There’s some talk that Jorge Posada is contributing to the Yankees’ pitching woes:
One unsettling fact for the Yankees is the difference when Jorge Posada catches. With Posada behind the plate, the Yankees’ pitchers have a 6.31 E.R.A. The combined E.R.A. with Francisco Cervelli, Jose Molina and Kevin Cash is 3.81 . . . Posada, 37, has handled many exceptional pitchers in his career. Although some, like Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina, have preferred other catchers, Posada does not have to apologize for his resume. Posada takes his job seriously and is an emotional engine of the team.
Yet Burnett, in particular, seems to struggle with him. In Burnett’s four starts pitching to Posada, opponents have batted .330. In nine starts with the other catchers, the average is .223.
This not just media chatter on a day off, as Burnett himself is on record questioning Posada’s pitch selection, albeit in somewhat diplomatic terms.
Not that any of this matters, because there are two numbers that are going to determine who catches for the Yankees going forward. The first is .940, which is Posada’s current OPS, and which more than makes up for whatever impact his pitch choices have on his starters’ ERA. The second is 1, which is the number of minor league options Francisco Cervelli has left, meaning that when Jose Molina comes back from the DL, Cervelli will most likely be enhancing the ERAs of the Scranton-Wilkes Barre pitching staff, not the one in New York.
