JETER ON THE HOT SEAT

Mike Lupica has a column today on Derek Jeter. To some, he's the most-overrated player in baseball, and to others, he's the heart and soul of the Yankees. Lupica doesn't shed any new light on DJ's situation, but reiterates the popular notion that #2 needs to play better than he did last year:

The Yankees have benefited tremendously from his presence at shortstop and at the top of the order, his ability to seize the moment, to raise his game in the postseason especially. But at the same time, he has benefited tremendously from being a Yankee, the glow that can give you, as much as any Yankee of modern times, and that includes Don Mattingly. Benefited with that contract, for sure. So he is both lucky and good.

...But Jeter's batting average has dropped three straight years. His lifetime average is still .317, and that is a beauty for a shortstop, but last year his average was .297. Jeter still scored his runs, scored 124 of them, but he hit just 18 home runs and produced just 75 RBI.

Give him all the props for those intangibles, the way you have to see him every day to appreciate what he brings to his team, and the way he moves runners and hits in the clutch. Those were not the numbers of a superstar last season or even close. It is now ridiculous to compare him to A-Rod.

I don't believe the slip has anything to do with any of the things Steinbrenner talked about. Jeter still has to do better, and that includes in the field.

... Pitchers and catchers report to Legends Field in Tampa this week. Jeter is already down there, working out, working harder than anybody around. No one thought he would be this kind of star, even when he was moving up through the system. Plays hard, plays hurt, plays big in the biggest games. Gets the big money, too. He needs to pick it up this season. If he does, Steinbrenner won't care if he stays out later than Mantle did

I would like to see Jeter put up stupid numbers this year too, but if he merely duplicates his 2002 stats, I won't complain either. One thing that is lost in all of the Jeter talk is that he may simply be closer to a .290 hitter than a .320 hitter. There is no crime in that. It just may take some of his most ardent fans a minute to check themselves accordingly. He had a career year in 1999, and his numbers have declined since. He still scores 100+ runs per year, and is still the emotional leader of the team. Is he a great fielder? Recent studies suggest he isn't even a good one.

Considering the size of Jeter's contract, it's likely that he will continue to recieve more criticism over the next couple of years. So long as he keeps playing winning baseball, I don't care how much flack he gets. He may be the Yankees most important player, he's just not their best player.

MARKETING MATSUI

Jeter isn't the only Yankee who has been working hard. Hideki Matsui arrived in Florida yesterday, and hadn't been in the state for more than two hours before he was working out at Yankee camp.

"He's definitely a Clemens type who likes to work out," [Yankee general manager, Brian] Cashman said. "It's obviously important to him, and that's great to see. His work ethic is strong. He has a deep desire to play the game of baseball and play it right."

Tyler Kepner profiles the Japanese superstar today in the Times, while Roger Rubin examines the marketing impact Godzilla is likely to have for the Yanks.

YES, NO, YES, NO...

Richard Sandomir has an update on the Yes/Cablevision stand-off. Shoot me now.

CLEMENTE'S SPORTS COMPLEX IN TROUBLE

There was a heartbreaking article on Roberto Clemente's decaying sports complex in P.R. last weekend in the Boston Globe. A lack of funding has led to hard times for 304-acre Roberto Clemente Sports City. Local government has failed to offer any financial support. Not suprisingly:

There has been little help from the Latin American players that now make up 20 percent of the major leagues and nothing from team owners who profit by showcasing Latin American players. [Roberto's son] Luis Clemente shrugs. ''We haven't asked,'' he said.

There was a speech that Roberto Clemente made in Pittsburgh in January 1972 after the Pirates won the World Series the previous fall that would have answered those vandals armed with rocks [local kids trashed a school bus that was owned by the Clemente sports center]: ''We hear a great deal about kids today, how bad some are and that our American youth is rapidly deteriorating . . . There is nothing wrong with our homes, our country, that a little more care, a little more concern, a little more love won't cure. We need to show love and to love not only our kids and our families as a whole but our neighbors. We are all brothers and sisters. We must give each other a helping hand when needed.''

Amen.

Oh, I wanted to send a belated Happy Birthday shout to Jose "Don" Tuma, aka Fat-Ass Al. Let's hope he can stick with his Mets for a full season this time around.

Peace.