Comments on: Backing up the brittle DH

By: Charles Hudson

Charles Hudson — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:22:42 +0000

You make a great point too. Unfortunately just signing Johnson to a contract at all virtually assures that someone would need to replace him in the lineup at any given moment.

By: MikeD

MikeD — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:19:06 +0000

Having Posada replace Johnson at DH appears fine at first glance, but that’s not what would be happening. Posada’s bat was already in the line-up at the catcher’s slot, so that means it would be Cervelli’s bat that would replace Johnson’s. That’s a big offensive drop. Unless he develops some pop, Cervelli does not project as a regular MLB catcher. He’s a back-up.

By: Charles Hudson

Charles Hudson — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:20:29 +0000

You make a great point. Pride has probably interfered in the plans somewhat but these days DH is certainly the ideal spot for Posada.

By: chriso

chriso — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:25:18 +0000

If Nick Johnson goes down with an injury, I wouldn’t worry about it at all.

Posada would become the DH and Joe Girardi, I mean Francisco Cervelli, would be the full-time catcher. (Easy to mistake Girardi for Cervelli. both +defensive catchers with mediocre RH bats).
Jesus Montero would become the back-up catcher. And the Yankees might even be a better team that way.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:57:29 +0000

They wouldn’t need to give up on him at catcher,
just give him a chance to get his feet wet.

I don’t think they’d make him the only back up until he shows significant improvement.

Cervelli is a capable back up. Maybe they’ll carry 3 catchers at some point.

Didn’t we have Girardi, Jorge and Leyritz at one point?

By: Charles Hudson

Charles Hudson — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:19:29 +0000

Too bad Frank Thomas – or Chipper Jones for that matter – never had the opportunity to DH for the Yanks. Hearing that his team is being “cautious” or “taking it slow” with Nick Johnson due to a minor injury is like hearing that A-Rod is dating an attractive woman.

By: KyleLitke

KyleLitke — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:58:57 +0000

I’ll actually take the under, I think him DHing and sitting every now and then to get other guys DH days will keep him healthy. I do think he might occasionally be banged up, maybe his back acts up a little, but I’ll take the chance that him not playing the field except occasionally will keep him off the DL.

By: KyleLitke

KyleLitke — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:52:59 +0000

You don’t know that. While he has had some injuries that you could argue make him injury prone, half of his injuries are fluke mishaps in the field, where he’ll barely be playing short of an injury to Teixeira. Yes, there’s still potential for the back or wrist to act up (which I don’t believe it really has in years), but he won’t break his leg in a collision or get hit by a ball taking a crazy hop.

By: KyleLitke

KyleLitke — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:49:14 +0000

Well, I doubt Winn would DH if he was the guy, in all likelihood he’d play right field and Swisher would DH, which would increase his value a bit (even though Swisher isn’t awful in the field), or they’d go with Miranda. Either way it’s a dropoff from Johnson and not an ideal solution though.

By: Big Juan

Big Juan — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:48:20 +0000

Dude. Chill out on this Johnson stuff.

I have a shitty back. Today when I was walking up the stairs, I stubbed my toe and felt a tweak in my back. It hurt for two minutes than I was fine.

I’m not saying this is exactly what happened to Johnson, but this shit happens all the time.

You’d probably be complaining just as loudly if you you found out that Johnson had tweaked his back and the Yankees let him play even though there’s absolutely nothing wrong.