Derek Jeter Suffers Broken Ankle in Game One Loss

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter suffered a broken ankle while fielding a ground ball to his left in the top of the 12th inning of Game One of the American League Championship Series versus the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.

Jeter will not play again this season.

Oct 13, 2012; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (2) reacts after being injured while attempting to field a ball hit by Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta (not pictured) in the 12th inning during game one of the 2012 ALCS at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Munson/THE STAR-LEDGER via US PRESSWIRE

The immediate ramifications of the injury are obvious. Jeter is not only a future Hall of Famer, but he was in the midst of one of the greatest seasons of his career, even at age 38. The Yankee captain and lead-off hitter lead the league is hits in 2012. Instead of having Jeter patrolling shortstop, the Yankees will turn to Eduardo Nunez and Jayson Nix to man the position.

The Yankees, already facing a 1-0 deficit in the series, will not only have to deal with coming up short in a game they had many chances to steal from Detroit, but they’ll have to deal with the emotional difficulty of playing on without their leader.

One possibility, although extremely remote: Why not use Alex Rodriguez as Jeter’s replacement? The highest-paid player in baseball has already been reduced to a mere platoon player by manager Joe Girardi. He’s a former Gold Glove shortstop and probably still could be every bit as good as either Nunez or Nix with the glove. Maybe ARod could be useful as a utilityman?