Cashman: Retire Yanks' captaincy after Jeter

GM Brian Cashman doesn’t think anyone should be named team captain after Derek Jeter. (USATSI)

You may have heard this already, but Derek Jeter retired last season. The longtime Yankees shortstop called it a career after a couple thousand hits (3,465, actually), five World Series titles and two decades in the Bronx.

Jeter also served as the team’s captain since June 2003. He was the 16th captain in team history according to their media guide. If it was up to GM Brian Cashman, there would be no 17th captain. Here’s what he told ESPN Radio on Thursday (via New York Daily News):

“As far as I’m concerned, and I’m not to decision maker on this, that captaincy should be retired with No. 2,” Cashman said. “I wouldn’t give up another captain’s title to anyone else.”

The Yankees GM said making that a reality would be the owner’s call, not his, adding that Jeter was “so perfect” for the role.

“Leadership comes in a lot of forms, it would be a hard one to anoint someone captain,” Cashman continued, “regardless of how great they might be.”

With Robinson Cano now playing for the Mariners, the Yankees don’t have an obvious candidate on the roster to replace Jeter as captain. That’s okay, they’ve gone years between captains before. The didn’t have a captain from 1996-2002, for example, between Don Mattingly and Jeter.

The Jeter lovefest has gone overboard — that’s putting it lightly — and while he was clearly a great player and leader, retiring the concept of Yankees captaincy in his honor is too much. At some point someone will come along and lead the team as well or maybe even better than Jeter.

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