Derek Jeter looks “amazing”

Reporters haven’t been able to do much better than “Bigfoot off in the distance” pictures of Derek Jeter working out down in Tampa, but the Yankees’ David Phelps has an early review of the Captain on the Comeback Trail:

“Derek looks amazing. That’s awesome . . . You can tell he’s determined to go out there and do well,” Phelps said. “If you had to place a bet on it, you know he’s going to go out there and have a good year. I’m really looking forward to seeing him play again. He’s having a lot of fun right now.”

No Yankees player is going to say “man, Jeter looks like he’s toast. Dude has nothing. He should probably hang it up.” But nor would they flat out lie, I suspect. If Jeter looked creaky and terrible, you’d probably here far more vague things about how “he’s a competitor” and how no one should ever count out Jeter and stuff.

So while, yes, Phelps is not exactly the most objective source on the planet, hearing raves like this should not be entirely discounted either. It’s not likely that a nearly 40-year-old shortstop is going to look like he’s 30 again, but -- for as cliche as this sounds -- if anyone can buck the odds, isn’t it going to be Jeter?