Posada Gets Whole Enchilada
November 12, 2007 by Geoff Young
Filed under Transactions
The New York Yankees have re-signed veteran catcher Jorge Posada to a 4-year, $52 million deal. Hey, they’re the Yankees; they can afford to do that sort of thing.
The 36-year-old Posada is coming off a career year in which he hit .338/.426/.543. Perhaps more impressively, he has caught at least 130 games in each of the past eight seasons. Put those two together, and the chances of Posada’s coming anywhere near his 2007 levels again fall somewhere between slim and none.
Here’s your list of catchers since 1961 who logged at least 300 plate appearances in their age 36 season and had an OPS+ of 100 or better:
- Sherm Lollar ‘61
- Carlton Fisk ‘84
- Ernie Whitt ‘88
- Mike Piazza ‘05
Here’s that same list for 37-year-old catchers:
- Fisk ‘85
- Whitt ‘89
- Benito Santiago ‘02
- Greg Myers ‘03
- Piazza ‘06
No 38-year-old catcher has met these criteria in the Expansion Era (the last was Gabby Hartnett in 1939), and only Fisk (’87) has done it among 39-year-old catchers since 1961.
History tells us that shelling out top dollar for the age 36-39 years of a catcher is not the best investment, but it also tells us that the Yankees can pay to make their mistakes go away when the time comes.
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