[NCBeachBum]

Originally Posted by dasperp

Agree that he's extremely overrated defensively (though he has improved), but think he doesn't get enough credit for his offense. He currently ranks 20th among active players in OBP, which makes him the leading middle infielder in that category, with Biggio the next one 15 points behind Jeter at .370. I personally think that Jeter's on-base ability makes him a more valuable hitter than Tejada, though his defensive deficiencies push him below Tejada overall. At this point, he is at worst the third-best SS in the league (behind Furcal and Tejada), and possibly the best (BP statistics seem to rate him as the best for this year). People may say Young is better, but he plays in a great hitter's park and his defense is even worse than Jeter's. I think he is vastly overrated by the baseball traditionalists (mainstream media), but is underrated by a lot of SABR-types.

While I can agree with most of this, I have to add that Jeter at any point in his career isn't fit to carry the in-his-prime-Biggio's jock. Biggio has entered his decline phase, Jeter hasnt.... that's the only reason his OBP is 15 points higher.