Is The Captain underrated?

From Joe Posnanski - Make sure you read the entire article, it's well worth the read (hat-tip to WasWatching.com):

So, yes, I will admit that in the past Derek Jeter has inspired some -- call it weariness, I guess. I've always thought he was a terrific player. And I've always thought he was overrated, too. That's a hard double to pull off.

But ... now we'll get to the point of this story. I think that in many ways Derek Jeter this year has added a third title. He has, against all odds, become UNDERRATED. And that is a wicked turn. I think Jeter at 35 is having one of his greatest seasons. I think he's playing defense better than he ever has, he's getting on base and slugging like he did in his prime, and in my view he has been the Yankees most valuable player in 2009. And, for once, it's funny, I don't hear too many other people talking about it.

Now, let me be clear -- there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the American League MVP this year is Minnesota's Joe Mauer, and nobody else is even close, and I feel so strongly about this that I am doing daily updates about it on my blog. But the Twins are probably not going to make the playoffs, and there are many people who feel that the most valuable player must come from a playoff team. And if that's the case then ... well, I think at this moment Jeter might be my MVP, non-Mauer division.
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And -- this is weird -- those advanced statistics that have so universally mocked his defense now show him to be, well, darned good defensively. The Dewan Plus/Minus system -- a video system where they plot every ball hit in play -- had long shown him to consistently be the worst shortstop in baseball. Now, it has him as a plus-7 shortstop, a top-10 shortstop. Ultimate Zone Rating -- UZR -- which had shown him to be costing his team runs defensively every single year since 2002 now calculates that he has saved the Yankees almost six runs this year. Jeter has made it clear he doesn't care about such statistics so it probably gives him no satisfaction.

Still, the numbers suggest that he's playing shortstop better than he has in years. Two baseball insiders concur, saying that he positions himself better now than he ever did before and his already quick release has gotten even quicker. Plainly, not as many grounders are getting past a diving Jeter.

Jeter's greatness as a player so often gets packaged inside the "intangibles" box. He's a leader! He's a winner! He has incredible instincts! He's always in the right place at the right time! He never makes a mental mistake! Every time he makes a smart play -- he does make a lot of smart plays, good players do that -- the Jeter as Saint thing grows, making a lot of baseball fans across America want to gag.

And it's those sorts of things that have led many to consider Jeter a media creation. Well, he's not. He's a great player having another great season. He's one of the best hitting shortstops in baseball history. He's an absolute first ballot Hall of Famer even if his career ended tomorrow.

And in my mind, if Yankees fans want to push one of their own as an MVP candidate they should stop pushing first baseman Mark Teixeira. He's hitting well, but he's a first baseman and they're supposed to hit. Tex is having roughly the same sort of offensive season that other American League first basemen are having, Put his numbers into a pile with Detroit's Miguel Cabrera, Boston's Kevin Youkilis, Minnesota's Justin Morneau, and even the Angels' Kendry Morales -- there isn't much separating them.

Instead push the Captain, Mr. November, the best hitting shortstop in the long history of the New York Yankees. Jeter is great, and he is unique, and it's not about intangibles. No. That's the point. It's tangible.

I've mentioned that I felt Teixeira has been this team's MVP, and part of me feels the same way. But then there's the captain, and the season he's putting up. I'm starting to lean towards people like Posnanski who think Jeter's the Yanks' MVP.

As for Jeter being over or underrated, I've never thought he was overrated by anyone except for the people who believed he was a good defensive shortstop, and now that he somehow fixed that part of his game, those people are finally correct.

Is he underrated? I've heard many people talk about Jeter as if he was just an OK player who was fortunate enough to play on great teams. Well, I couldn't disagree more with those folks because that's simply not the case. He was one of the main reasons those teams were great, not the other way around. So to answer my question I will also agree with Posnanski and say that yes Jeter is an underrated player. My only disagreement is that this isn't necessarily a new thing.

What do you think, is Jeter underrated?