(Thanks for being patient with the column coming a day late. I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy what I have for you. – M.E.)

For years, the standard mantra/cliche in the NFL was that “defense wins championships.” With the recent success of the New York Giants last year and the Pittsburgh Steelers this year, it’s hard to argue with that statement. But on the diamond, defense has been the single-most difficult to quantify since the sport began.

There are so many variables involved in the fine art of fielding that up until the last five years, we had no discernable way of know exactly who was a good fielder and who wasn’t. Many New York Yankees fans can tell you, though, that since the ‘00 Subway Series, the gloves on display in the Bronx have been anything but golden. In a recent article on ESPN.com, the Yankees have ranked in the bottom-third of the league in defensive efficiency (the percentage of balls in play converted into outs) six out of eight times. Coincidentally, the Yankees have failed to win the World Series during that span.

Manning the field for the Yankees for the last eight years have been a veritable who’s-who list of players Tom Emanski did not want to endorse his videos. Just as I’m typing these names in, I feel as though I just heard a rock clanging off a metal surface somehwere. Bobby Abreu (the link to the following players sends you to their defensive page on baseball-reference.com). Jason Giambi. Raul Mondesi. Tony Womack. Gary Sheffield. Johnny Damon. Hideki Matsui. And, yes, Derek Jeter (pictured).

And here is where the moaning and groaning begins. How could you say such a thing about The Captain? He’s won three Gold Gloves! What about all those incredible throws he makes from the lip of the outfield grass? My response is this: being a poor fielder does not necessarily mean you are incompetent with the glove.

Just like he does with the bat or in front of the camera, Jeter does not make a fool out of himself when he’s at short. His actions are fluid and sure, he plays with confidence and most importantly, he gives every play everything he has. Manny Ramirez or Chuck Knoblauch he isn’t. But it is what Jeter cannot do that puts him among the lower echelon of defensive shortstops. His skills turning a double play aren’t always the cleanest and he has poor range for someone of his athleticism, especially to his left (glove) side. Defense is all about preventing runs from scoring, which includes snaring those hard grounders up the middle with runners in scoring position.

And with CC Sabathia, Chien-Ming Wang, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Joba Chamberlain–all of whom induced ground balls at least 49.7 percent on batted balls–on the staff, getting to those balls becomes that much more important.

According to the statistics found on baseball-reference.com, Jeter’s total runs fielding score (shows how many runs a player saved or allowed against the league average; 10 runs equals one win; Rtot/yr according to b-r.com) came out to -12.6 in 2007 and -4.7 in 2008. For a comparison, Michael Young, last year’s GG winner with Texas, posted a score of 8.9 while cross-town rival Jose Reyes was able to keep out of the negatives with a score of 1.0. The simple fact is this: Jeter does not get to as many balls in play as others and costs the Yankees runs on the board.

Now while there is no way the Yankees would move Jeter from his position, they were able to do the next best thing: they went and got a player who makes everyone on the infield look better.

Mark Teixeira is more than just an impact bat in the lineup. He also brings with him one of the best first base gloves in baseball. (no, chuckleheads, I don’t mean that his actual glove is crafted from the finest leather in the land) First base is probably one of the most underated positions in the game for the simple fact that it is where the vast majority of the throws on the infield go to. A good defensive first baseman is tall (”Tex” is 6′2″) and has quick reflexes to allow him to snag any hot-shots down the line. A good first baseman also has the ability to stretch out, dig out and leap up for any wayward throws from his fellow infielders, masking their mistakes with his skills.

Teixeira does more than his share of masking, as he posted a Rtot/yr of 18.4. For a comparison, Albert Pujols, also one of the top fielding first basemen, had a Rtot/yr of 18.1. In short, Teixeira gave his team nearly two more wins than what they would have had using a league-average replacement. In the highly competitive American League East, two wins might as well be the difference between scheduling playoff arrangements and scheduling tee-times in Arizona and Florida.

The outfield will be just as improved for the Yankees, too. Xavier Nady is a spectacular improvement over the now-departed Abreu, who is as fond of outfield walls as super-agent Scott Boras is of hometown discounts. Damon, noodle arm and all, has adapted fairly well to left field thanks to his foot speed, hustle and quick release on throws. The biggest improvement, though, will probably be seen between the two corners.

For the last three years, the Yankees fans (and possibly the front office) have grown tired of seeing Melky Cabrera constantly getting himself turned around on fly balls to deep left-center or making palpitation-inducing catches. Brett Gardner’s blazing speed (on display at the 1:40 mark of this video) enable him to get to a few more balls than most other players, and he also has a strong arm to boot (1:17). But not only does Gardner get to where he’s going to quickly, he also makes it look like second nature by taking good routes to fly balls and making fluid strides in pursuit.

When people used to complain that Joe DiMaggio never made any spectacular fielding plays, Yogi Berra responded by saying he never needed to because he knew where to position himself, he took good routes and he got to where he needed to be fast. Well, Yogi probably said it in a much funnier way, too. Maybe similar comments will be made about Gardner’s defense in years to come.

- Michael Echan