Cashman's announcement at a breakfast sponsored by WFAN sparked quite the response throughout the MLB. Could one of the league's most iconic shortstops really finish his career in the outfield? Not likely, Strawberry said at the Baseball Assistance Team dinner on Tuesday night, according to ESPN.com.
"It will never happen," Strawberry said. "I could never see Jeter playing the outfield. Knowing him as well as I do, as much as he loves the game, and all the great things he's accomplished in the game, as a shortstop, there will be no reason for that."
Strawberry wasn't the only one against the Jeter move at the B.A.T dinner. Howard Johnson, who spent most of his career with the New York Mets, said that he also made the switch from the infield to the outfield, and says the move probably wouldn't work out for Jeter.
"At his age, I don't see it," Johnson said. "I went to the outfield and I was 32 years old, went to center field. That was one of the toughest things I ever did because there's a lot physically that goes into it. It's one of those things, if you are going to do it you've got to do it early."
Johnson went on to say that Jeter's legendary status in the infield probably wouldn't translate well to a shift into the outfield, but if anything, a move to second base could be in the captain's future.
"When you have a great player, like Derek Jeter, he is not moving to the outfield," Johnson said. "Maybe as a putdown he goes to second base. That would be the worst case scenario. I don’t see him moving off of short. He is a team leader."
