Yankees’ designated hitter Jorge Posada chalked up his actions on Saturday night when he took himself out of the lineup to frustration. Then he apologized to his teammates, his manager, his GM and his fans.
“I had a bad day,” Posada said on Sunday. “All the frustration came out. It was just one of those days you wish you could take back.”
When Posada found out that he was hitting ninth in the Yankees’ order on Saturday night against the Red Sox, he told manager Joe Girardi that he was taking himself out of the lineup. It was a childish act by a stubborn player that clearly put his own emotions ahead of what was best for the club. It’s certainly easy to be a team player when things are going well and no sacrifices have to be made. It’s challenging situations like these when you really learn about what kind of character a player has.
And the fact that Posada quickly realized the mistake he made and apologized does show what kind of character he has. He’s a prideful guy and sees his career dwindling. He’s struggling right now and his frustrations came the surface. We all get angry from time to time when uncontrollable situations arise and we fight to wrangle our emotions. And we don’t always handle it right either – just like Posada didn’t. But he did the right thing by apologizing and now everyone can move past this.
“Jorge is loved in our clubhouse,” Girardi said. “Jorge is loved by the fans. Jorge has meant a lot to this organization and I’m not surprised. This has been a great player for a long time.”
That’s right. Posada has been a great Yankee his entire career and this one regrettable incident won’t subtract from his great days in New York.
