(Long Island, N.Y.) Saying sorry doesn’t always make things better, especially when you do it half-assed. Take the case of Jorge Posada, for instance. The New York Yankees’ designated hitter/wanna-be catcher made an attempt at an about-face from his asking out of the line-up by telling reporters, “I kind of apologized to [manager Joe Girardi]. I just had a bad day yesterday. In reflecting on it and stuff, all the frustration came out. I’m just trying to move on. I appreciate him letting me do that.”
So Posada “kind of” apologized to his manager and used the old “I woke up on the wrong side of the bed” excuse to try and clear his name. Posada also pow-wowed with general manager Brian Cashman and apologized, but didn’t delve into the details.
All parties involved have chosen to let it go and move on, which may not be as easy as it seems. “We had a nice conversation,” Girardi said. “We talked about being emotional and going through struggles and what defines who you are.”
Case in point, Posada may just be a washed-up ball player who has showed flashes of somewhat questionable behavior before this. Remember when he stomped on the two television cameras planted in the dirt by home plate during the 2004 American League Championship Series?
If anything, Posada should have thanked Girardi for wanting to drop him to ninth in the batting order instead of benching him. He is hitting a paltry .165 and has struggled adapting to the role of a DH.
Posada’s wife stirred the hornet’s nest by Tweeting that her husband’s back was bothering him, thus the reason for him asking out of the lineup last Saturday. Surprise, surprise, but the Yankees’ brass said that never came up.
Posada will turn 40 in August and is playing in his 17th major league season. All of those innings crouching behind the plate take their toll on the body and he has not hit .300 since 2007. He is only still in pinstripes for nostalgic reasons, being one of the core guys of the Yankee dynasty since 1996.
Even so, it was a big mistake when Cashman kept Posada from crossing town when the Mets were wooing the free agent and re-signed him to a four-year, $52.4 million contract. Originally, the Bronx Bombers wanted to keep it to a three-year deal, but upped it when former Met general manager Omar Minaya was serious about bringing the veteran to Flushing.
In retrospect, both GM’s were wrong. Imagine the Mets having to pay someone who cannot even catch anymore in a DH-less league a yearly average of $13.1 million in their current financial situation. And the Yanks may not be feeling the money pinch, but a disruption from one of their favorite sons is the last thing that they need in the midst of a losing streak while the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays are pulling out games left and right.
Chalk it all up to a bad day.
