Jorge Posada did a great thing for charity yesterday, with his foundation’s bowling tournament to help victims of craniosynostosis. Nice job at raising awareness — and money — to help people.
However, I wasn’t all that crazy about his comments about the Yankees’ future, and where he sees himself and Derek Jeter.
When asked about reports that Jesus Montero would get to start behind the dish next year, Posada said:
Given that the Yankees only had him catch half the team’s games last year, and he was terrible on defense, you’d think Posada would see that perhaps it’s time to gracefully step aside, train the new catcher and take the DH role next year. But Jorge isn’t exactly known for his grace. Remember how, when the Red Sox double-stole on him twice in one game and also stole four bases off him in one inning? And how he blamed the pitchers? Classy!
What’s funny is that Posada, as a rookie, was reportedly annoyed that it took him so long to supercede Joe Girardi as the team’s No. 1 catcher. It wasn’t until 1998 that Jorge got to catch over 80 games, and it wasn’t until 2000, when Girardi was no longer on the team, that Posada got to catch more than 100 games a year. Now would be the time for him to devote himself to being a mentor for Montero, but it doesn’t sound like he’s going to offer that up. What about doing what is best for the team?
I was against giving Posada a four-year contract extension in the first place, pointing out that he would be 40 by the end of the contract, and that most catchers have hung up their spikes long before then. But I remember readers saying that Posada would stay fresh until the end, because he didn’t get started as a catcher until late in his minor league career. How’s that working for him now?
The second part of Posada’s conversation to reporters that I thought was interesting was this (emphasis added):
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