By Dan O’Shea
Derek Jeter turns 40 in three weeks. Can a fantasy case be made for Captain Clutch in this, his final season?
I had Jeter listed as a sleeper at SS in my pre-season ranks, though based really only on his career-long tendency to do something great at exactly the right time.
I wasn’t expecting a heck of a lot, and if you took a chance on Jeter, you haven’t gotten much at all: .267 AVG, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 1 SB. He also hasn’t been the everyday player Yanks manager Joe Girardi suggested he would be this season.
Jeter is currently available in about 65% of Yahoo! leagues, and has probably been more of a drop than an add recently. However, if you believe there’s any magic left, the time to pick him up is getting near. Throughout his career, July has been Jeter’s best month as a hitter – a .326 career clip during that month. August is almost as good – .322. Jeter recently collected a four-hit game facing the White Sox at the Cell, so maybe he’s remembering this, too.
Jeter continued to retain fantasy relevance the last few years, without doing much more than being a very good hitter who drove enough runs and stole enough bases that he was always delivering in one stat category or another. Can he do it one more time?
Expert Wire
* SI.com looks at hot pick-up Oscar Taveras, the Cards’ new call-up.
* Bleacher Report has your top 10 waiver wire pick-ups this week.
* ESPN looks at hot prospects with the MLB draft coming up later this week.
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Dan O’Shea is our man in fantasyland. He welcomes your comments.
Posted on June 3, 2014