The LoHud Yankees Blog

Jorge Posada clearly doesn’t like the idea of playing for another team, so why would he come back for another season? There might be a few reasons.

To chase down milestones
In theory, this might be in play. In reality, Posada doesn’t have much left to accomplish. He’s already one of the game’s great offensive catchers, and reaching significant milestones — especially 300 home runs — would take more than a single season.

“That’s a couple of years,” Posada said. “It’s not like I’m six or seven away… Individually, I don’t set out to accomplish. It’s more about the team. When you sit and you look at the numbers, there’s nothing out there. I would love to get 300. It’s not going to happen (because) 2008 really killed me. It hurt me because I was hurt. Four hundred doubles, I’m close, but it’s just a couple of years away.”

To be a winner again
Posada’s never played for a bad team. He’s a competitive man who’s always been in a competitive situation, and like his wife said last night, it might not be easy to wake up some random July morning without a game to play. The trick might be finding a winning team that has a spot for him.

“It would be a lot easier,” Posada said. “When you’re playing for winning (and) winning all the time, and go to a team (that’s not in contention), that would be tough. That would be really tough.”

To play again
This seems to be the big one. Posada’s a baseball player. Before he was a catcher and before he was a Yankee, he was a baseball player, and it would be hard to give that up. Posada said last night that he’d like to stay around the game, but he has to decide for certain whether he’s finished playing.

“First you’ve got to see which team you want to play for,” he said. “And then, if I have to backup, be a backup catcher, I can do that. I can play a little first. I can come off the bench. It’s just one of those things.”

Associated Press photo

It was Jorge Posada who first mentioned Bernie Williams last night. Posada said he’d been talking to Williams a lot this offseason — in fact, the two had talked earlier that day — and Williams was advising patience. He didn’t want Posada rushing to a decision, one way or the other, about whether to play next season.

Five years ago, Posada saw the sudden end of Williams’ career. He saw a lifelong Yankee fade in his late 30s, and he saw the Yankees decide to move on. Did that prepare Posada for his current situation?

“If you asked me that question in February of this year, I would have said, no,” Posada said. “But now, I would say, yes. It went the same way, pretty much.”

Posada has options. He said other teams have called, but the Yankees are clearly the one team he truly wants to play for. Retire, or play elsewhere? For now, Posada can’t decide.

“What I saw with Bernie was tough,” he said. “It’s all over again… (Bernie) says, ‘Make sure you make that decision the right one, and don’t say something that later you want to regret or do something that you regret.’ I don’t want to tell you something because I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

That was the sense I got last night: That Posada really doesn’t know. His career is not going to end the way he hoped, and he’s not sure what to do about it.

“I think after he stays home a few more months and he realizes how hard it is to stay home with the kids, he’s going to pay a team to have him play,” Posada’s wife Laura said, getting a big laugh out of her husband.

“Honestly, what I said to him was, ‘You need to really be sure about your decision because you don’t want to have any regrets. You don’t want to feel in your mind that you didn’t accomplish something that you set out to accomplish when you started playing baseball. He has been playing baseball all his life, so it’s really hard to wake up and not have anything to do. For me, whatever his decision is, I support him. I just want him to be happy and have no regrets. That’s all I want.”

Associated Press photo of Posada’s final division series at-bat

Jorge Posada can read the writing on the wall as well as anyone. Brian Cashman has not yet reached out to Posada’s agents this offseason, but Posada doesn’t need a phone call to tell him the Yankees don’t have a spot for him on their roster.

“I don’t think there’s even a percentage of a chance that I can come back,” Posada said. “… It’s not going to happen.”

Posada said five or six teams have already contacted him this offseason, and he started working out on November 1 — which he’s always done — but at this point he’s trying to decide between retirement and playing for a new team.

“I will always be a Yankee,” he said. “The Yankees for me is my second family. It would be tough to put on another uniform for real and learn another set of rules and all that stuff, but that’s one of those things. I have to see if I want to keep playing… Do I want to do it for somebody else? Do I want to leave home? Do I want to do it all over again without knowing anybody? It would be tough. I’ve got great people, great friends and great teammates and it would be tough to learn new people again.”

Posada said he’s not upset with the Yankees. He understands what’s happening, and he understands why it’s happening. He called his relationship with the organization, “a great partnership” and said the first check that came into his foundation for tonight’s dinner was from the team.

“At the end of the day, it’s a business,” Posada said. “You look back and you wish there was some things that could have gone differently, but they didn’t. There’s nothing I could control. Everything happened for a reason. I’m not bitter at the Yankees. I’m not bitter at Joe Girardi. I’m not bitter at Brian Cashman. It just happened.”

Posada said he’s been talking a lot with Bernie Williams — talked to him today, as a matter of fact — and Bernie has told him to make sure his decision is the right one. Posada’s wife, Laura, said she’s told her husband to make sure he doesn’t look back with any regrets (about either staying or going). Posada guessed that he won’t make up his mind until closer to February.

“If I don’t want to play, you guys will be the first ones to know,” Posada said. “I’m not one of those guys that’s going to linger around and wait. I’ll tell you.”

Associated Press photo

I’ll have more when I get home, but Jorge Posada just told reporters that he does not expect to play for the Yankees next season. In fact, he’s ruled out the possibility of coming back
to the Bronx.

Speaking at an event for his foundation, Posada said he’s trying to decide between retirement and playing for another team. He said he’ll
always consider himself a Yankee and does not feel bitter toward Joe Girardi, Brian Cashman or the organization.

Brian Cashman still won’t say much about sudden sensation Yoenis Cespedes, but it’s clear that the hype surrounding the Cuban center fielder goes beyond internet hysteria. George King today named the Yankees executives who have seen Cespedes workout, and it’s an impressive list of the team’s elite player development gurus. I heard yesterday that international scouting director Donny Rowland has seen far more of Cespedes than anyone else in the Yankees organization, and I suppose that comes as no surprise. Clearly the team is paying close attention.

Today Cashman emphasized the fact that this happens to be a time when there’s a heavy emphasis on several players currently in the Dominican. Cespedes has most of the hype, but he doesn’t have all of the attention.

“Te describe what just took place in the Dominican over the last 10 days, there were a number of players in the marketplace down there, and a number of showcases,” Cashman said today. “MLB had one. The individual (agents) had one. Our scouts had their own individual workouts. It was busy in the Dominican for everybody in the game the past 10 days, not just for the player getting a lot of notoriety. Where that takes us, I don’t know.”

Cashman wouldn’t comment specifically on Cespedes aside from stating the obvious: “They’re certainly putting themselves out there to be evaluated.” Today, Kevin Goldstein did another piece on the viral video and the ensuing hype.

“We had an army of scouts down there because there was a large population of players that were presented for viewing,” Cashman said. “We had a number of scouts go in there to evaluate over a nine or 10 day period, a lot of different showcases, not just him… In fairness to the other clubs, (they did the) same thing.”

This time of the year, it’s hard to get many specifics from Brian Cashman. Obviously it’s not in his best interest to say who exactly he’s trying to acquire, or exactly how much he’s willing to spend, and he didn’t give many details during today’s coat drive in Manhattan.

But he did admit that last winter’s budget was stretched a little bit because Russell Martin became available, and he made it clear that the Yankees spending plans are always open for debate.

“There’s always the target area (for the payroll),” Cashman said. “But obviously we’ve always been in the position thankfully that depending on what becomes available, how it looks, what our current circumstances are, if we’re quote unquote in trouble, we have an ownership that’s receptive to having conversations obviously regarding that. I’ll give you an example.

“Like last year, Russell Martin became available so we stretched to make that work. There wasn’t an intention there. But that was something that he allowed me to do a little bit more on because … we weren’t expecting that. We were going to go with the young catchers. But when he became non-tendered, and if we could get a deal at a certain amount, it took a lot of conversations with Hal Steinbrenner. He allowed that to happen and it was a real big benefit for us and we appreciate that.

“So you have those give and takes that take place. Sometimes it’s no, and sometimes it’s yes, but obviously the flexibility, as you already know, there’s no set number where you can’t exceed it that obviously exists in other environments.”

• Cashman said he still hasn’t talked to Jorge Posada or Posada’s representation. “I’ve got to talk to Seth and Sam Levinson, his agents,” Cashman said. “I’ve got to talk to Jorgie. He’s been a fantastic Yankee, but we’ve made no determination ultimately on (whether he’ll be back). I’m not ready to talk publicly about anything until we’ve had a chance to talk to Jorgie and his agents.”

• Ivan Nova had a routine check up with Dr. Ahmad yesterday and everything was fine. “Full clearance,” Cashman said. “That forearm strain is completely gone.”

• Joba Chamberlain continues to progress from Tommy John: “I could tell you right now (he’ll be ready by) the summer time, he’ll tell you the spring,” Cashman said. “The one thing on Joba that we probably have to be careful about, he wants it yesterday. He’s working his tail off. He’s going to try do everything he possibly can to be ready as soon as he possibly can, and ahead of schedule, that’s where we have to make sure we work with rehab personnel that he takes his time.”

• Cashman said he has not heard whether Eric Chavez has decided to play or retire next year.

• The Yankees knew Jonathan Sanchez was available on the trade market, but Cashman said the Yankees made no attempt to get him and did not feel like they missed out on him. “I know there was a report out there that we were disappointed,” Cashman said. “We were aware, but no. We didn’t have any trade discussions on it.”

• The Yankees have discussed their coaching staff, but Cashman would not comment on which coaches will be back next year. He said that announcement will wait until the staff is finalized.

• Has Cashman gotten any calls on his catching depth? “There are definitely teams that, if they feel they have a chance to get their hands on them, there would be interest in those guys,” Cashman said. “I’ve had a lot of teams express, if you’re ever going to do anything there, mark us down (as being interested).”

• Cashman said there will be some conversations about specific things the Yankees want their individual players to work on this win, but those conversations haven’t taken place yet. “We enter the winter process letting them get away from it,” Cashman said, “then getting their conditioning going in the right direction.”

Associated Press photos

Talked to Brian Cashman at today’s winter coat drive in Times Square. He certainly didn’t say anything that will raise eyebrows, and I’m not even sure he said anything that couldn’t have been predicted a week ago, but it’s the Yankees GM addressing a group of reporters, so it’s worth passing along.

“I haven’t talked to every team and I haven’t talked to every agent yet,” Cashman said. “I certainly haven’t had one agent tell me what they want financially. No one’s made any demands to me. No one’s made me an offer, so I don’t know what these current free agents are looking for yet in terms of years or dollars, and I certainly don’t have every team covered yet (for trade analysis), although I certainly am trying.”

I’ll have a full set of notes once I have time to listen back through all of the interview and make a list of everything Cashman said. The basic theme, though, was the pursuit of pitching in a market that seems fairly thin.

Would Cashman be comfortable going into spring training with his current pitching staff, leaving young guys like Hector Noesi, Adam Warren and Manny Banuelos to compete for a big league spot?

“Comfortable? No,” Cashman said. “My preference would be to feel great about it, but I wasn’t comfortable going into last spring training at all, and I said that. Obviously we had some serious question marks that eventually answered in a real positive way, but there were question marks. We have pitchers that are capable, but there are question marks right now. They could answer the same questions in a positive way, but in fairness and to be honest, would I be real comfortable right now? No.

“There is obviously more developmental steps necessary for some of those guys. Are some of them capable of doing what Nova did in terms of taking a gigantic from what he did in 2010 to 2011? Is that possible? It’s possible. Is it something you want to count on and expect? I think that’s a dangerous thing to do. We do like our young players, we do give them opportunities, but I believe it’s in our best interest, if I can continue to reinforce the rotation to get a little bit more comfort level there. It might not be realistic, but we’ll see.”

Last winter, when Brian Cashman was arguing against the Yankees signing Rafael Soriano, part of his opposition had as much to do with Soriano’s status as his arm. Soriano was a Type A free agent, and that meant signing him would cost the Yankees a first-round draft pick, and that was a significant cost.

Yesterday, Buster Olney wrote that one of the current sticking points in the collective bargaining agreement negotiation is about Type A free agents, specifically making sure draft pick compensation doesn’t hurt the players themselves.

It ultimately didn’t hurt Soriano — and this winter it won’t hurt Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder — but some players who carry the Type A label could lose out on money because of it. They could accept arbitration for less than the open market would provide, or they could carry an added cost that brings their free agent value down. Kelly Johnson could be one such case this winter, like Grant Balfour and Juan Cruz were in the past.

According to Olney, the league and the union are discussing two alternatives to the current system.

1. Essentially making Type A free agents into Type B free agents so that they generate only compensation picks.

2. Creating a system that assures a massive payday for any Type A who accepts arbitration.

According to Olney: One of the unresolved questions is whether the Type A adjustments will be made for the 2012 season or for 2013. But there continues to be optimism, in general, that a new labor agreement will be finished sometime in the next two weeks.

An immediate change could obviously impact this winter’s free agent market, and the approach to some of the biggest names available.

Associated Press photo

Brian Cashman will be on hand for the Yankees winter coat drive tomorrow morning. Here are the details from the team.

The New York Yankees and New York Cares will hold a winter coat drive on Wednesday, November 9 from 8:30 a.m. — 3:00 p.m. at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square (1501 Broadway between 43rd and 44th Streets).

The first 1,250 people to donate gently-used coats will also receive a pair of tickets to the Army-Rutgers college football game at Yankee Stadium on November 12 at 3:30 p.m.

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman will be on-hand assisting in the collection of coats beginning at approximately 10:00 a.m.

The 2011 New York Cares Coat Drive officially kicks off on November 15 and runs through December 31.

For the last 23 years, New York Cares has collected used winter coats each holiday season, and distributed them to men, women and children who would otherwise go cold. This massive undertaking is run by New York Cares, but relies on the generosity of all New Yorkers for its success.

• Buster Olney reports that, while the Yankees have talked to Mark Buehrle’s agent, the Yankees are “highly unlikely” to make a serious effort to sign him.

• Jon Heyman says the Yankees were disappointed to see Jonathan Sanchez traded to the Royals. Heyman says the Yankees thought they “had more to offer” in a Sanchez trade. Personally, I’m not sure I see the match. The Yankees don’t have a spare outfielder, and their greatest position depth is catcher, which isn’t a need for the Giants.

• Speaking of Heyman, he says the Yankees still haven’t contacted Jorge Posada. Not sure what there would be to say in that conversation, but I’m sure it needs to happen at some point.

• Apparently a few teams in Japan want to sign Kei Igawa. As I’ve said before, I never got the sense that Igawa had any interest in playing back home again. He would have had the opportunity to leave the Yankees and go over there before now.

Associated Press photo of Cashman with Joe Girardi, headshot of Buehrle

Here’s the announcement from the Yankees…

The New York Yankees, along with ServiceNation and Bank of America, today announced that Yankee Stadium’s Great Hall will host more than 140 volunteers to help assemble approximately 5,000 Big Apple Packs for active servicemen and servicewomen on Veterans Day – Friday, November 11, 2011. Yankees front office employees, members of Jeter’s Leaders, Bank of America’s Community Volunteers, service members and veterans will be present to help prepare care packages for those serving in our Armed Forces.

On hand to lend support to the cause will be New York Yankees Manager Joe Girardi, who will help assemble each pack with various items, including Yankees memorabilia. The USO of Metropolitan New York will distribute the packs to deploying troops and those serving in Afghanistan during this holiday season.

“It’s important for all of us to recognize the enormous sacrifices made by our veterans and servicemen and servicewomen,” said Girardi. “The Mission Serve initiative allows people throughout our country to give back to our heroes, and I’m proud to be one of the many volunteers supporting this worthwhile and meaningful program.”

The event is part of the ServiceNation’s Mission Serve program which was established in 2009, with support from First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, and seeks to establish Veterans Day as a day of service and celebration. On Veterans Day 2011, 11 civilian-military service projects will be held across the United States, including the care package USO event at Yankee Stadium, that will provide opportunities for the civilian and military communities to join together in service. These events are intended to bring focus to civilian-military integration, as well as to the importance of volunteerism and community service for our nation.

Details of the events can be found at www.missionserve.org.