Georgie Juiced One

Posada watches his ninth inning game-tying
home run go out Thursday night.
(Paul J. Bereswell)

With the New York Yankees down 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning against division leading Baltimore Orioles Thursday night, a familiar face came to the rescue.

Jorge Posada took the first pitch he saw from newly acquired closer Kevin Gregg and deposited into the Yankee bullpen in right-center field. It has been well documented that the longtime Yankee backstop has struggled out of the gate, but still has good baseball left in him.

Posada is off too one of the slowest starts of his career. Is it just that or are we starting to see the decline of one of the greatest offensive catchers the game has ever seen? Now 39, Posada is entering his 17th professional season, all with New York and was relieved of his catching duties his season and moved into a full-time designated hitter role.

In 10 games this season, Posada is only batting .189, seven hits in 37 at-bats, five of those being home runs good enough for the American League lead.

The most eye popping statistic is Posada's on-base percentage to start the year. His career OBP is a remarkable .377, but so far in 2011, Posada has not been receiving his walks. He has only drawn two so far this year, leaving his OBP at a dismal .231. All that being said it is not time to count the five-time All-Star out just yet. Even though Posada was not ecstatic to the idea of becoming a full-time DH this season, it could prove to be a great move not only for the Yankees, but also Posada.

The reason why Posada has been so highly revered throughout career, is what he has been able to do offensively as a catcher. Posada is one of only five catchers in history to record 250 home runs, 350 doubles, 1,000 runs batted in and 1,500 hits in a career. Now, even at the advanced age of 39, the move to being a full-time DH might help prolong Posada's career.

Even though the results not quite there, the longtime backstop showed Thursday night he can turn on a good fastball and hit it a long way. It is way to early to give on a Hall of Fame caliber player like Posada.

Posada is entering the final year of a four-year contract he signed prior to the 2008 season and may be his final in the Bronx if he does not produce.

You can bet Posada will not make the choice easy on the Yankees and have another solid season in my opinion what has been a Hall of Fame career.