The world according to Jorge

May 18, 2011

Been meaning to post about this for a couple of days.

Don’t know what kind of pickup this story has been getting outside the New York area, but hearts were all aflutter on Saturday because Yankees long-time catcher Jorge Posada — batting .165 and hitting in the number nine spot in the lineup against the Red Sox in a nationally televised game — suddenly and mysteriously declared himself unable to play.

The way the Fox broadcasting team (McCarver and Buck?) kept talking about the development, you’d think we were about to hear an announcement like the Navy Seals had gotten another top terrorist. They kept going on about the sudden difficulties Posada was having, how he’d been a core member of the Yankees for so long, how he was a proud man who couldn’t be happy with the way things were going.

Yankees GM Brain Cashman was interviewed during the game but wouldn’t say much. For a moment I thought, “Holy cow, Posada has a terminal illness. It’s Lou Gerhig all over again.”

But it seems to be a simple case of Posada’s pride not allowing him to be disrespected by a team that was paying him about $13 million…for batting .165!

New York (and national) sportswriters and columnists went into overdrive in their assessments, mostly chastising Posada for his actions. Some have complained that Derek Jeter and manager Joe Girardi have stuck up for Posada. I have no complaint with a teammate backing a teammate, but Girardi is management and his responsibilities are to the club, perhaps even more than a player should have.

The Wall Street Journal published an article by Nando Di Fino on how quickly the Yankees are aging:

No incident better paints a picture of the current Yankees than this weekend’s drama featuring designated hitter Jorge Posada. After being told he was batting ninth on Saturday, Posada asked manager Joe Girardi to take him out of the lineup. What followed was a dizzying amount of commentary, speculation and contradiction. Rumors swirled that the 39-year-old Posada, batting .165 in his first year as a full-time designated hitter, might announce his retirement. Brian Cashman was interviewed live on the Fox broadcast and seemed as flummoxed as anyone else. Posada simply said he needed a day off and then offered that his back was a little stiff from taking grounders at first base before the game. His wife took to social media to defend him. By the end of the night, there was talk of possibly voiding his contract, with nobody sure what would happen next. (Posada was not in the starting lineup Sunday, but walked in a pinch-hit plate appearance to loud applause.) That the Yankees were shut out 6-0, by Josh Beckett, whose career ERA against New York is 5.66, seemed to get lost in the shuffle. A few weeks ago, it was Derek Jeter in decline. Saturday, it was Posada. On Sunday night, Alex Rodriguez caught slack for making an error on a routine ground ball. “This is larger than Posada,” the New York Post’s Joel Sherman writes. “The Yankees have more aging icons than any team. And if it’s Posada today, which aging Yankees icon will it be tomorrow?”

On Sunday, Posada issued apologies for his behavior. Ian O’Connor of ESPN believes this was actually a bad thing for the team, as it ended a distraction that had been keeping everyone’s attention from the fact that the Yankees are a mess of a team. For Sunday’s game, he points out, Girardi posted a lineup that didn’t include a single batter hitting at least .300. It was true for every game of their losing streak. “They don’t catch the ball, they don’t hit it and they don’t pitch it out of the bullpen, either. They come across as slow, old and athletically challenged at too many positions in the field,” O’Connor writes. “The Yankees stink.”

Many years ago, a Night Gallery story featured former MLB (and NBA) player Chuck Connors as a champion boxer who can live forever — as long as he defeats all comers, which he manages to do for over 100 years. How long do/should Yankee/Posada fans expect him to go on? Former player Doug Glanville seeks to answer the question on ESPN.com.

They say an athlete dies twice, the first death coming when s/he retires.  In that sense, every one of them is terminal.

More on Posada

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