The Posada Problem in New York

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Courtesy Yankees 'N More

After Wednesday's game, which featured four wild pitches from A.J. Burnett, we think it's past time that somebody in the media did an honest evaluation of Jorge Posada as a catcher. Such a story should come complete with opinions of baseball people, perhaps from other organizations, and complete with an offer of anonymity if needed.

Alas, Posada seems to be something of a sacred cow, even for the tough New York media. Thus, the chances of such a story actually appearing anytime soon seems remote, so we'll do our best here.

Based on what we've seen, Posada probably doesn't even qualify as an average major league catcher, at this point in his career, and he certainly isn't a quality major league catcher. He's remains a good hitter, but were Hideki Matsui not here, you have to think Posada would be the regular DH on this team.

Here is a breakdown of what we've seen:
1)Most of the time, Posada doesn't even ATTEMPT to block pitches in the dirt with men on base. When it's a 90-something fastball, there is no time to block, and you have to attempt a pick. But Tuesday night alone, Posada attempted a pick of a curve and a changeup that bounced.

There is simply no excuse for that, and Posada does it on a regular basis.

2) Posada doesn't attempt to block the plate on close plays there, either.

3) Age and injuries have left him as no better than mediocre at controlling the opposing running game. There are some pitchers here who don't help him, obviously, but Posada's arm is still less than major league average.

4) Posada is WAY too restless behind the plate. He does not set a consistently good target, and he moves WAY too much, often flying out of his stance on fastballs at the belt buckle. We believe all the movement does, on occasion, cost his pitchers some strikes.

5)Very weak hands. Far too often you see Posada's glove carried away from the zone with the momentum of the pitch. If you watch Jose Molina and/or Francisco Cervelli (who has very strong hands), the only time the glove moves after receiving the pitch is when they WANT it to move, perhaps an inch or two closer to the edge, attempting to "frame" a pitch that was just off the plate.

Overall, the Yankees are a significantly weaker defensive team when Posada is behind the plate versus when either Jose Molina or Francisco Cervelli is behind the plate.

And don't for a moment believe it was an accident that Cervelli became Sabathia's regular catcher. Now that Molina is back and Cervelli is back in Scranton, wait and see if Molina doesn't become CC's regular catcher.

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