Is Derek Jeter an All Star? Absolutely. Is he overpaid? You better believe it. With a batting average above .300 and an on-base percentage pushing .400, Jeter definitely earned his slot at Tuesday's game, but with a salary of $21.6 million, he's also pro baseball's most overpaid player by a wide margin.Forbes says that to come up with this year's list they "compared the major offensive stats--batting average, home runs, runs batted in and OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, now a major metric of production) of each player to the league average for starters at his position. Then we did the same with salaries."
Consider: The average 2009 salary for a starting shortstop in the American League is $2.7 million. The second highest paid after Jeter, Oakland's Orlando Cabrera, makes $4 million. That Jeter rakes in eight times what an average starting shortstop does, while putting up only marginally better numbers, is the biggest disparity between a player and his positional peers in major league baseball. Intangibles like leadership qualities, a big part of Jeter's popularity, are fine, but it's tough to argue they should push a players' salary off the charts.
Look, Jeter is clearly overpaid, but the most overpaid? I don't know about all that. Other Yankees Johnny Damon, and Jorge Posada also made Forbes' top ten overpaid player list.
8 Comments:
I think he is the most overpaid, he got that contract when he was an elite fielder/#3 hitter now for a below average fielder at SS and a #1 hitter not as clutch as he used to be making over $15 mil is way too much.
Statistical analysis; you can do anything with numbers and support any position you want to make. Jeter is mostly a singles hitter but his job is o get on base and make contact when there are runner isw scoring position. He does his job! The fact remains, the guy is a winner!
Look, most ballplayers are overpaid. Jeter has AROD to thank for adding about 80 million to his current contract. That was the market then and salaries may finally start to decline because of the economy.
Forbes is probably 1ST ON THE LIST OF OVERPAYED writers.
Writers know how to spell "overpaid", and they can convey emphasis without caps lock. I for one, welcome our new salary watchdog overlords.
overpaid, overhyped, overexposed, overrated
Jeter's a target because of the mammoth contract he signed and because h is the face of the most controversial franchise in baseball.
I still enjoy watching him play at a high level, and millions of people agree with me. Isn't that more important than how much more he makes than Orlando Cabrera?
I totally agree, he's an easy target for the reasons you mentioned, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a first-ballot hall of famer and probably the first Yankee to rack up 3000 hits.
he makes more money then pujols. easily the most overpaid player in the history of the sport. this is coming from a yankee fan.
"Writers know how to spell "overpaid", and they can convey emphasis without caps lock. I for one, welcome our new salary watchdog overlords."
Well said. Nice work.
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