Interesting Take on Jeter

I'm not saying what Jeter did was wrong by any means. Although he acted as if he was hit, making himself look pretty foolish, he was awarded the base.  At that point I don't think anyone would tell Jeter he's wrong to take the base.  However, regardless of your stance if Jeter "cheated" or not this has become a huge incident putting a lot of attention on Jeter.  What I find interesting is that with this increased attention, in a season where Jeter is having a miserable year, people are using this incident as yet another means to talk glowingly about Jeter.  Luckily there is an interesting take, which of course comes via Joe Posnansi:

"I don’t think what Jeter did was wrong, not at all, not in baseball terms. So what was my reaction? Well, I think what Jeter did was kind of … sad. Has he become so impotent as a hitter — do you realize the guy now has an 86 OPS+? — that now he’s willing to hop around and have trainers look at his forearm when the ball clearly did not hit him? That’s what Derek Jeter has become? And then afterward, he’s sheepishly defending the move by saying it’s his job to get on base, well, is that what’s behind the Derek Jeter aura? Is that what he has stood for all these years?"

I admittedly didn't think of looking at it in this way but now that it's been brought to me I kind of have to agree, to an extent.  Some people are saying this is proof that Jeter will do anything to win, and that's more or less true, but it's hard to say with certainty that "old" Jeter, meaning "good" Jeter would have done this. The people in favor of Jeter doing this (like Mike Francesa) claim that the ump gave him first so he took it, if that's all it was this wouldn't be an issue.  The issue, or the sad part, is that Jeter hopped around trying to get the call.  "Old" Jeter, as well as any other player from little league to the majors (except Pete Rose), would have taken the base if the ump gave it to him.  I'm not sure how many players we can realistically say would try to pull off an acting job like that to get first base.  In fact I think the number is zero because how many players, if they tried, would get an ump to give him first base?  Then, how many players of that group would actually attempt it? 5? 10 max?

I'm not trying to use this as a launching pad for another steroids debate, but basically players are always looking for that "edge", especially players who are declining.  While Jeter is likely not going to break the written rules, he may be desperate enough now to break the unwritten ones.  I'm not sure whether watching Jeter try to milk a call is sad in the way that Jeter is now going against "all that he stood for", or sad in the way that this is confirming Jeter is no longer a very good player.  Any way you want to slice it though, it is pretty sad.