There are certain athletes who have been the embodiment of their franchise for their entire career. Until a couple weeks ago, Brett Favre was one of those guys. Craig Biggio was another, for the Astros, and they just honored him for that on Sunday against the Diamondbacks. In the past, there have been guys like Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken, John Stockton, Dan Marino and Mario Lemieux. All were Hall of Fame locks as soon as they retired, and all were with one team from the beginning to the end.

Derek Jeter has a great chance to be one of these one-team HOFers. He was drafted by the Yankees in 1992, made it to the bigs in '95, and has been an icon in the Bronx ever since.

Few Yankees fans could ever imagine the thought of Jeter playing his home games anywhere but the Bronx. The thought of it is hard to even imagine. But is it really as crazy as it initially seems? As the NY Post's Joel Sherman points out, Jeter's contract expires at the end of 2010, and there's no guarantee that the Yankees would continue to want his services.

The Yankees have made more of an effort in the past couple years to get younger and cheaper. At 34 years old and about $20 million per year, Jeter is neither. Which would be fine, if he were putting in MVP-caliber performances like he did in 2006. But this year, DJ is showing signs that he might be on the decline, with a career-worsts in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage (and therefore OPS), with less speed and power than he has shown in the past. Jeter's defensive mediocrity is well-documented, but he has always been among the best hitting shortstops in baseball. But if that fades away, then what is left to convince the Yankees that he, at 36 years old (his age when his contract expires) is still worthy of a top-tier salary, which he will most likely receive once again, if he even sniffs the free agent market.

The Yankees have already run Joe Torre out of town after he led them to 4 World Series championships in 12 seasons. How long will it be before they do the same to Jeter, sending him into a Favre-esque exile to another city? Jeter's performance will most likely not justify his next contract, and the Yankees are trying to avoid mistakes like that, which they have prone to make in the past.

Something will have to break after 2010. Will Jeter accept a huge pay cut? Will the Yankees be willing to overspend, to keep a legend in New York? Or will they mutually decide that it's time to cut ties? Is it possible that we could see Jeter playing elsewhere?

It's a lot more possible than you might think.


Another Derektion [New York Post]