Jorge Posada announced his retirement today, ending a storied career with the most popular sports franchise in North America.
As a catcher for the New York Yankees, Posada was outstanding under the microscope, a clutch player who stood out in his own right even among the sure-fire Hall of Famers in his own infield of Mariano Duncan, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. Posada was indeed a Yankee legend.
And perhaps he turns the plate over to the next Yankee legend, a phenom named Jesus Montero who proved he was something special with a strong fall after a late season call-up, a showing strong enough to perhaps tell Senor Posada that it was time to go.
Montero was already a hot commodity among trading card collectors – few Yankee phenoms are surprises- and the offense he displayed in 2011 threw gas on the fire. However, the departure of Posada guarantees at least a platoon for Montero with Russell Martin and a chance for the young man to become very, very popular quite quickly. Think how the card collecting masses rallied around Joba Chamberlain, and he was never much more than average.
2012 is supposed to be the year of Bryce Harper though it may not happen until mid-summer. Our guess is that the spring will belong to Jesus Montero.
Nope. He’s a Mariner now.
Yes, keeping Posada on the rtoser is keeping Montero in the minors, but maybe this is a good thing. I don’t think that Girardi would start Montero over Nunez/Chavez/Jones, so Montero probably would be in the Posada role, with just a few more ABs/week. I would rather Posada rot on the bench that Montero almost-rot on the bench. And I want no part of Montero behind the plate. Yes, he can’t be much worse than Cervelli or Posada has been. But I want to keep him healthy. I’ve bought into the notion of big catchers (cf Mauer) prone to injury, an I want to keep Montero as healthy as possible.