Actually, looking at the candidates, Eckstein has a decent case for #2 ... but seriously, is there any non-hater way this vote doesn't go to Jeter?

A.L. East - Catchers - average

                   First basemen - mediocre

                    Second Base - above average

                    Shortstop- yikes... I had to vote for Jeter

Agreed on Jeter. This position is really bad in the East right now, in almost exact contrast to the 2B position. And yes, Eckstein might be the second best in this group, as odd as that sounds.

By the way, the link in this poll leads to the 1B poll, not the 2B poll.

Anyone not voting for Jeter should be compelled to make a case. One doesn't have to be a fan of the man to still acknowledge that this voting shoud be unanimous.

Other:  Arod.

I think that one could make a case that Jeter has no business playing SS at this stage in his career, and therefore they could vote for someone else on this list.  According to Plus/Minus, he was -34 plays against average last season, and -90 over the past 3 years.  The Fielding Bible has the value of each play at roughly half a run, so he was 17 runs worse than average last season and 45 runs worse than average over the past 3 seasons.  That could even be conservative, as well.  Other sources have the value of each play valued higher than half a run (MGL, at The Book Blog, recently put each play at a value of 0.74 runs, I believe).  That being said, I still voted for Jeter even though I don't think he should be playing SS.

I would argue that Bartlett is the second best choice on this list.  Although he gets no hype, he's an excellent defender (the Plus/Minus system had him as the 4th best SS in the majors last year at +18 plays, and 2nd best - behind Adam Everett - from 2005 to 2007 at +45 plays) and isn't that far behind Eck with the bat, if at all:

Bartlett

Last Season - 265/339/361
Career - 272/341/362

Eckstein

Last Season - 309/356/382
Career - 286/351/362

When you take into account age (Bartlett is 28 next year, while Eck is 33) and Eckstein's apparent slip on D last year (-14 Plus/Minus), it would appear the Bartlett is likely to be the better player next year.

I think that one could make a case that Jeter has no business playing SS at this stage in his career, and therefore they could vote for someone else on this list.

That's not quite a non sequitur, but close. Obviously, when evaluating any of these shortstops, both their offense and defense must be considered. If someone could argue that Jeter gives up enough with his glove to allow one of the other four to surpass him in total value, then so be it. I just can't see that argument being made.

If someone could argue that Jeter gives up enough with his glove to allow one of the other four to surpass him in total value, then so be it.

That's more the point that I was trying to make, I just phrased it really badly.

Assuming Lugo's second half of the season was actually him coming out of his slump, then he's the best of this, but that's kind of like winning Around The Horn. I'm going to vote for Troy Glaus, because he's a natural shortstop who has enough sense to know that he has no business playing shortstop on anything more regular than a biannual basis.

Lugo still just hit 280/322/406 in the second half, which actually isn't out of line with his 271/333/395 career. I'd love any opportunity to vote against Jeter, but Lugo ain't it.

I voted as an Eckstein/MacDonald pairing and overall team shortstop numbers for next year (I know that is reading into the question a lot).

Jeter vs. Bartlett in 2007.  Jeter 20 runs above average and Bartlett 4 runs below average with the bat per BP.  Bartlett is 14 runs better with the glove, according to BP, and much more than that, according to the Fielding Bible.  Bartlett is also younger.  Going into 2008, you can certainly make a case for Bartlett.