Jorge Posada: The Forgotten Season

[Basketball Jesus]

Imagine a season in which a player can put up a stat line of .338/.424/.558, 20 HR, 85 RBI, 38 2B, 10.1 WARP3, .340 EqA at catcher and not only is he not the best player in the league, but not even the best player on his own team?

Welcome to Jorge Posada

[bigboy1234]

Holy crap, you actually looked all that up. Dedication.

Don't worry according to MVP voters Mauer was only the 2nd best player on his team last season to, and Mauer had a higher WARP3 last year than Posada will this year.

[Bleeding Green]

I've told you all before--Posada is a Hall of Famer. At least he should be.

I really don't get why people don't go ga-ga over the guy. He's been probably the best catcher in baseball (at least in the conversation with Piazza and I-Rod) since 2000, he has all those championships, he's a Yankee. I just don't get it.

This is his third 10+ WARP3 season. How many catchers have that on their resume?

[Basketball Jesus]

He may be the second-best offensive catcher ever, behind Piazza. That's crazy good.

Sadly, people tend to overlook him solely on his supposed defensive faults. Which I really don't get because he's pretty average back there. At least Hoiles' rep was somewhat deserved: he was a butcher back there.

[Basketball Jesus]

Holy crap, you actually looked all that up. Dedication.

I was thumbing my nose at doing work today. Teach them to question my ability to put together a quality-looking loan approval.

[Bleeding Green]

Yeah, he doesn't seem so bad back there. On throws to home plate I know he used to be really bad, but he's gotten better at that (by illegally standing in front of home plate, but still).

Russell Martin is the next Jorge Posada.

[Basketball Jesus]

Posada had only one really bad season behind the plate (2000), which is where that reputation comes from. After that he's been pretty middle-of-the-pack.

[JohnnyK]

What's also worth mentioning: his second half stats (.355 .466 .628) are even better than his first half stats (.325 .398 .503); given his huge workload, that is quite remarkable.

The only little negative - he has been below his averages with RISP (.282 .385 .436 - although that's still an OPS of over 800) and RISP/2Outs (.222 .355 .302).
And he has been rather lucky, given his babip of .387, which is even more remarkable seeing that he isn't exactly fast.

Still, even if you do not look at his age (which makes his production even more impressive), he is indeed having an awesome season; and it comes at a great time as well, seeing that he will be a FA after the season.

EDIT: typo

[GYBE]

I agree that he should go to the HoF when all is said and done, but does his relatively short career hurt him at all? He didn't play his first full season until he was 27.

[Bleeding Green]

But he just put up his best season at 35. Who says it doesn't continue for a couple more years and then he can shift to DH/1B until he's 40-42.

[Nowak008]

Nice write up. I thought he was having a good year, but not like this.

[mets87]

not one mention of runs scored or rbi's. <3 bball jesus.

posada is having an unbelievable year. good for him; he's one of the few yankee players i like.

[cmaff051]

It's really unbelievable how good of a year he is having.

[Basketball Jesus]

Updated: VORP* of players from 1959-on:

Player VORP (League Rank)

Mike Piazza (1997) 102.2 (1)
Jorge Posada* (2007) 69.9 (8)
Joe Mauer (2006) 66.9 (10)
Johnny Bench (1972) 63.1 (5)
Chris Hoiles (1993) 60.6 (10)
Joe Torre (1966) 60.3 (5)
Brian Downing (1979) 55.0 (15)
Victor Martinez* (2007) 53.9 (19)
Paul Lo Duca (2001) 53.8 (30)
Ivan Rodriguez (1998) 53.0 (32)
Gary Carter (1982) 52.4 (12)
Carlton Fisk (1977) 50.3 (13)
Mickey Tettleton (1991) 49.3 (19)
Ted Simmons (1973) 46.8 (15)


*through 09/19/07



VORP does not account for defense, which explains IRod

[nykgeneralmanager]

Yup, if you remember, I specifically stated that throughout their careers, Posada has been more valuable than Jeter (and has had more seasons where he was the most valuable Yankee).

[34Celtic]

Funny somwehere this year, I forget which board, I said Posada was the best catcher of the last ten years and got called a Yankee homer....now all these stats come out and Jorge is viewed as as a HOFer, I don't think he's been that good for that long but he's still a helluva player

[Basketball Jesus]

Funny somwehere this year, I forget which board, I said Posada was the best catcher of the last ten years and got called a Yankee homer....now all these stats come out and Jorge is viewed as as a HOFer, I don't think he's been that good for that long but he's still a helluva player

Well, that's debatable. Piazza's been better with the bat (even in decline) and Ivan Rodriguez with the glove (even in decline, plus he's had some decent years with the bat).

Sitting being either of those two is no knock: Piazza and IRod are probably two of the five best catchers in MLB history.

[lpsevier]

I didn't realize Piazza's 97 season was that good.

[sunshinekids99]

Yeah Piazza was a monster in 97. Hit .362 with 40 homeruns and 32 doubles. Slugging .638 to boot.

As for Posada he's always been underrated. And of course this year is no different. Career high in OBP and slugging at the age of 35 is quite impressive. 2005 looked like his career was on the down slope, but he was able to pick it up and have a career year.

[Basketball Jesus]

The things that surprised me the most while doing this were how great Chris Hoiles 1993 season was and how much value Ivan Rodriguez