Or is he underrated?
" 'Derek Jeter is so overrated,' Reuben says. In the James household, the Yankees' captain is known as 'Dirty Rotten Jeter.' I'm guilty as anyone thinking Jeter is overrated, but we may have reached a point at which he is both overrated and underrated, depending on who does the rating."
Reuben is Bill James' son. Do you think he might be influenced by his dad who works for the Red Sox?
There are many of us in the sabermetric community who probably feel that Derek Jeter is overrated, especially defensively. My book, The Fielding Bible, shows that Jeter made 34 fewer plays than could have been expected from an average shortstop last year, if that average shortstop had the exact same balls hit to him that Jeter did last year. Yet, he won the Gold Glove in the American League. That's the definition of overrated.
But, we also may be underrating him at the same time. He's a tremendous hitter, especially for a shortstop, at the top of the Yankee lineup. And he brings so much to the table that you can't measure statistically (yet), such as leadership and a winning attitude.
Now a sales pitch. I received a copy of The Mind of Bill James and I couldn't put it down until I read it cover to cover. It's absolutely a great read and I strongly recommend it. While ACTA Sports is not the publisher, we are carrying the book as a convenience to our customers.