"Hip-Hip..."

Or should I say…”Back-Back…”

Yankees designated hitter and 5X World Champion Jorge Posada has been in the crosshairs of the Vibe for a few weeks now. Carrying a batting average south of the Mendoza line for a few weeks as a regular for the New York Yankees will do that for you. Things came to a head for Posada on Saturday night, as he mysteriously removed himself from the lineup prior to the team’s game with the Red Sox.

Posada (see above, 2003 ALCS Game 7) has had his share of big moments in the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Saturday night was not one of those moments.

Posada-gate

Speculation ran wild as to why Jorge took himself out of the lineup, thanks to “diarrhea of the mouth” GM Brian Cashman, who issued an in-game statement during Saturday night's game:

“Around 6:00, he came into Joe Girardi’s office and removed himself from the lineup. It’s not an injury situation. That’s all I can say about it right now“

Cash... you make us feel this way sometimes with some of the stuff that comes out of your mouth. Everything that comes out of his mouth about Pedro Feliciano shoves his foot deeper and deeper in there. He's also made some puzzling comments about Joe Torre and, of course, Derek Jeter.

This open-ended declaration set the stage for Joe Buck incessantly discussing possible reasons for Jorge being out all game long.

Posada’s wife tweeted (probably in response to what Joe Buck was saying on TV) that Jorge “loves being a Yankee” and that his “back stiffened up” prior to game time.

 

WINNING! Just to make sure all blog readers are aware. Jorge's wife, Laura Posada (of the "back stiffness" tweet), is the one in this picture who is not Regis Philbin. This is a classy blog, so I'll stop right here. If you want it to be more of a tasteless blog, insert your own "stiffness" joke here, and have yourself a good laugh.

 Girardi, speaking calmly with reporters after the loss, downplayed everything…indicating that Jorge came to see him and told him that he “needed a day.” He indicated that he expected Posada to be back in the lineup and part of the team moving forward.

Posada, on the other hand, seemed irked at the tone and delivery of Cashman’s statement in the post-game. He echoed his wife’s claim that his back stiffened up “from taking ground balls at first base,” but also indicated that he did not mention anything to Girardi about it when he spoke with the manager. Something doesn’t seem just quite right with that assertion.

Jorge once took Joe's job when he was a young buck and Joe was approaching the twilight of his career. Is Joe one of the reasons that Jorge might now be losing his? 

Incidentally, word came out that the Yankees were docking Posada’s pay for last night’s game, citing breach of contract. I’m wondering if Jorge’s back might have started stiffening up once he heard that they would be docking him pay.

The speculative explanations for why Jorge removed himself from the lineup range from the noble “he knew he wasn’t helping the team” to the sinister “he was pissed when he saw he was batting ninth.”

OK, so which jumps out at you more...Jorge being listed 9th, or the .165, 6, 15 line next to his name. 
(Jim Mcisaac/Getty Images)

I tend to believe that the latter is not true, as it came out a few weeks ago that Jorge actually thanked Joe for sticking with him despite his lack of production. This is a little different from the A-Rod batting 8^th drama. Jorge recognized that he was not hitting. Prideful or not, I feel like hitting 9^th would not have been the reason he pulled himself.

A-Rod had much more of a gripe with Joe Torre when the skipper batted him 8th against the Tigers in the 2006 ALDS. He was 30 years old and in his prime as one of the best hitters in baseball. Posada, 39, is at the end of his career and his production has severely declined.

At least I’d like to believe that. I’m not naïve enough to think that Jorge is incapable of acting that way. As important as he’s been to the Yankees over the years, we know that he has a short fuse, bad temper, and can act childish at times when he doesn’t like something. We remember the lack of grace with which he handled the Randy Johnson personal catcher fiasco. He’s never been accused of being even-keeled.

With all of these rumors swirling, some even suggested that Jorge was going to retire, a thought which was shot down quickly by Jorge. Lack of production at age 39 coupled with "opting out" of a game (whatever be the reason) will cause that speculation.  

Moving Forward

Will this all blow over? The answer to that depends on whether you think Posada is going to start to hit or not. This could blow over without incident, or it could get so much worse. It’s no secret that Posada is not happy with the organization for bailing on him as the starting catcher. He’s not a fan of Brian Cashman….there’s no way he is. This could be the requisite fuel needed to make this a more volatile situation.

What the hell happened? They used to be such good friends...

Or….Posada could step right back into the lineup and start to produce. Winning and success cures everything.

Personally, I have said all year that I want to give Posada into the middle of June to see where he is before pushing the panic button. It's definitely an adjustment for him. You hear all these cliche claims about how he goes from being in the game every pitch (as a catcher) to only batting 3 or 4 times as a DH.

All this talk of catchers being moved got me thinking about other cases of catchers being asked to change positions. Who can forget the Todd Hundley OF experiment in 1998? Of course, there were different reasons for Hundley's offensive demise. It's worth noting that he's a glaring omission from the Vibe's All-Juice Team.

As a former catcher, I can tell you. It runs much deeper than that. As a catcher, you are seeing pitches all game long. You are picking up release points, breaking ball rotations, and making reads from 60ft. 6 in. all game long. Even though it's your own pitcher (not the same pitcher you are facing as a hitter), you are still processing pitches, which makes you see the ball better as a hitter. Going from doing this for 15+ years to not catching a single inning has to be an adjustment. 

I’m still willing to give him until the middle of June, but I will admit:

The boat is taking on water faster than I anticipated.

Jorge DID hit .248 last year. The window of YES announcers being able to say “Well, Jorge’s average is low…but his power numbers are there” is starting to close. I feel like he’s had 6 HR and 15 RBI for a month now. And the middle of June is a month away. If conditions don’t improve, the Yankees will have three options:

Option A: Ride Jorge out the rest of the year

Option B: DH platoon of Andruw Jones/Eric Chavez

Option C: Trade for another corner OF who can DH

Based on how the Yanks usually operate, I’m going to be that Option C becomes a reality if it gets to that point. The problem is, it looks as if pickin’s will be slim for a bat come July 31^st. As is usually the case, it will be an interesting summer in Yankee Stadium. 

Jorge's replacement as Yankees DH?