Jorge Posada no longer could hit his way behind the plate. So now he tries to hit his way to something else that matters to him deeply — remaining a Yankee.
The forced move to DH this season felt like an imposed first step for the Yankees to get Posada off the field. The second step is off the roster. That would come at the conclusion of this season, which also is the conclusion of Posada’s four-year contract.
Posada’s only defense to stay is his offense. Can he hit so well that even a front office and a manager that seem to have limited respect for Posada must reconsider and try to keep the switch-hitter?
“You have to keep on producing,” Posada said before the Yankees 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Twins last night at the Stadium. “You have to keep on doing good so they consider you when you become a free agent, when you get older.”
To that end, Posada — who turns 40 in August — has made a strong opening statement to adapting to the DH role; to still being an offensive force in a job he never wanted.
He had homered three times in the first four games. One scout who doubted if Posada still could have impact said, “Late last year, he looked old and beat up and he couldn’t get to even a 91 mph fastball. Now he looks fresh.”
Posada’s last two homers actually had come on 91 mph fastballs — one from Detroit’s Max Scherzer on Sunday and one from Minnesota’s Scott Baker on Monday.
And this is what the Yankees had sold: That, freed of the rigors of catching, Posada’s body would stay healthier, allowing him to hit more often and better. But that was mostly a cover story.
The fact is the Yankees believed Posada’s defense had fallen from below average to unacceptable — and the organization felt it no longer could keep putting him behind the plate just because Posada so often provided such a huge offensive edge over the opposing catcher.
It is not something Posada likes or believes. He begins three different times to discuss his defense and the degradation heaped on it by his own bosses and stops short on each occasion before offering anything inflammatory. Finally he just says, “I don’t want to go there.”
But the point is made. Posada is a prideful man who built his baseball identity around being a catcher. Yes, he is worried enough about the accumulation of concussions and their potential long-term damage that even he wonders if this is for the best. Yet he makes it clear that he physically could handle catching today.
And with Gustavo Molina the backup, shouldn’t the Yankees budge and let Posada catch once a week, maybe teaming with the low-maintenance CC Sabathia? It would keep them from abusing Russell Martin, who has had significant knee and hip issues in the last year. And it would provide DH at-bats for Eric Chavez, who looked so good in spring.
Nevertheless, manager Joe Girardi continues to say, “We have no plans to have [Posada] catch.”
And when I ran scenarios by Posada yesterday, he finally halted me by saying, “Joel, I’m not catching. It’s as simple as that. It has been made pretty clear at this point that I will not catch.”
So he will have to DH brilliantly to make a case for 2012. The Yankees probably would prefer a DH next year who could also play somewhere in the field — maybe someone like Carlos Beltran — in order to free more DH at-bats for older players such as Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter.
But if Posada has 20-plus homers and an .850-esque OPS, the Yankees would have to strongly consider retaining his power/patience abilities; especially if he were willing to do what has become the more common one-year, $5 million-ish DH deal for an older player.
Because Posada, as disrespected as he feels, does not want to leave. He also knows one week in April is not going to convince anyone to keep him. So this is about coaxing a full season of excellence from his old body.
“I don’t know what is going to happen after this year,” Posada said. “Let’s see how this process [as a DH] goes. Beyond this year, I have no idea. But I feel I will still be able to play.”