As a Yankee fan, I am excited for another season here in the Bronx. However, it saddens me to see what appears to be the dramatic decline of skills in the Captain, Derek Jeter. Some reports have blasted him for perennial hitting into a double play (one blog actually said he should change his uniform number to 63 because he always seems to hit into a 6-3 groundout).
Is it age? Is he injured? Or is it just that he happens to be in the right place at the wrong time? These are things many managers have to consider when one of their top performers suddenly declines in performance.
The key in business (and baseball) is to not rush to conclusions when someone who has consistently performed at a high level suddenly drops off. It is important to see what is going on in one's personal life, if there are new stressors at work, or if there are medical or other issues that need to be addressed.
As a fan, it's easy to jump all over Jeter (as my friends and I have in our Yankee discussions), but the important thing here is to look at the person's performance over time and see what adjustments can be made to make that person more comfortable and perform better.
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