Ooh, ooh, I know. It's Jeter.

ESPN SportsNation wants to know:

Jeter vs. Reyes: Who's more valuable?

I know. It's Jeter.

Jeter and Reyes, New York's two All-Star shortstops, have had stellar seasons, good enough to merit MVP consideration in their respective leagues.

The truth of this claim depends heavily on whether placing someone 18th or 19th on the ballot counts as "consideration." Reyes isn't even the most valuable player on his team. Beltran is way more valuable, and Delgado and Wright are quite valuable as well. But Jeter and Reyes do play the same position in the same city.

They've been catalysts in the lineup, on the field and on the base paths, leading the Yankees and the Mets respectively into the playoffs with the best records in their leagues.

Strictly speaking, the base paths are part of the field.

But which one is more valuable to his team?

Jeter.

Jayson Stark makes the case for Jeter:

The essence of Derek Jeter's greatness has never had anything to do with whether he has better "tools" than all those more "talented" players on those other 29 teams. And it has never had anything to do with almost all the stuff his critics bring up -- not his Zone Rating or his OPS or his VORP or anything else.

In particular, it has nothing to do with measurements which demonstrate that he is less valuable than Jayson Stark believes. By the way, Jayson, you should play a little hard to get. Also a little reasonable. DJ has been good at getting on base this year. Getting on base helps the Yankees score runs. Runs are valuable to the Yankees.
Also, I REALLY hate it when writers use nonsarcastic quotation marks where they should have made arguments.

Jeter is a great player because he's one of those rare people who understands everything there is to understand about The Big Moment, lives to rise to that moment and actually feeds off all the Yankee craziness that reduces other guys (not mentioning any particular third basemen here) to overcooked manicotti.

You could in principle support this statement with statistical evidence. But DJ-fellating and baseless Arod-bashing will also suffice.

So who cares if Jose Reyes is faster, or scores more runs, or inspires more pickoff throws?

I agree these are retarded ways of measuring a player's value.

If I'm trying to win the World Series, I'll take Jeter over any shortstop in baseball.

This sentence does not follow from the previous one. Like, at all. You were given the correct side of the argument and you showered Jeter with kisses. Fair enough.

Jerry Crasnick for Mr. Reyes:

Jose Reyes' impact on a game transcends conventional measures.

Did your bullshit detector go off? If not, you might want to change its batteries. By the way, what's the deal with smoke detectors? They're always so freaking sensitive.

It shows in the way opposing pitchers speed their deliveries, infielders rush their throws, and Paul Lo Duca -- the Mets' No. 2 hitter -- sees lots and lots of fastballs.

These impacts are not so much "unconventional" as they are "insignificant."

It's manifested in his 63 stolen bases.

This is a manifestly conventional measure. It also happens to be manifestly stupid. Homeboy is 63 for 80 in SB attempts.

But Joey Gathright can fly, too, and nobody fears him. Reyes has 66 extra-base hits, he's batting .406 with runners in scoring position and two outs, and he's a monster leadoff presence with his rare blend of speed and power.

.406 is impressive, but it's in 69 at-bats. That is not very many at-bats. Also, his .353 OBP is less monstrous than it is 46th in the National League. Jeter's .414 mark is good for 5th in the AL.

Of course, Derek Jeter is terrific, but if he goes down, the Yankees can always plug in Alex Rodriguez at shortstop and go out and trade for Aramis Ramirez.

Aside from the Aramis Ramirez non sequitur, I agree with this point: it's bizarre to compute Jeter's VORP as a shortshop and Arod's as a third baseman. Arod plays better shortstop than does Jeter, and if the Yankees are better overall with DJ at SS and Arod at the hot corner, Arod's value shouldn't suffer because he's more versatile.

Reyes is the Mets' resident irreplaceable part. And just think how good he'll be when he turns 24.

You are free to predict that Reyes will someday be a very valuable player. Some nameless kid from the D.R. will also eventually be very good at baseball. For the foreseeable future Albert Pujols will be more valuable than Jose Reyes.

I think he's better and I'm not even sexually attracted to him.