{"id":5802,"date":"2010-06-15T07:24:14","date_gmt":"2010-06-15T14:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=5802"},"modified":"2010-06-15T21:04:56","modified_gmt":"2010-06-16T04:04:56","slug":"time-marches-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/15\/time-marches-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Time Marches On"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,<\/em>
\nCreeps in this petty pace from day to day
\n~William Shakespeare<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Time.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no stopping it, no slowing it.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a Hall-of-Fame outfielder, a back-up infielder, or a middle school teacher, time inevitably marches on.\u00c2\u00a0 It slows us down, humbles us, and erodes away our natural athletic gifts.<\/p>\n

The Lakers and Celtics play once again for the NBA Championship, only this time, the series will turn not on the performances of players whose names I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard most of my adult life (Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant), but on Rajon Rondo, an upstart point guard, who could not be trusted to run the offense two years back, and the health of fourth year forward Andrew Bynum.<\/p>\n

This past year, Dennis Hopper and John Wooden passed away.\u00c2\u00a0 Ken Griffey Jr., the premier player of my lifetime, whose swing more resembled a work of ar\"\"<\/a>t than an athletic endeavor, retired.<\/p>\n

Shows like Lost <\/em>and 24<\/em>, in which I invested countless hours of my life, came to a close.\u00c2\u00a0 Luckily, I still have Smallville<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 Wait, did I say Smallville<\/em>?\u00c2\u00a0 I meant a more manly show\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Uh, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s move on.<\/p>\n

Personally, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be a year of milestones, as I earned a promotion to an administrative position at the school where I work.\u00c2\u00a0 I celebrated my five-year college reunion a few months back.\u00c2\u00a0 My little sister is officially old enough to drink, lives on her own this summer, and is heading into her senior year of college.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting married in a little more than a month.<\/p>\n

Time\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fated march has never been more tangible to me.<\/p>\n

That brings us to this weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 For the first time in almost twenty days, Jorge Posada started for the Yankees at catcher.\u00c2\u00a0 Since he had returned to the lineup after recovering from a calf strain at first and then a banged up foot, primarily as a DH, in early June, Posada\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s timing was off.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, he was taking his walks, but his bat speed was slow, as if he were taking hacks submerged in the La Brea tar pits.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Between June 2 and June 11, Posada hit .133 with a .297 OBP.\u00c2\u00a0 Though he worked seven walks, he drove in only one run and scored only two.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, as he settled behind the plate for Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game, everything changed.\u00c2\u00a0 On both Saturday and Sunday, the Yankees scored nine runs.\u00c2\u00a0 Each day, with one swing, Posada accounted for four of them, as he delivered two grand slam homers on consecutive days.<\/p>\n

I first heard of Jorge Posada in 1995.\u00c2\u00a0 At that point, he was a young talent, but with Joe Girardi catching and Jim Leyritz behind him, Posada was inconsequential to my twelve-year-old mind.\u00c2\u00a0 Since that time, however, Posada has gone on to build an impressive and near Hall-of-Fame caliber career.<\/p>\n

That being said, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now 38 years old.\u00c2\u00a0 In baseball parlance, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s near ancient.\u00c2\u00a0 As the pounding and grind of catching over 100 games a year takes its toll on his body, logic dictates that something\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to give.\u00c2\u00a0 Defensively, Posada\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never been the most technically perfect catcher.\u00c2\u00a0 His footwork isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t polished and his fiery and emotional character has sometimes gotten in the way of his handling a pitching staff.\u00c2\u00a0 Even during the stretch between 1998 and 2006, when he threw out base-stealers at a commendable clip ranging between 28% and 40%, Posada relied more on his cannon-like arm than on technique and positioning.<\/p>\n

Recently, injuries, age, and surgery to repair a torn labrum have weathered away Posada\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arm.\u00c2\u00a0 According to Baseball-Reference.com, Posada cost the Yankees 26 runs above the average in 2008, 17 in 2009, and currently 13 in 2010.\u00c2\u00a0 Conversely, between the ages of 36 and 38, Carlton Fisk, that bastion of \"\"<\/a>catching longevity and effectiveness, never cost the Chicago White Sox more than ten runs a year.<\/p>\n

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
\n~Chili Davis<\/em><\/p>\n

And yet, Posada seems to know something we all don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n

When asked about the possibility of DH-ing, Posada obstinately replies that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a catcher.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Fisk, Posada has proven throughout his career that his production drops when he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not behind the plate.\u00c2\u00a0 Though Fisk spent some time in his latter years in the outfield and at first, as a catcher, he batted .275 lifetime, slugging .468 and accruing an OPS of .816.\u00c2\u00a0 At any other position, Fisk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s average didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t crack .250 and his OPS barely made it above .600.\u00c2\u00a0 Posada\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the same way.\u00c2\u00a0 As a catcher, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hit .281 with a .490 slugging percentage and an .871 OPS. \u00c2\u00a0As anything else, his production drops significantly.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as if taking Posada out from behind the plate removes something from his game.\u00c2\u00a0 Like subtracting Kiefer Sutherland from 24<\/em> or James Gandolfini from The Sopranos<\/em>, something\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just not right.\u00c2\u00a0 This past weekend, Posada proved how valuable his production is to the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lineup.\u00c2\u00a0 And yet, the question remains, how long can Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman keep him behind the plate?<\/p>\n

He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s signed through next season, and then what?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you ask a man who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been at the epicenter of every championship won over the last decade-and-half, whose pride, intensity, and gameness drive his success, to step aside and make room for the next generation of players?\u00c2\u00a0 Or has Posada earned the right to walk away on his own terms?<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have an answer.\u00c2\u00a0 All I know is that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to see Jorge Posada limping around spring training for the Kansas City Royals, like Hulk Hogan currently staggers around the TNA, trying to earn a minor league contract.<\/p>\n

He deserves better than that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day ~William Shakespeare Time.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no stopping it, no slowing it.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a Hall-of-Fame outfielder, a back-up infielder, or a middle school teacher, time inevitably marches on.\u00c2\u00a0 It slows us down, humbles us, and erodes away our natural athletic gifts. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,9,4235],"tags":[8385,5836,8377,8384,8383,1257,5196,1733,8379,8381,8378,8380,8382,8387,8371,8386,8375,8372,8373,8374],"class_list":["post-5802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-general","category-top-stories","tag-administrative-position","tag-bat-speed","tag-brea-tar-pits","tag-calf-strain","tag-college-reunion","tag-dennis-hopper","tag-jorge-posada","tag-ken-griffey-jr","tag-kevin-garnett","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-la-brea-tar-pits","tag-middle-school-teacher","tag-nba-championship","tag-paul-pierce","tag-petty-pace","tag-teacher-time","tag-time-marches-on","tag-tomorrow-and-tomorrow","tag-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow","tag-william-shakespeare"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t