The controversy continues. The big story out of Yankeeland yesterday – and today – was the whole to-do over Joe Girardi having Jose Molina catch A.J. Burnett instead of Jorge Posada. I wrote on this earlier this week, but I have a few more thoughts on the issue.
* Posada is a heck of a hitter – he had 22 homers and 81 RBI in just 111 games this year, which are terrific numbers for anybody, let alone a 39-year-old catcher. But he’s a bit of a hothead, as is Burnett, which is why they clash. So I think what Molina provides, besides calling a good game, and being great defensively, is a calming influence on Burnett. It’s just a better personality fit. Doesn’t mean Posada isn’t the greatest Yankee catcher since Thurman Munson.
* Jose Molina got a ton of questions on this issue. Here’s what Molina said, according to Sam Borden of LoHud.com:
“I will say and I will keep saying the same – the manager is Joe, he writes down a name and I’ll play. I’m ready. If Jorgie don’t like it, that’s him. You guys have to ask him about that, not me. But Joe is the manager. He puts me in the lineup, I’ll play.”
* Don’t blame Girardi for the controversy. It was Posada, not him, to blabbed to the media about this on Tuesday in the first place. While it’s good that Posada wants to play, I didn’t care for the whole “I just hope we win the game” thing,although his comments yesterday were fine.
* I did like what Girardi said about it yesterday:
“No, I’m not worried about it. I never saw Joe Torre fret about it. I never saw Bobby Cox fret about it when Javier Lopez didn’t catch Greg Maddux.
“You put the club out there that you feel should be out there that evening, and then you hope that your club makes plays and throws the ball well.”
Girardi’s the manager. Not Posada. If the choice fails, it fails. But give Joe credit for trying something different.
* Not everybody’s on board with this. The Bergen Record’s Ian Connor, the guy who once wrote that the Yankees would be better off with Cody Ransom instead of A-Rod, criticized Girardi for the decision, calling it an “E-2 on Girardi.” He also said:
…Posada was left to develop into a franchise cornerstone, a signature player, and, ultimately, the fourth surviving Beatle in the band of Jeter, Pettitte and Mo.
Ha! Squawker Jon has been calling Posada “Ringo” for years! It’s not a compliment, though!
* I’ve also noticed that none of the pro-playing-Posada writers ever talk about his horrendous October numbers (he has a .233 BA – other than the game-tying hit off Pedro Martinez in the 2006 ALCS and his .500 hitting in the 2006 ALDS, his numbers aren’t exactly Mr. Octoberesque.)
It’s not just that – they even exaggerate how many rings he has. AOL’s Lisa Olson describes Posada as a “catcher with four rings.” Um, no. He wasn’t even on the team in the 1996 playoffs
* Please don’t compare this to Joe Torre batting Alex Rodriguez eighth in the 2006 ALDS. Torre didn’t do that for game strategy or anything like that – he did that to humiliate A-Rod, and to make his third baseman the scapegoat of the playoff failures. (And, lest we forget, that was the same series were Torre so bought into Jim Leyland’s “Murderers Row and Cano” nonsense that he thought it was a good idea to play Gary Sheffield at first base. Yeah, that was a great move.)
What do you think? Leave us a comment!
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