The final steps toward the end of Jorge Posada’s career began during the offseason when he was told not to worry about catching anymore. The acceleration towards the finish line came Sunday in Boston when manager Joe Girardi said he was going to put the best lineup on the field.
“Joe told me today that he’s going to put the best team on the field, and I’m not in the lineup as the DH,” Posada told reporters. “I’m not happy about it, but I put myself in this situation, and all I can do is keep working and trying.”
That means for the remaining 49 games, Posada is reduced to a spectator and occasional pinch hitter.
It was the second time this year that a subtle reminder of Posada’s decline was delivered before a nationally televised game against the Red Sox.
var params={wmode: ‘opaque’}; addPlayer(’06c7c348-13be-4bf5-b1f0-8f1e92cfcb4c’, ”, 13191, ‘zoken3lubvvk1fy20obmge9zx’, true, false, ‘zoken3lubvvk1fy20obmge9zx’, ‘eplayer2’);
The first came May 14, a Saturday night FOX game, when Posada refused to bat ninth for the first time in 12 years and took himself out of the lineup. Posada was hitting .165 and was hitless against lefties. A .382 average in June lifted him to .240 on the season and kept him in the lineup.
But over his last 26 games Posada is batting .205 (16-for-78) with four RBIs and three extra-base hits. Sunday the Yankees finally determined they had seen enough unproductive at-bats.
“We’re going to see how this works,” Girardi told reporters in Boston. “We’re going to try some different things. We’ll see how this works, and I told Jorge, ‘You’re still going to be a big part of this, and we’re going to need you. We’re just going to do some different things.'”
Until Alex Rodriguez returns from the DL, Eric Chavez will fill the role against right-handed pitching and Andruw Jones will be used against left-handed pitching. After Rodriguez returns, the spot could be used to give regulars a half day.
