Captain Ready to Rebound?

The Yankees need Jeter to rebound to get back
atop the baseball mountain.

It's no secret that the New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter struggled much of the the 2010 campaign.

He hasn't only been the face of the Yankees during his career, but the face of Major League Baseball. Leaving us with the question, has father time finally caught up with the Yankee Captain or was '10 just a fluke?

There is no definitive answer just yet, we will have to wait and see come Opening Day, but don't count Jeter out just yet.

Since Jeter burst onto the scene in 1996, winning the Rookie of the Year Award and the first of his five World Series titles, he has not experienced much failure. Jeter has only missed the playoffs once in his 16 seasons in the majors and never batted under .290 in a full season until a year ago.

How will Jeter deal with setting career lows in batting average (.270), on-base percentage (.340) and slugging percentage (.370) a year ago? The same way he always does, by turning the page.

Jeter showed signs of being the Jeter of old, taking better swings in September and into October.

Jeter also did come away with his fifth career Gold Glove Award, making only six errors all season. He was tied for second in the American League with 111 runs, that is the most he is scored in a single-season since he scored 118 in 2006. With the nasty public contract negotiations in the past and extra work in the offseason with hitting coach Kevin Long, we can expect the Yankee Captain to return to form in 2011.

Despite the fact that Jeter will be 37 in June, he is still going to score 100 runs, get his usual 200-plus hits, play solid defense and make a big play in a crucial situation.

The Yankees need Jeter to be the Derek Jeter they have grown accustom to the past decade and a half if they want to get past the Sox in the grueling AL East.

He is out to prove that his best stories have not already be written.

All that being said, Jeter is 74 hits shy of becoming the first Yankee in history to reach 3,000 hits, something that will be truly magical. No matter what the stats say at the end of '11, Jeter will once again be the focal point in New York for all the right reasons.