WHY TIME IS TICKING FOR JORGE

The DH job was Jorge Posada’s if he wanted it. I remember when it went down. It was the winter and we all had a whiff that Posada’s days as the Yankees catcher were over. Russell Martin was signed and the rise of Jesus was coming. There was no other place for Jorge Posada but the Designated Hitter role and when Laura Posada tweeted it, it was all but confirmed.

Now, on June 2^nd, everyone is questioning if even that role is where Jorge should be. Joe Girardi tries to fool the media all day long. The latest is his quote about Jorge hitting against lefties where he said the following:

“ It’s not that I’m going to completely take Jorgie away from every at bat against left handers. I can’t say that I won’t, but I can’t say I necessarily will.”

Translation.

“Out of respect for Jorge, I’m not giving you an answer, but there’s no way in hell I’m putting him in.”

Let’s face it, Jorge Posada has not faced a lefty since May 7^th when the Yankees faced Texas and Derek Holland. I’d say Joe Girardi knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s not going to put Posada in against lefties…that’s it.

I disagree with this Joe and I’ll tell you why. I say you need to put Jorge in against lefties and the reason is simple…closure. Look, Jorge Posada is on the decline, no question, but like I’ve written so often, confidence is key in baseball and wouldn’t you rather work out all the kinks and scenerios with Jorge now and know what you have exhausted them all by the All-Star break? I say bat Jorge against lefties and righties, keep him in there for 5 or 10 games, get him into a rhytmn and then look at that small batch sample and make a determination after that. You can’t keep putting him in and then pulling him out and kill the dude’s rhythm. That goes back to those dark days of Posada-gate. The poor guy was fed up. I was fed up. We were seeing this champion dying in front of our eyes, and it was not right.

Look, my scenario will work, for many reasons, you give Posada a final full shot at DH before you make changes and in the meantime you can rest your outfielders, throwing Andruw Jones and Chris Dickerson in on occasion to give Swish, Grandy and Gardy a breather. This way Jones still gets at bats and keeps moving and Dickerson can dazzle them in the outfield.

And yes, there will be days that Alex and Derek will need a day off from the field and you want to put them in the DH spot, but I say run this test first, see what happens and if we’re going to give Alex a day off we just give him a full day off, not a DH day. You know what I mean?

Look, there’s no question, Jorgie’s in a bad place but only Jorgie can get out of it and if you don’t play him, we will watch this leader shrivel up. To me, it’s disrespectful, it’s unfortunate and it’s unfair. Girardi needs to stop analyzing the binder and start going with his gut. To me, sometimes managing that way gets positive results and keeps morale high in the clubhouse. High morale brings happiness and eventually hits and great plays. I believe that. Stop being a robot Joe, start thinking about what these guys mean to the Yankees, before it’s too late.

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