Gee, I have a different take on Posada’s defensive skills. Every time I see a passed ball or a “wild pitch” that was catchable, or a runner stealing I miss Cervelli.

Now I realize Cervelli is probably not our future catcher, except maybe as a transitional figure from Posada and Molina to Montero, the 19 year old home run machine, and Romine, who supposedly even knows how to call a game.

Re: Joba. I think maybe the rumors that he was being considered in a trade for Halladay may have served as a wake-up call that the organization wasn’t going to wait forever (or even for the rest of the season) for him to get his act together. Posada may deserve some of the credit. But for goodness sake, if you’ve got a 14 year (or whatever) veteran catcher in there, the guy should know a few things about the game!! Does Posada really need to be deified for that?

Whats said on this blog means absolutely nothing and if you don’t like what other people say about Cervelli then that’s your problem not theirs.”

It is clear you do not get it.
You are either a kid or has a kid’s mind
Let us move on.
Once again I am not criticising Posada.

You’re the one that doesn’t get it! What’s important more than anything else is the Yankee team and all that negative crap about Posada or Cervelli doesn’t mean a hill of beans as to how well the Yankees perform as a team.

Whats said on this blog means absolutely nothing and if you don’t like what other people say about Cervelli then that’s your problem not theirs.

I also recall a report that Jorge told Joba “stop embarrassing yourself” in an exhortation to get him to attack with his FB. Jorge knows how good Joba’s arm is and he wants Joba to reclaim that inner conceit.

Now, Joba regularly credits Posada.

And we don’t want to put him in CF. Those days are behind him. I’m one of the people who doesn’t think a little visit to the majors would torpedo AJax’s development – you tell the kid to relax, no one is looking for him to supply power numbers – just stay within himself at the plate and give us good defense.

Really, if we had him spell Melky from time to time and also Damon, he’d get some work without being looked to as the Yankees future CF (which he is – but in a limited role he could just relax and enjoy being part of a pennant race).

Also, AJax has a pretty under rated arm to go with his speed and leaping ability.

Well, I’m arguing with you now because Cervelli was fine, but he’s not a ML starting catcher yet.”

You do not get it do you ?
I never criticised Posada.
I never put Posada down in favor of Cerville.
I believe Posada is our primary catcher and the team is better off with him.

All I said was that there is no need to undermine Cerville to support Posada. Is it that difficult to understand?

Whether you recognize or not, Cerville was a savior for the team when both Posada and Molina were hurt. Now that Posada and Molina are back, Cerville is in the minors where he belongs at this time improving his skills.

You support Posada all you want and he deserves it. But it is wrong to undermine what Cerville did. Now if some others are saying Cerville is better than Posada (which I am not saying), then engage with them.

Given that it was such a big issue here I feel it is important to keep track of that issue because the only way to fully assess the claims is to accumulate more evidence over time. That’s not an issue that should be forgotten.

It was repeated ad nauseaum over and over. And the main piece of evidence thrown in around to back that up was “catcher’s ERA” and the fact that pitcher’s were shaking him off (specifically Joba and AJ).

One regular poster here went as far as to say that Posada had turned into a completly selfish player now that he was older and he was more interested in himself than the team.

This poster actually said that Posada was intentionally calling more fastballs – not because it was the right thing to do – but because calling fastballs would help Posada throw out baserunners now that he was older and coming off shoulder surgery. As “evidence” for this, this poster actually compared Posada “selfishness” to Ivan Rodriguez’s selfishness. It was well known in baseball that Rodriguez was so concerned about his caught stealing stats he actually did call more fastballs for his own benefit.

And as a corollary, this team was better off having Cervelli catch than Posada.

It’s interesting how we don’t here much of this anymore – nor have we heard many of the Posadagate members admit they were wrong despite the weeks of their shrill assertions.

At the time you could in theory argue that there was this evidence of “catcher’s ERA.”

But such a “statistic” is not only inherently flawed but is subject to small samples.

Well the samples are larger now. How is the pitching staff doing with Posada?

Specifically – how are AJ, Joba, and CC doing with Posada?

AJ last night got through that game because he started throwing two seamers to induce ground balls. Who’s idea was that? Posada’s.

AJ also credited his turn around this season after that Boston game to him sticking to the game plan he’s laid out with Jorge.

One of the biggest sources of tension between Joba and Posada for that string of games was pitch selection and tempo. Posada wanted Joba to throw more fastballs and work faster. Joba wanted to throw more sliders and kept shaking him off.

That was a major reason why so many lauded Cervelli – Joba never shook him off.

And Posada was right again. He was trying to break Joba of bad habits. And that’s been a key to him being so much better his last two starts.

In his last start Joba threw around 100 pitches. I believe 73 were fastball. He threw 15 sliders. That’s it.

So Posada’s game calling and catching skills have been important parts of both AJ and Joba turning around their seasons.

How about that.