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Backup Plans

From reading the morning paper, I have deduced that the Yankees will scour the waiver wires in the next 48 hours to try and find a backup catcher. If that effort is unsuccessful, they will then anoint Gustavo Molina as their backup. In the scheme of things, that isn't a huge deal. Cervelli will heal up and return and the Yankees will keep going. What I can't figure out is why they won't use Jorge Posada as their backup?

You may remember Jorge. He has caught over 1,500 games for the Yankees, a fact they seem to have forgotten. I am not saying that Jorge is currently, or ever was, a great defensive catcher, but the guy can still hit- something Gustavo Molina has never been able to do. Wouldn't it be better for the Yankees to put Posada in the backup role and use Chavez as the DH for the first few weeks of the year?

I can't come up with a good answer to that question, other than pure speculation. I would guess that the Yankees and Jorge Posada are far more worried about his concussion history than they have let on.
That's why he has been designated as an emergency only catcher. If that is indeed the reason, I don't understand why the Yankees just aren't up front about it.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) on March 29, 2011 05:45 PM |

Comments

Peter - if they're worried that he's carrying scrambled cranial matter, that's a huge liability issue. They'd never acknowledge that publicly or even privately to Posada or his agent.

or ...

maybe his knees are shot from squatting more than half his life and they want to salvage his remaining ABs by avoiding aggravating his knee problems?

I dunno ...

Posted by: Mitchell [TypeKey Profile Page] | March 30, 2011 12:54 PM |

Mitchell

You bring up an interesting point and one that will probably come to a head in the next few years- what are the liabilities teams will face over the explosion of concussions?

I imagine Football and Hockey will bear the brunt of this issue, but baseball won't be too far behind. It's good to see they took a big step with the 7-day DL the other day and the baseline testing in camp each year.

Posted by: Peter [TypeKey Profile Page] | March 30, 2011 03:40 PM |


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