Defensive ratings now show New York Yankees' SS Derek Jeter as an above-average defensive shortstop after years of being below average. This is the point of one of Rob Neyer's recent "blogs" at ESPN.com. Does Jeter's appearance as an above-average shortstop singal the the death knell for the current defensive metrics or just a growing pain in the very young field?
Personally, I think this is a case of marginal differences being so small between below-average and above-average that just having a first baseman who can turn some bad throws into putouts as opposed to errors mkaes the difference. Mark Teixeira has done just that for Jeter, Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez.
If so, then the scouts versus stats argument just tilted towards the scout side because being good or bad shouldn't rely upon the ability of another player. I'd hate to try and make Third Tablet statistical arguments based on differences so small that consensus poor defenders can turn into good ones so easily.