The thing that gets me about the Jeter apologists, is that no one is disputing his leadership, the fact that he's a "winner" or the intangibles he brings to his team. All that was said was that his defense has slipped, noticibly. And that's true watch him play, he doesn't get to balls that others get to or that he used to get to, especially going to his left. If not for the ego's involved, he probably should have been moved to 2b and let A-rod play SS when A-rod came to the team. As much a Jeter has slipped, I still believe him to be a better fielder than Cano at 2b.
It will be interesting to see if Strat finally downgrades him to a 3, they are usually slow to react to these things though, so we'll have to see in a couple of months.