What does overrated really mean?

Sports Illustrated had a poll in it's most recent issue asking 400 baseball players who was the most overrated player in the game. The answer that came back shocked many baseball experts; Derek Jeter. The Yankee captain? How could that be they moaned. Don't these idiots remember the gold gloves, the clutch hitting, the World Series, his leadership or the women he's dated? What makes these "players" think they're better then Derek Jeter? Maybe the fact that some of them are. I'm not one of those Red Sox fans who insanely hate Jeter. I've respected him and when he's made a good play I've said good for him. I laughed when he was on SNL and don't remember ever thinking that he was a jerk. I think it's because of the gold gloves, the clutch hitting, the World Series', his leadership and the women he's dated.

What I'm trying to say is that Jeter is always in the spotlight. Watching Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn last week each one of the shows ran a piece on how great Jeter was hitting and how this may be his best season ever. But was he even leading the major leagues in batting average? No. Was he leading the AL in batting average? NO. But there he was getting the press. Well, no other shortstop can hit as well as he is can they? Um....Yes. In fact there's one hitting better. Miguel Tejeda is batting .392 with 8 HR's for the Orioles. True Jeter does have an edge in OPS but Tejeda is the player that drives the Orioles. Without Tejeda in the lineup the Orioles don't win. Can the same be said for Jeter on the Yankees? I don't think so. Yet Jeter is the one on the news. Why? Because he plays a glorified position in the largest market in the country on the most famous team in the history of sports.
Jeter does a lot of things well and he is truly a great player, but there are better players out there that don't get anywhere near as much press. Maybe that's what this pole suggests.

In John Dewan's new Fielding Bible Bill James writes a piece in which he argues that despite winning two gold gloves Jeter is actually considered to be one of the worst fielding shortstops of all time. The entire arguement is too long for me to get into but it does make sense. Then why do writers think Jeter is so good? Because he's always on TV playing shortstop for a good team in a big market. Defense has always been diffcult to judge and I feel many writers have given up and just go thru the motions. Jeter won the gold gloves at this point because it's simply a popularity contest. Do you remember when Rafeal Palmero won a gold glove in the mid ninties in season in which he played in the field just 30 times. It didn't matter because the voters were lazy and they voted for the player whose name they knew. Same thing with Jeter the last two years. Maybe the players weren't jealous of Jeter as many at ESPN have been saying over the past several days. Maybe they were just stating a fact.