Jorge Posada’s recent comments about feeling unwelcome around the Yankees opened the door to a familiar question: how should a franchise treat one of its greats once the playing days are over?
Posada didn’t sugarcoat it when asked if he thought he could still help New York after another disappointing season and an early playoff exit. “I could, but I don't think they want me there.
I don't feel welcome when I go there. Even in Spring Training...
So I don't go."
It’s a jarring line from a catcher who meant so much to the Yankees for so long, and he pointed to the end of his time in New York as part of why the relationship may not be smooth now. Still, the reaction shouldn’t be to swing all the way to the other extreme and hand him a top job simply because of what he once meant to the franchise.
That’s where the Giants offer a useful contrast. San Francisco essentially handed the reins of baseball operations to Buster Posey, a franchise icon with no experience in the role. The move gave a beloved former catcher major authority, but it also came with the kind of risk every team takes when it puts a legend in charge.
Posada and Posey share plenty of the same broad strokes. Both were catchers who spent their entire careers with one club.
Posada never took home an MVP award like Posey, but he was a five-time All-Star and won four World Series titles. Posey, in a shorter career, won three championships and made seven All-Star teams.
Posada probably won’t end up in the Hall of Fame, while Posey is expected to get in next year in his first year of eligibility. Even so, Posada remains a player Yankees fans remember fondly. The issue isn’t whether the Yankees should value him - it’s whether nostalgia should ever be mistaken for a job qualification.
The Giants’ path makes that point as clearly as anything. After a 65-97 season, it’s fair to wonder whether elevating Posey was the right call, though it’s still too early to stamp the experiment a failure. But it also underscores the danger of assuming that greatness on the field translates neatly into success in the front office.
The Yankees have seen that lesson before with Derek Jeter, whose run as a partial owner and CEO of the Miami Marlins didn’t go well and ended in 2022. That history only reinforces how difficult the leap can be from star player to effective executive.
Posey may still straighten things out in the years ahead. If he doesn’t, and his front-office stint ends badly, it will stand as another reminder for the Yankees and everyone else: honoring a legend and putting that legend in charge are two very different things.
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Giants Roster Squeeze Is Just Starting And Familiar Names Are Next
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And this is only the opening round. San Francisco still has more roster work ahead as players come off the 60-day injured list, and the club may also need to make room while protecting others from the Rule 5 Draft. With familiar names already moving off the roster, the next decisions are likely to be just as familiar to anyone tracking the Giants' depth chart this time of year. [Read more 🡒]