By some measures, Derek Jeter is a terrible shortstop.
I can't say I fully understand it, but it seems to be a calculation of how many runs can be attributed to the defensive abilities of a particular player on a baseball diamond when other variables are accounted for.
Are you a Derek Jeter fan?
I am. When I was Yankee Stadium in September I bought my son a Jeter t-shirt. He's seven and wanted to know if Jeter was the best player in the world. I said not anymore (if he ever was) but that it was still a cool shirt. He took my word for it and rarely takes it off.
But people who speak advanced baseball statistics aren't Derek Jeter fans, or at the very least, aren't fan of the fact he won a Gold Glove yesterday.
By their measures Jeter was the 46th best shortstop in baseball defensively anyway.
At 36 Jeter is coming off a bad season for him, hitting 44 points below his career average.
A free agent, normally that would spell trouble as declining franchise players looking for one last deal is a formula that can get pretty messy.
But for the same reason he earned his Gold Glove - reasons that defy quantification, apparently - it's expected Jeter will be cashing in another contract for $20-million a year.
Why? An excellent story by Richard Sandomir in the New York Times explains that because as the Yankees recruit free agents from elsewhere, the marquee value of their homegrown stars only increases. Jeter will take over from Yogi Berra as the greatest living Yankee soon enough, a title he'll hold for the next 40 years or so. He'll have a monument alongside DiMaggio, Ruth, Gehrig and Mantle.
Jeter may be flawed, but legacy has a price and the Yankees can afford to pay it in full.