First of all let's get a few points estalished.  MY is my favorite Ranger and well on his way to be favorite Ranger of all time.  Second his defensive ability at SS has rightfully been questioned in the past.  Third point is pitching and defense wins games.  All that said I wanted to point out MY's defensive performance last season.

MY finished the 2006 season with a .985 fileding percentage and earned a 4.87 range factor.  Those numbers are good enough for 2nd in both catagories among starting AL SS's and 5th for both catagories for starting MLB SS's.  Better news than just his ranking is there is no starting SS that rates better than him in both catagories. Finishing better in Range factor are Peralta, Furcal, Coucsell, and Jack Wilson.  In the fielding percentage Alex Gonzalez, Everett, Eckstein and Vizquel bettered his 06 performance.

If we ignore MY offensive numbers he still stacks up as one of the best SS's in the game based on his 06 performance.  That is an impressive statement considering his past defensive limitations.  When you add MY's offensive production I can easily make the arguement he is the best SS in baseball today.

I truly hope he continues to work on his defensive game and trust that he will anchor a much better defensive Ranger team this season.