Posada avoids potentially bitter Yankee breakup, retires his way
NEW YORK -- This was the one that could have had a bad ending.
This was the one that was going to have a bad ending.
So many of them do, you know? So many times, too many times, the great careers end with anger, or hard feelings.
Eight months ago, that could have been Jorge Posada and the Yankees. Eight months ago, that was Jorge Posada.
But there he was Tuesday, with the ending he deserved. There he was, sitting at a Yankee Stadium podium with his family, formally announcing his retirement, shedding tears as he remembered the good times, and not the few shaky moments near the end.
| More on Posada |
| Related links |
|
| More MLB coverage |
There was manager Joe Girardi, saying "I love Jorge Posada" and openly hoping that Posada stops by Yankee camp this spring.
There were the Yankees, putting on a show worthy of a 17-year star, a five-time champion. They arranged for Thurman Munson's widow Diana to be there. They flew in a mother and child who have been helped by Posada's foundation. They brought in longtime season-ticket holders to tell Posada what he meant to Yankee fans.
Ownership was there. Management was there. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera and CC Sabathia were there.
Posada made it easy on the Yankees, retiring by choice when he could easily have claimed that he deserved another year. He made it easy, deflecting questions about the difficult times last year, saying that he "never had a problem" with Girardi and that he would have retired even if the Yankees hadn't taken away his catching job and then taken away many of his at-bats.
Maybe he would have. Maybe he wouldn't have.
Maybe, as New York Post baseball columnist Joel Sherman argued Tuesday morning, Posada would have been the Yankees' best option as a left-handed hitting designated hitter, now that Jesus Montero has been traded to the Mariners.
But another contract could have meant a much worse ending, and that would have been too bad.
Remember, Posada wasn't thrilled with the Yankees' somewhat-puzzling decision that he wouldn't be allowed to catch at all in 2011. He had a bad day (and so did they) the night he removed himself from the lineup just before a game against the Red Sox, after Girardi batted him ninth.
There was talk then that Posada could be released. As it happened, his batting average from the left side of the plate recovered, and that never really became an issue again.
But it felt bad enough at the time that Posada and the Yankees seemed headed for an ugly breakup, one that had you wondering whether the eventual breakups with Rivera and (especially) Jeter could be touchy, as well.
Instead, Posada made it through the season, and he says now that at some point during that season he decided on retirement. His agents checked in on whether there was a deal out there with another team, but Posada says now that "I could never wear another uniform."
Some guys can. Some can't.
It's hard to blame the ones who leave. Prince Fielder will get more money in Detroit than he could have gotten in Milwaukee. Albert Pujols may well be even happier with the Angels than he was with the Cardinals.
But there's something special about the ones who don't leave. It feels right that Barry Larkin will enter the Hall of Fame this summer having never played for anyone but the Reds, and Jeter and Rivera will eventually do the same having spent their entire careers with the Yankees.
Posada isn't nearly as certain a Hall of Famer as the two longtime teammates he leaves behind, but it was nice of Girardi to say Tuesday, "I think he's a Hall of Famer."
It was Girardi who spoke last summer about the challenges of managing iconic players who are nearing the end. He needs to understand the pride, but he's also responsible for giving his team the best chance to win.
It doesn't always work. Six seasons after he last played in the big leagues, Bernie Williams still hasn't formally announced his retirement. Ken Griffey Jr. famously drove away from Safeco Field one day without even saying good-bye.
It's so much better this way, better for the player and better for the team.
Better that the ugliness of last May looks now like a footnote, and not like anything that seriously detracts from Posada's great career.
"It's like a mosquito bite on a career with nothing but positives," general manager Brian Cashman said.
And Tuesday's press conference was a model for the two even bigger ones to follow in the years to come.
The 42-year-old Rivera could retire as soon as next winter, although he's hardly committed to it. Jeter, now 37, has two years and an option left on his contract, and won't even discuss his own retirement yet.
Jeter would discuss Posada, and he would agree that his best friend was going out the right way.
"I don't think you want to play that long, have a great career, and then leave with a bad taste in your mouth," Jeter said.
No, you don’t. But so often, that's exactly what happens.
That could have been Posada. Last year, it seemed likely that would be Posada.
It's so much better that it wasn't. It's so much better that Tuesday was as nice as it was, nice for the player and for the team.
Good for the Yankees that they understood, and good for Posada that he understood, too.
