Earlier this month, the New York Yankees began spring training without Derek Jeter in camp for the first time since 1992. We interviewed Jeter's probable replacement at shortstop, Didi Gregorius, and he claimed that, "I don't think there's anything that separates [Jeter and I], to be honest. I know he's The Captain and has done everything, but I'm still learning." Given what Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said earlier this afternoon on ESPN Radio's The Mike Lupica Show, he may take exception to Gregorius' comments.
Cashman suggested that when the Yankees do get around to retiring Jeter's No. 2, the team captaincy should also be Monument Park fodder.
“As far as I’m concerned, and I’m not to decision maker on this, that captaincy should be retired with No. 2. I wouldn’t give up another captain’s title to anyone else," said Cashman.
Although the Yankees don't currently employ a player whose caliber or reverence around New York warrants captaincy in 2015, Cashman pointed to Jeter's leadership as an underlying season why the Yankees won't have a player fit to be captain anytime soon.
"Leadership comes in a lot of forms, it would be a hard one to anoint someone captain, regardless of how great they might be."
Jeter, who was named the sixteenth captain in Yankees history on June 3, 2003 after Don Mattingly had last held it in 1995, retired as the club's longest serving captain.
Life After Jeter in New York continues to be a slow, nostalgia-driven transition into the decade at hand. With A-Rod still lurking around for another season, will the Yankees keep looking to name drop Jeter, the antithesis of A-Rod, on a weekly basis? (This may actually be the secret way to drive A-Rod insane to the point of retiring.) Is there a higher pedestal for the Yankees to prop Jeter on top of? Cashman might be able to find one.
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[via NY Daily News]
