When Derek Jeter went on the disabled list last week, his staunch opposition to the move made it seem like a sure thing that he would be back in the bare minimum of 15 days.
It's looking like the Yankees made the right decision by listening to medical professionals instead of someone who slept somewhere a lot nicer than a Holiday Inn Express before making their decision. Jeter has yet to resume baseball activities and George King of the Post reports that he's unlikely to be back on the field next Wednesday as originally hoped.
"I can't tell you right now when he will be ready," general manager Brian Cashman said. "He is getting treatment every day and feeling better, but he can't run and can't swing the bat."
Calf strains have a habit of lingering for a while. Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins was never really the same after suffering a similar injury in 2010 and Alex Rodriguez also had one recur when he thought all was well last season.
The Yankees shouldn't be in any hurry to get Jeter back in the lineup. The team has gone 7-2 since he went on the DL and, brutal honesty time, Brett Gardner is a much better leadoff hitter at this point in time than Jeter.
Jeter's extended absence will actually have a much bigger impact off the field than on the Yankee lineup. Every day that he's out pushes the day of his 3,000th hit further back, affecting the anticipation of fans, newsrooms around the city and dirt merchants everywhere.
Some Mets fans are likely to be happy about this development because it greatly lessens the chance that Jeter's milestone will come next weekend at Citi Field. It will be far more gratifying for them to wait for Jason Bay's historic 10th home run as a Met.
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If Jeter were to miss all of next week, he'd return during a series Cleveland before the Yankees return home for a four-game series with the Rays before the All-Star break. If that's the way things pan out, you can bet there will be some conspiracy theorists opining about the Yankees wanting him to pick up the big hit in the Bronx.
That won't make anybody with the Yankees unhappy, to be sure, but the cover story works pretty well all on its own.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
