On Jorge Posada's Future, The Ringo Nickname, and Who the Real Core Yankees Are

NBC Sports' Hardball Talk writes today about an ESPN New York article about Jorge Posada's future with the Yankees -- specifically, whether he will be gone before the year is over. The original piece says that the Yankees "will reconsider Jorge Posada's future with the team if his numbers don't improve by the All-Star break, according a baseball official with knowledge of the Yankees' thinking." The article also says:

By the All-Star break, the Yankees will have three options. They can stick with him, trade him or release him. One team source optimistically said it would be to stick with him. Posada is hitting .179.

"When it comes to Posada, I think he's going to be better," said one Yankee insider.

What's missing in this story, and pretty much missing from most of the coverage, are these facts: in the first 36 games of the season, Posada started 32 of those games, missing four games. Including the Saturday sitdown, he has not started in four of the next five games, although he did pinch-hit on Sunday. Don't expect to see Posada much against lefties anytime soon, thanks to his 0-for-24 numbers against them this year. For now, at least, he's a part-time player.

Anyhow, lots of fans are talking about the article, and what it all means. I think it all depends upon whether the Yankees are winning. If Posada continues to hit poorly, but the Yankees are rolling on all cylinders, I could see them keeping him on indefinitely, albeit in that smaller role. If he's hitting poorly, and the team is losing, I could see Brian Cashman making a big shakeup -- sooner than the All-Star Break -- the way he did in 2005 when moving Bernie Williams out of center field, Tony Womack off second base, and bringing up Robinson Cano.

This time around, my guess would be that if Jorge never gets it together, and the team is slumping, they would release Posada and call up either Jorge Vazquez or Jesus Montero from AAA. Vazquez is hitting .308 in AAA and has 14 homers, 41 RBI and a .361 OBP. Montero is hitting .318 in AAA with 2 homers, 12 RBI, and a .350 OBP.

But the trade idea suggested in this piece is just silly. Who are you going to get for a DH hitting .179 and making $13 million this year, even if it would be "only" $6 million left on the contract by the All-Star Break?

* * *

Anyhow, the Hardball Talk piece talks about the ESPN article, and writes: "For this to be any sort of news, it has to mean that the Yankees would cut the Ringo of their Core Four* if he can’t find his stroke." The asterisk has an explanation of why Craig Calcaterra, the writer, came up with calling Posada Ringo, saying:

"Note: this is not a slam on Ringo or Posada. I love both of them. Even named a cat after Ringo once (though he may have been named after the cat in the Dada song “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow,” I’ll never tell). But let’s be honest: Jeter is Lennon, Rivera is McCartney, Pettitte is George Harrison and Posada, for all of his charms, has to be Ringo by the process of elimination.  Also: this makes Joe Girardi Pete Best!"

Ahem. I just want to note that Squawker Jon first came up with calling Posada "Ringo" in May of 2006, back when Bernie Williams, not Andy Pettitte, was on the team. Jon first used it during our inaugural season of Subway Squawkers, and we got a lot of positive response from our readers because of it. Since then, both Jon and I have run that joke in this blog dozens of times over the years.

The thing is, Posada's greatest years were from 2000-2007. He didn't even become the starting catcher until 1998, and Girardi still shared part of the role with him for '98 and '99. Due to Posada getting that later start, his contributions to the four rings just aren't the same. At any rate, both Jon and I just think that the whole Core Four stuff leaves out some very valid contributions from other important contributors in the dynasty era. Like David Cone, Bernie Williams, and Paul O'Neill, to name three. They were just as "core" to the late 90s as anybody else.

One other note: there is no way Girardi is Pete Best -- he contributed to three rings, for goodness sake!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

What do the Beatles' tribute "Rain," Chris Brown, and Shea Stadium have in common?

Warning: (Mostly) non-baseball post ahead! My friend Barbra invited me to go with her to see the opening night of the new Broadway show "Rain." The show is a tribute to the Beatles, so I was excited to get to go. And this also was the first time I ever attended an opening night before, so it was a lot of fun.

We got to watch a bit of the red carpet to-do before the show. Saw Sid Bernstein (who brought the Beatles to Carnegie Hall and Shea Stadium) there, as well as Chita Rivera (whose name was at the tip of my tongue, although I didn't remember her at the time.)  Also saw Shelley Goldberg, the wacky puppet lady from NY1, on the red carpet. Didn't see May Pang, but I heard she was there.

But the biggest name attending the show was the singer Chris Brown. The first thing you notice is that he is breathtakingly handsome in person. The second thing you notice is the way people talk about him. Half a dozen times, I heard variations of this conversation. "Isn't that Chris Brown?" "You mean the guy who beat up Rihanna"? Yet I saw the same people who were disparagingly talking about him rush to take his picture, or ask for his autograph! Go figure.

While Barbra and I were waiting for the show to begin, we were talking about the 80s show "Rock of Ages." I said I avoided hearing most of that type of music at the time, and that I'd rather see a musical based on the music of the Smiths. (I found out later that someone already did one, but it sounds a little too artsy for my taste!)

Anyhow, onto "Rain" itself. I'm not somebody who goes to see a whole lot of tribute bands, but this show had terrific production values, backed by sound musical skills. It's not so much that you feel that you're seeing the Beatles again, but that you are reminded how good the music, and how it still holds up.

The show starts with clips of the 50s and early sixties, then show footage the Beatles landing at JFK, and go on from there to the Ed Sullivan Show, Shea Stadium, Sgt. Pepper, the studio rooftop, etc. During the Shea Stadium songs, they showed real clips of the concert, with plenty of screaming teenage girls (I always wondered if there were any guys at those shows, or if the cameras didn't just capture them!)

"Rain's" musicians play most of the Beatles songs in chronological order, with a few sections, like "Eleanor Rigby" during the Sgt. Pepper segment. Oddly, it works!

In between costume changes, they show old-time clips and commercials -- my favorite was of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble sneaking a Winston cigarette while Betty and Wilma did all the housework!

As for the costumes, they are pretty historically accurate, down to  George Harrison's underrated Sgt. Pepper hat. One of the few historical inaccuracies is that the musician playing Paul McCartney plays bass right-handed, not left-handed.  But that's a minor detail, and maybe it would be too hard for a musician playing live every night to do it as a lefty.

There was a big range in ages at the show, from teenagers to seniors. But my guess is that most people at the show were too young to have seen the Beatles the first time around. After all, they stopped touring 44 years ago!

A splendid time was, if not guaranteed, had by most everybody at the show. Barbra and I both really enjoyed "Rain."

You can see pictures of "Rain" at the official website, and NY1 has video of scenes from the show.