Final: Pudge is a Bronx Bomber, Manny’s a Dodger, and Posada’s Down for the Count
The hottest news in baseball a few days ago was of catcher Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez leaving the Detroit Tigers to become a New York Yankee while Jorge Posada went DL to undergo surgery. But then, Red Sox manager Terry Francona went into overdrive, working like a dog on steroids to get surly slugger Manny (Let Manny be Manny) Ramirez out of his hair, closing a deal with the LA Dodgers minutes before deadline—and that drama knocked Pudge, Posada and the Yankees right off the radar screen. Under most circumstances I too would be fascinated by the Manny situation—but since Pudge/Posada is of major importance to me, it’s first in my heart—and on my blog.
Like a lot of Yankee fans, I was bummed about Posada. He’ll miss the rest of the season, might be out part of next year, and even when he’s ready to play again, the functionality of his throwing arm is anyone’s guess. There’s a chance he won’t be able to catch anymore—and Posada’s identity is closely tied to being a catcher. How well he’ll hit is also unknown. The situation is nerve-wracking, and with Posada letting his feelings hang out, it’s impossible not to empathize with the guy. In the midst of all this, the news that Rodriguez was coming to the Bronx was a stunner. I adore Pudge, and I have ever since watching him in the World Series with the Marlins
in 2003. He’s a catcher, a position for which I have the utmost respect, and, not only is he good-looking, he resembles my very first boyfriend, who I fell in love with at 12 and finally went steady with at 15.
So here was Pudge, a player I loved, joining the team I love most, at the very moment that my favorite player was lying in a hospital preparing to undergo labrum surgery. To allow myself to be happy about one meant betraying the other. Lest that sounds melodramatic, consider the way Yankee blogger Peter Abraham described the situation: “As the Yankees were in the process of acquiring Pudge Rodriguez, Jorge Posada was on an operating table having his season come to an end.” Apparently I’m not the only one who sees it like this.
I was somewhat surprised by the high volume of buzz surrounding Posada’s situation. Players go into the operating room all the time, and the most you hear are brief news items when it happens, when it’s over, and when he comes back to play. In Posada’s case there were daily, sometimes hourly, updates while he wavered
about whether to have surgery now or at season’s end. That loud buzz was a sign of Posada’s value to the team. That the Yankees traded a pitcher—a tearful Kyle Farnsworth—for a catcher to replace Posada is also telling.
Pudge, meanwhile, does not suffer my ambivalence: he’s just plain thrilled. “I love to play in New York,” said Rodriguez. “It’s still hard to believe I’m talking to you guys here in Yankee Stadium with a Yankee uniform.” He also told reporters, “I’m a very simple catcher…I just want the pitchers to feel good when I’m behind the plate.”
In that case, he’ll be quite a change of pace—I got the feeling that Posada didn’t worry about keeping pitchers happy so much as keeping them in line. I don’t mean that in a negative way; except for Mike Mussina, the pitchers seem to like the way Posada works. His dedication, his professionalism, and his confidence helped more than one flailing rookie put it over the plate. Whatever the differences in style, Pudge is just as dedicated, professional and confident, so I don’t foresee any problems.
As for Manny Ramirez
Even people who don’t follow baseball know that some cute guy with dreads (my sister’s description) was traded yesterday. When I heard on NPR this morning that Ramirez was going to the Dodgers, I thought it was a mistake, since yesterday Manny was boarding a plane to Florida and the Marlins. I soon found out it was no mistake. Considering the way melodrama surrounds the life of Manny Ramirez, his trade was bound to be complicated. In fact it involved three or four teams.
The process began, publicly at least, last week when Manny told reporters he wanted to leave the Red Sox. But he didn’t just say, I want to leave the Red Sox; he said, among other things, “The Red Sox don’t deserve a player like me.…I love Boston fans, but the Red Sox don’t deserve me. I’m not talking about money. Mental peace has no price, and I don’t have peace here.”
No wonder Francona was so desperate to dump him.
Will Manny be Manny with Joe?
Baseball’s a funny sport—or business, as everyone keeps reiterating during all this shuffling of players. Yesterday’s rival can become tomorrow’s teammate, and usually does. Ramirez, who has a long, successful history of 200 games against the Yankees–the most he’s played against any team—is now working for their former manager. Joe Torre knows first-hand the type of player Ramirez is, and he immediately got excited when told a deal was in the works. He’s not worried about working with Manny, he said, because his teammates never had issues with him. “If you feel somebody’s going to help your club,” Torre said, “you’ve got to find a way to make it work, and that’s my job, to find a way to make it work. If it’s a challenge, it’s a challenge. I look forward to it.”
Hey, if anyone knows how to work with contentious people it’s Joe Torre, who spent years under George
Steinbrenner’s thumb and had to deal with the highest-priced players, some of them real prima donnas (can anyone say Alex Rodriguez?).
As for the Yankees, they’re somewhat relieved they won’t face Ramirez so often now that he’s in the National League. “He can go to the other league, that’s all right,” said manager Joe Girardi.
In LA Manny will reunite with a few old teammates. Derek Lowe, for one, looks forward to playing with him again. “They say he’s just Manny being Manny,” said Lowe, “but when he comes to the plate, you know who’s coming up. There’s a different intensity, a different level. Very few players catch your attention like Manny can.”
I’ll say! As noted, Manny’s trade overshadowed everything else in baseball this
week. Most likely his early days with LA will be meticulously reported as well. But in New York, where the media lives and dies by the bat, Pudge is sure to get the attention he deserves. I just hope nobody forgets that he might only be keeping the dirt behind the plate warm until Jorge Posada, healthy and as capable as ever, comes back to reclaim it.
Good Luck Jorge! See ya in 2009
