TAMPA — Jorge Posada will turn 40 this season. This is not the end of the line, though. If all goes well in his new designated-hitter role, Posada wants to come back to the Yankees again in 2012.
If they don’t want him back, Posada admitted, it would be difficult after playing in the Yankees organization his entire career, but he would look elsewhere to find a place to play.
“I feel like I can keep playing, I feel like I can still contribute,” Posada told The Post yesterday.
“That’s the toughest one,” Posada said of the possibility of moving to another team. “I really don’t want to go anywhere else. I would like to stay here.”
If the Yankees closed the door on him, though, and Posada still thought he could contribute, he said he would look to other teams.
“I would, if it’s the right situation,” he explained. “It’s got to be the right situation.”
In a way, that’s good news for the Yankees, because it tells you that even though moving from catcher to DH is difficult, Posada has the confidence he will make a successful transition.
The thought of Posada in a uniform other than the Yankees is difficult to imagine. The Core Four is down to three with the retirement of Andy Pettitte. Derek Jeter will finish his career a Yankee, and the same goes for Mariano Rivera, as both signed new contracts over the winter.
Posada’s four-year, $52.4 million deal comes to an end after this season. But if Posada is successful as a full-time DH — with talk of him occasionally filling in at first base — the Yankees could bring him back for an encore.
Posada is going to play the hand dealt to him and see where he stands.
“We still have a long season in front of us,” he said. “I’ll prepare for this season and see what happens.”
In his typical get-it-done style, Posada added, “Have a good year and make
that decision a little tougher in a year.”
The thing I’ve always liked best about Posada is the street-dog fight in him. That’s made him a champion. Sure, he’s at the point in his career where he has to be replaced behind the plate, but replacing the fire Posada brings to the ballpark each day is another matter.
Posada is working hard to try to make the DH a comfortable role.
“At the end of the day you just want to have four good quality at-bats,” Posada said. “You need to put away your first at-bat if it wasn’t good and look to your next at-bat, that’s the biggest thing.”
As a catcher there is no time to think about your last at-bat, because you have to go right to work with the pitcher. A DH has nothing but time to think. If you don’t hit as a DH, you have no value.
Posada has had 351 plate appearances as a DH and 6,198 as a catcher. His OPS as a DH (.694) is 174 points lower than as a catcher (.868). He said everything from coming out of the dugout and getting used to the glare of the lights or sunlight at home plate to finding ways to stay loose is new territory.
“It’s just a matter of not driving yourself crazy,” Posada noted. “I’m looking forward to having a lot of at-bats.”
The switch-hitter talked to the Rays’ Johnny Damon on Sunday in Port Charlotte about adjusting to the role. Damon told Posada that he spends much more time in the dugout than he thought he would.
Damon also listens to music, watches video and stretches. Posada will do all that, and also talk to Yankee catchers between innings.
He will ask Red Sox DH David Ortiz for advice. He knows he is only in the first steps of the process. No matter how his DH World Turns, Posada is certain of one thing.
“I’m going to stay positive,” he said with a smile, “I’m going to have fun this year.”
That’s the only way to go.