With his catching (and throwing) abilities severley compromised, Jorge Posada may be done for the year. According to numerous Internet reports, Johnny Damon has replaced the Yanks’ catcher on the active roster, and Tyler Kepner notes that Posada, whose damaged right shoulder is still bothering him, may opt for surgery sooner rather than later in order to be ready for Spring Training in 2009. While missing Posada’s bat looms large for the Yanks, he’s hitting just .214/.365/.262 in July and has seen his power suffer with this shoulder injury. The Yanks now will hope that Bobby Abreu can pick it back up as the bottom third of their lineup — Jose Molina, Melky Cabrera, Brett Gardner — have not shown much in the way of offense lately.
The Jorge Posada problem
While the Yankees are dealing with injuries that have shelved their number one starter and starting DH, they’re also attempting to handle the Jorge Posada situation. Posada, suffering from a shoulder heading to surgery, is no longer a viable option behind the plate this year. He’s thrown out just 7 of 39 would-be base stealers and can’t command the running game. His back up — Jose Molina — has thrown out an astounding 25 of 52 attempting basestealers but has a pathetic OPS+ of 48. Jack Curry checked in with Posada and Joe Girardi today and finds that Posada is frustrated with his shoulder but won’t have the surgery sooner. The Yanks need Jorge’s bat, but they can’t afford to stick him behind the plate. How Joe Girardi handles this over the next few months will go a long way in determining the Yanks’ success this season.
The three-catcher situation
The Yankees have now been carrying three catchers on their 25-man roster for nearly a month, and during that stretch, third catcher extraordinaire Chad Moeller is a whopping 1 for 4 with 5 plate appearances. Clearly, then, to our uniformed eyes, the Yanks are wasting a valuable roster spot. But perhaps not. According to a notebook piece in Newsday, the Yanks seem to be hedging their bets with Posada’s injured shoulder. The Rangers stole four times in four tries on Tuesday, and Brian Cashman’s quote is rather telling.
“We’re staying with three catchers for a reason, because we’re still evaluating how he’s coming through this. I’ve seen some good throws and I’ve seen some times when he’s not throwing well. He’s not feeling any pain, he’s doing his work. Every day is a test and we see how he comes through those tests,” the Yanks’ GM said.
Posada working on borrowed time
When Jorge Posada returns to the lineup tomorrow, the Yankees will in all likelihood field what would have been their starting nine all along. It will be a good day for a Yankee fanbase growing sick of Jose Molina and Chad Moeller. But for how long will it last? Posada admitted today to Ed Price that he will need surgery this year. I just hope he doesn’t make his shoulder worse by playing now instead of getting the surgery over and done with.
Jorge targeting mid-week return
Barring any setback, Jorge Posada will return to the Yankees either on Wednesday or Thursday of this week. In his rehab in extended spring training this afternoon, Posada made two throws to second and said he felt good, just like he knew that he would. With the Yanks on a current streak, getting back their All Star catcher will be an even bigger boost.
Hip, hip rehab!
As the Yankees are finally starting to look like the competitive team we knew they could be, one more missing piece of the puzzle could rejoin the Bombers on the next home stand. Jorge Posada will head down to extended spring training to play in a few games this week. He’ll test his in-game throwing for a few days, and if all goes well, he could be back in the lineup during the first week of June. Teams will run on him until he throws out a few guys, and I hope the Yanks don’t aggravate Posada’s arm further. It will no doubt be a relief to have his bat in the lineup.
The A-Rod and Jorge impact
When Alex Rodriguez went down with a quad injury that will keep him on the shelf for a few weeks this year, he hadn’t been off to the same start he enjoyed last year. Admittedly, that’s not a fair comparison. How often does any player hit 14 home runs in a month while single-handedly carrying a team?
But despite a slower start, he still had a vital role in the lineup. As the cleanup hitter, he was hitting .272./330/.506 with 4 HR and 10 RBI in 81 at-bats. Those are poor numbers by A-Rod’s standards, but to suggest that the team doesn’t miss him is wishful thinking at best.
In his absence, the Yankees’ replacement third basemen have been downright awful. The three replacements — Wilson Betemit, Alberto Gonzalez and Morgan Ensberg — have now enjoyed 70 plate appearances as third basemen this year. Collectively, they are hitting .239 with a .271 OBP and a .269 slugging percentage. That is utterly woeful.
Things don’t look much better behind the dish either. As a catcher, Jorge Posada hit .321/.345/.429 this year in 29 plate appearances. The other three catchers have put together 114 plate appearances and are hitting .224/.263/.348.
While it’s easy to say that the Yankees were a .500 team without A-Rod and, hey, wouldn’t they still be a .500 team now, that ignores the reality offered by those who have tried to replace Jorge. The Yankees are missing a ton of offense right now, and it’s showing in the product on the field. The middle of their lineup is weak; Shelley Duncan had to hit cleanup against lefties, and even Derek Jeter found himself penciled into the four hole for one game. The bottom of their lineup — drawing well below league-average production from the C and 3B spots — has become a terrible liability. It’s a cascade issue.
The Yankees probably could have withstood an injury to either A-Rod or Jorge. They probably would be two games behind Boston had just one of them gone down. But with both out, this team’s offensive production slides off the table. Get well soon, guys.
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