hitting be judged by ability, or by production?

All good questions, and depending on your answers, you might conclude that the best hitter in baseball is Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki, Ryan Howard, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, or Joey Votto.

Everyone knows that the New York Yankees are the most storied team in the history of sports.  They boast 27 World Championships... more than any other professional sports franchise in the world.