Posada Out For The Year?

Jorge Posada has been put on the 15-day DL. I just saw it on ESPN and PA has the info:

Bad news for Posada. He will see Dr. David Altchek tomorrow and may soon have season-ending surgery to repair the torn lambrum in his shoulder. The surgery is such that he may need to get it now to make sure he will be ready for next season.

Posada admitted that he can’t throw and that it has been bothering him all season. Joe Girardi has been saying for weeks now that Posada was improving and he could get through the season but that was obviously wishful thinking.

Hideki Matsui, meanwhile, is putting off his knee surgery and will try and rehab one more time. But given what has happened so far, don’t expect to see him any time soon, if at all.

UPDATE, 4:30 p.m.: Jose Molina, as we all know, is a fine defensive catcher. But having to use him five days a week could be an issue. A backup all his career, Molina could get worn down. He also will be a drag offensively. The Yankees also will have to use Chad Moeller more often.

UPDATE, 4:38 p.m.: The loss of Posada could force Brian Cashman’s hand in terms of a trade. Losing a switch-hitting, middle of the order hitter is a big blow. The dynamic really changes with this news. I don’t see the Yankees trading for a catcher because decent catchers simply aren’t available unless you want to pry one away from Texas.

UPDATE, 4:46 p.m.: Remember all those times Joe Girardi said how Posada was improving? Yeah, not so much. That was make believe.

Here’s what Posada himself had to say today: “The shoulder is messed up. I have no power when I go to make a throw and there’s pain every time I make a throw. It has been like that all season.”

Sources I have been in touch with say there is a labrum tear and a rotator cuff tear in the shoulder. Posada will have an MRI tomorrow and could have surgery soon. It seems likely that he would need surgery now to have any hope of being ready to start the 2009 season.

Meanwhile, Girardi is clinging to the idea that Posada could rehab and come back as a DH or first baseman this season. That doesn’t seem very likely.

This is tough news for the Yankees. Jose Molina, as PA said, is great defensively. But, offensively, the Yankees are in trouble. They could chase Bengie Molina from San Francisco, but he’s one of their better RBI producers. This will probably accelerate a trade for a big righty bat now that Jorge’s production is gone.

What Happened To Mahay?

Remember Ron Mahay? The Yankees were very interested in the lefty’s services during the winter and were hoping to pick him up, as he was a solid FA investment. However, when faced with signing Mahay for more than a one-year deal, Brian Cashman balked. Instead, he ended up signing LaTroy Hawkins for $3.75 million, while the Royals scooped Ron Mahay with a 2-year, $8 million deal. At the time, I was fine with the move. As Yankee fans who have lived through Kyle Farnsworth, the idea of overpaying another reliever was frightening. Therefore, letting Mahay join the Royals was fine with me. We were told that Billy Traber had great stuff, and he was dominating lefties during the spring, so why not let him get a shot (or at least, Igawa or even Chase Wright)? Also, signing Hawkins was fine since he was cheap, even if the numbers have shown that he can’t pitch at Yankee Stadium.

Now, when you look back on the decision to not sign Mahay, it’s a pretty big deal. In fact, you could definitely label it as a big blunder on our part. Mahay is currently sporting a 1.78 ERA (1.20 WHIP) in 50+ innings of work. He’s been death to lefties and righties, this year. There were a lot of things to like about Mahay. For one, he’s a veteran, so if he was signed, that whole “we need a veteran presence” in our bullpen would have been nullified and the Yankees wouldn’t have signed LaTroy Hawkins, which they did, practically for that reason alone. We all know what a headache Hawkins has been, performance wise, and Mahay would have stopped that from happening. Hawkins has been so problematic this year, I think in retrospect, the Yankees would have taken the 37 year old Mahay for a 2-year deal. We didn’t do that though, and now we have Hawkins filling a roster spot for no reason at all.

The non-Mahay move also effects us today (outside of the Hawkins dilemma) because the Yankees are reportedly in search of a lefty reliever before the trade deadline. According to Dan Graziano, it’s their number one priority right now (although it shouldn’t be, since we need a bat and a starter). So, the Yankees will look at a short list of lefties, a list which will likely include Brian Fuentes, George Sherrill, Damaso Marte and John Grabow (notice the drop off), and will try to deal for one of them. This deal could involve parting with some strong pitching prospects, something the Yankees definitely didn’t want to do but are now forced to do. If the Yankees had signed Ron Mahay, they currently wouldn’t have this problem and would, instead, be searching for a right-handed bat or a solid starter. The team will lose pitching prospects in any deal, so was it really worth it to balk at a 2-year, $8 million contract?

Signing Mahay would have cost $8 million, but it also seems like it would have saved the Yankees some pitching talent and a lot of aggravation (plus, LaTroy Hawkins would have never happened). The team spent nearly $4 million on Hawkins, so was an extra year and another $4 million that big of a deal? Of course, it’s it’s not fair to criticize, since I’m looking back on this in retrospect, so you can’t really blame anyone (e.g. Brian Cashman). But, the Mahay move, or should I say lack of a move, certainly hurts.

Yanks Looking At Burnett?

From MLBTR:

Back on July 10th, ESPN’s Jayson Stark said it was “dubious that Toronto would even talk to [the Yankees] about A.J. Burnett.” Presumably this is because the Yankees and Jays are division rivals. It should be noted, though, that J.P. Ricciardi and Brian Cashman matched up on a July ‘02 trade that sent Raul Mondesi to New York for prospect Scott Wiggins.

Yesterday, CBSSports.com’s Danny Knobler wrote:

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi told Toronto reporters that he now doesn’t expect to trade A.J. Burnett. But Burnett’s Friday night start at Tampa Bay attracted more than a dozen scouts, including two from the Yankees. Several of the scouts in attendance didn’t stay for the rest of the weekend series, a clear indication that they were in town strictly to watch Burnett.

So while we have nothing concrete, there are signs that the Yankees are looking at Burnett. The Cubs reportedly had a guy watching him, too. He and Justin Duchscherer are the two best remaining starters who could conceivably be pried loose via trade.

This could be nothing, I mean, scouts go to dozens of games to watch dozens of players and such scouting doesn’t mean a trade will happen, especially with a division rival. However, Burnett does have incredible stuff and he always pitches pretty well against the Yankees and at Yankee Stadium, so that may entice Brian Cashman. Burnett’s home splits this year are terrible, as he has a 5.64 ERA and 1.55 WHIP when pitching in Toronto. His road splits are much more favorable (4.17 ERA, 1.31 WHIP), and he could benefit from a trade. He’s also a walking splint, with injury prone written across his forehead, so do you really want to give up solid prospects to get him? If you do, he could possibly opt out of his contract after the season is over.

Random Read

Here’s an interesting read by Wallace Mathews (Newsday), who watched yesterday’s game through the steroid era lens (he had a lot to look at too, especially with Pettitte and Giambi having strong performances). Wallace reflects on the consequences of the steroid era, where no one is safe from being accused of PED use (even if they’ve come clean before).