Over the last twelve seasons, many future Hall of Famers or borderline type players have passed through the Yankee organization. If you asked a casual Yankee fan to a compile a list, names like Jeter, Johnson, Rivera, Clemens, Sheffield, Williams, Mussina, and Pettitte would undoubtedly come up. One name that would probably get less play than it deserves is Jorge Posada. Dan McLaughlin of The Hardball Times did an analysis of catchers and their HOF cases, and Posada graded out fairly well.
McLaughlin used a composite statistic based upon peak performance to compute offensive and defensive value (click the link to see the numbers that go into the stat). Posada is 8th for offensive value, behind the usual suspects and ahead of names like Dickey, Fisk, Munson, and Pudge. He does not fare as well as a receiver, finishing 20th, although he once again surpassed Fisk and was ahead of Mike Piazza as well (What a shock. Piazza is first for offense, last for defense).
This is what McLaughin had to say about Posada’s case for induction:
Jorge Posada may not be the most glamorous offensive player, but his high-OBP, grind-it out game has been a key element in the Yankees’ success over his career. Posada’s prime, at eight years, is a little on the light side—without his monster 2007 season, he’d clearly be an also-ran, and it doesn’t help him that his first year as a full-time starter was the last one of the Yankees’ postseason dominance, or that Posada has not put up good numbers overall in October.
But his offensive game, for a guy who was a durable catcher for eight seasons and never has a serious off year, is solid. Posada’s success against base thieves has been less than impressive (slightly worse than league average) despite a reputation as a guy with a good arm. He’ll be a legitimate contender for the Hall even if he isn’t able to have a second act behind the plate beginning in 2009.
Personally, I have always thought of Jorge as a great catcher but not an all-time type player. However, if you think about it, he has certainly been a top 3 or 4 catcher in baseball for the last 8 seasons. His case is likely better than you think, and the numbers seem to suggest that he should get plenty of consideration. However, being that he played on various teams that had a glut of stars bigger than Posada, Jorge’s accomplishments may continue to be overshadowed. I do not think he will get in, but he should definitely hang around on the ballot for a while.
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You couldn’t have put it better, Moish.
And congrats on your new gig. . .
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Thanks Miles. Nice to hear from you…stick around and tell your friends!
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With some retooling of the layout and design, i can see this becoming one of the more prominent Yankees blogs in terms of traffic and acclaim.
You definitely have the right core of guys. . .
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I would love to hear your thoughts on the layout and design and what you would change. Shoot me an email- yagottagotomo1@aol.com
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Miles Roche Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Without going into much detail right now, i’m thinking more of an RAB kinda look…
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I think he could make it, however, it’ll take him a long time to garner serious considerations.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Yeah, sort of like what Tim Raines is going through now. As stats become more prominent, his case will improve.
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I’m going to go against the flow and say that, if he puts up a couple more decent years, he should be a virtual HOF lock. If the numbers are true and he’s the eighth best catcher of all-time, then he’s in. You’ve got to put a top-10 all-time player at a position in the HOF. Look at the other postions: aren’t all the top-10s at those spot in the HOF?
Additionally, he’s got 4 rings, which are particularly important for catchers who possess more intangibles than other positions.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Eight best offensive, not too great defensively at a position that is focused on defense. Not so simple.
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Quite frankly, RAB is the Yankees blog i frequent and love the most, and, in my honest opinion, this new blog is the only one that can match and (with the extra effort) beat it in terms of what they have to offer (user-friendliness, design & layout, content [Majors, Minors, news, analysis, opinion, humor, interviews, game threads, etc.], frequency of new posts, traffic. . .) and like i said, i do believe that you have the right group of guys to match all that. . .
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Gotcha. We are still playing around with the layout, but we like the clean look and wide columns right now, but plenty of tweaking will be done.
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Chris H. Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Thanks Miles.
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You hear, EJ? You can do better than Mike A.!…
Come on, let’s do it!!!
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RAB is a great site. Thanks for the high praise, Miles.
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