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BOSTON — Managers dread having to shepherd star players into their twilight.
The players so often do not see his own talents fade. Their teammates are constantly monitoring for signs of disrespect. Fans frequently watch with their hearts rather than their eyes, seeing any reduction in usage as disloyalty.
So imagine managing two iconic players at once, both of whom have had their roles diminished: Welcome to Joe Girardi’s potential nightmare.
Because when it comes to Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada you must decide if their problems are attributable to the season being early or their careers being late. The public confidence of the players and team officials was summed up well by hitting coach Kevin Long, who said after last night’s 4-0 loss to the Red Sox: “These guys have track records too good to doubt after nine games.”
But then Long did add this: “If it were mid-May and we were seeing the same signs, then maybe we have to re-evaluate.”
So the clock is ticking, which is kind of the problem; the ceaseless march of time eroding greatness. Look at it this way: Mark Teixeira is hitless in his last 18 at-bats with seven strikeouts, and it is easy to explain away as just another of his bad Aprils. You know why? Because he turns 31 today.
Jeter will turn 37 in June, Posada will be 40 in August. So it is harder to dismiss the current eyesore data. And if this really is an accelerated portion of their decline phases, then managing Phil Hughes’ absent fastball is going to feel like the good old days for Girardi.
Jeter and Posada are pillars of this franchise, leaders of this roster, still expected to be contributors to a special 2011. They were half of the sainted Core Four. Now they are the Blue Two, because it is kind of sad to see them fighting to avoid their Willie Mays, 1973 moment.
If this were just last night, the poor performance could be attributed to a reborn Josh Beckett, who mastered an entire Yankees lineup as the Red Sox, who began the weekend winless, won the rubber game of this series. But this was not just an April 10 problem.
Jeter is trapped between his old and new swing. He has returned to lifting his front foot a bit, a modification away from what he worked on all spring. He is left, currently, with a long swing and what is projecting as uncertainty for a player defined by his previously unflinching self-confidence.
“I get the questions, I get the interest, I really do,” Jeter said. “But I am telling you, my mindset is fine.”
The results aren’t. Like in his career-worst .270 campaign last season, Jeter is not hitting the ball with authority (just one extra-base hit and a .206 average in 34 at-bats). He continues to be unable to drive a ball to the outfield with force. Of the 28 outs he has recorded this year, just three (including a sacrifice fly) have been made in the outfield.
Girardi has insisted he does not want to micro-manage Jeter’s every at-bat. But what if the shortstop is limping to 3,000 hits? Does Girardi move Jeter to the bottom of the lineup to chase the 3,000? Does he play Eduardo Nunez a time or two a week?
And what of Posada, who already is unhappy about losing his catching job? Is losing the designated hitter slot next, especially since Eric Chavez is so intriguing? Posada struck out three times last night and is hitless in his last 17 at-bats with eight strikeouts.
“You don’t only manage games, you have to manage people,” Girardi said. “I do have to think about [how much to use Posada at DH], because Jorge already has made an adjustment [from behind the plate].”
It is recognition that, when it comes to icons, this will not just be about moving names around — or out of — a lineup. The implications are so much greater with Jeter and Posada, legends of this franchise.
But Girardi is surely recognizing he might have no other option soon but to disrespect such vital pieces of Yankees history — if he hopes to make more of that history.