TAMPA — There is no lifeline.
No 50-50 to share the job. No call a friend because the friend is gone. No polling the audience because the fans will not be looking to help should something go wrong.
Jorge Posada has either got the answers — and is the answer — or the Yankees face a season of bad reception. Joe Girardi is gone, returning to the Cubs, who were able to give him three things the Yankees could not: a first-string job, a three-year contract at good money and proximity to his home.
The Yankees are trying to portray this as a good thing, that Girardi’s departure will foster greater confidence for Posada, who no longer has to wonder how much he will catch or which veteran pitcher will ask to work independently with someone else. That is either an extremely rosy outlook or a statement with more spin than a David Cone slider.
Because here is another way to look at it: The Yankees no longer have a mentor to Posada, a counselor for veteran pitchers and a legitimate response if something happens to Posada. When it comes to catching, the Yankees have left themselves — to a large degree — as dependent on Posada as the Jets were on Vinny Testaverde going into last season; exceptional teams that potentially could tumble big should something happen to either their first-string quarterback or receiver.
Right now, the Yankees have a bunch of Rick Mirers contending to be Posada’s backup. Tom Pagnozzi missed all of last season due to shoulder surgery and, on first eyeball, hardly seems to be carrying around an athletic body. Tom Wilson is a year older than Posada and has yet to play a single major-league inning. Chris Turner has spaced 290 at-bats over seven journeyman seasons. The Yanks still have Jim Leyritz, whom they think of only as an emergency guy.
“We have no insurance policy the caliber of Joe Girardi,” Yankee VP Mark Newman said. “But couldn’t you say the same thing if we lost Derek Jeter or Bernie Williams to a long injury?”
You could. The difference is with performance. The Yankees have no great backup plan for either Jeter or Williams. But, barring catastrophic injury, they do not need one. The same cannot be said for Posada.
He is no sure thing like a Jeter or Williams. A year ago at this time, the Yankees were certain Posada was going to be one of the best catchers in the game. And even if they are saying the same today — and they are — Posada’s 1999 season created a level of doubt that his promising 1998 season did not.
“He’s going to be fine,” a veteran Yankee said. “He has too much talent not to be fine. But if he is not or if we have a big injury with him, yeah, I would call that a real worry.”
Posada still offers more than the tools of ignorance to suggest he can be a special player. He is a switch-hitter with power, a strong arm and a willingness to work. But the translation in 1999 was not good. He struggled mightily in the first half offensively and even a solid second half only brought his average to .245. He hit five fewer homers (12) than he did in 1998 despite 21 more at-bats.
Defensively, he committed a woeful 17 passed balls and failed to gain the confidence of Roger Clemens, David Cone and Andy Pettitte, who all preferred to pitch to Girardi. The veteran trio now say they see no
problems working with Posada. But we will see.
Girardi understood how to use his five fingers and his sixth sense. Pitchers trusted he would ask for the right pitch because he knew so much about opposing hitters. And pitchers also raved about Girardi’s intuition when it came to handling them. He did not wilt when an angry pitcher yelled and he had wonderful timing when it came to yelling back at a defiant Clemens or coddling a fragile Pettitte.
“Jorge just has to realize we are different creatures on the mound than off it,” Pettitte said. “Joe understood that so beautifully. Jorge will get it. He’s smart and he cares, and don’t forget he is still learning as a catcher. I was with him in the minors when he was switched [from being a middle infielder] to catcher.”
Posada does not have a personality as assertive as Girardi, a catching intellect as honed by years behind the plate nor a psyche as bulletproof. The most common thinking is Posada struggled last year because his confidence was depleted. First, by the Yankees not giving him a more substantial contract, and next by a poor start that left him worrying too much about playing time.
Now, he has an amicably reached seven-figure contract for 2000 and the knowledge that “I am going to play if I go 0-for-4 and make an error.” Posada says, in fact, that 1999 is going to help him, that he learned from mistakes both physical and mental, and that he is a tougher, smarter catcher because of it.
Symbolically, the transformation already had begun yesterday, the first day Yankee pitchers and catchers worked out. He was in Girardi’s old corner locker at Legends Field and he was catching Cone in the bullpen. But the Yankees do not want symbolism. They want 20 homers, good at-bats, steady defense and steely leadership. More than that, they need it. And Posada needs it. This year he is either going to prove he can handle this front-line assignment or the Yankees will have a different plan in 2001 — or before.
“I never thought I would be here when they did not have an obvious Plan B,” Posada said. “This is the position I have wanted to be in for two or three years. So now it is up to me. I know they can always go out and get somebody else. I’m going to try to keep them from doing that.”