It was easy to fixate on Jorge Posada’s eyes late Thursday night. They were puffy, red and finally teary as he choked up and excused himself from an interview session; reacting to a question about if he was taking this Yankees elimination loss harder than others because it was probably his last game with the team.
But, of all things, I was mostly looking at Posada’s ears. They were his tell over all these years. They are large and when they get deep red it has been an indisputable sign that he was emotional, usually mad. They were, for example, fire-engine red earlier this year when he was dropped to ninth in the order by frenemy Joe Girardi, a clear indicator of what he was really thinking even as he was publicly saying he was not upset with the decision. Not long after, he pulled himself from the lineup, setting off his most contentious moments with the organization.
And there on Thursday night, after Tigers 3, Yankees 2 — both on the scoreboard and in the best-of-five series — Posada’s ears were as red as a stop sign, which felt right considering where he was in his Yankees career.
If this were his end as a Yankee — and everything points that way — his legacy will be one of power, patience and passion. He kind of wore his ears on his sleeve. He was fire to the ice that was his pal, Derek Jeter, all of these years. He needed the emotional fuel; it spurred him to excellence, pushed achievement.
Posada was a natural righty hitter as a kid and a middle infielder when he joined the Yankees as a 24th-round pick in 1990 — the same draft that would bring Andy Pettitte, Shane Spencer and Ricky Ledee.
But Posada’s father, a long-time scout also named Jorge, forced his son to learn to hit lefty as an 8-year-old in Santurce, Puerto Rico. The father insisted that Jorge Jr. stick with being a switch-hitter despite being miserable initially from the new side.
The Yankees’ player development heads saw arm strength from Posada, but not enough athleticism to project him as a major league middle infielder. So Posada was moved behind the plate. Like switch-hitting, the skills needed to catch did not come easily to him. Heck, pitchers would complain throughout Posada’s career about either his stubbornness in game calling or his tendency to lose strikes by botching a pitch. But Posada came to adore the position, define himself by the pitch-by-pitch action.
Through undaunted determination, Posada became a switch-hitter and switched to catcher; a combination that forged a borderline Hall-of-Fame career and also provided the backdrop to his 2011 campaign. After the 2010 season, the Yankees informed Posada — against his wishes — that he was no longer a catcher; so tired had the organization grown in his fading receiving talents. The same fierce pride that enabled Posada to adapt to being a catcher made him resolute that his defensive abilities remained intact.
So he began this season peeved and really never recovered. He adapted poorly to being a designated hitter and — of all things — lost his effectiveness as a right-handed hitter. All he had was the lefty swing his father taught him and a continuing knack for hitting fastballs. Against the Tigers’ all-righty, power rotation, the DH-ing Posada was the Yankees’ best hitter in the Division Series.
Still the Yankees lost.
And as mad as Posada had grown at the organization — particularly general manager Brian Cashman and Girardi — he has loved being a Yankee; only known being a Yankee.
This is why his eyes and ears turned red late Thursday night. His contract was over and the Yankees want to turn over the DH to a catcher with a similar big-hit, questionable-field rep as Posada in Jesus Montero; while also leaving plenty of at-bats for aging players with continuing contracts such as Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.
Posada can still hit from the left side, adjusted better to the DH role as the season went along and so it would not be surprising if an AL team offered him, say, $1 million-$2 million for next year, perhaps even to mix in, say, 25 games at catcher and first base. But an emotional man will have to decide if he can play with a broken heart away from The Bronx.
No matter what happens moving forward, Posada ended well in the Division Series, further burnishing a legacy of a self-made switch-hitter and catcher whose power, patience and passion made him one of the most important players in franchise history.