In tonight's enjoyable romp. Phil Hughes likes to test everyone's patience, don't he?
The man is a legit MVP candidate. It's just too bad his teammate is putting up the league's best numbers since Mickey Mantle roamed center field.
Twenty home runs, 85 RBI and 39 doubles may seem nice, but not great. But he's in his age 35 season and has caught 123 games while posting a .338/.424/.558 and an OPS+ approaching 160.
There's only one comparison: Carlton Fisk, who was actually damn good at 35, with 26 HR, 86 RBI and a .289/.355/.518 line. He caught 133 games.
At 35, Johnny Bench was in his final season, hitting .255/.308/.432 and catching only five games.
Mike Piazza put up decent, but not great numbers at 20/54/.266/.362/.444, catching 50 times.
Yogi Berra hit .276/.347/.446, catching 63 times.
At 35, Gary Carter was injured, playing only 50 games and eking out a .183/.241/.275 line in his last year with the Mets.
Obviously, Posada caught far fewer games before 30 than these men (and Ivan Rodriguez), so he has less wear.
Unfortunately, this puts the Yankees in a tough position this offseason. Posada is NOT this year's Mike Mussina, the veteran who shows the greatness, collects the paycheck and then falls apart. Posada has posted a 119 OPS+ or better for seven of eight years and hasn't had catastrophic injuries. However, how many years do the Yanks give a catcher who's dangerously close to uncharted territory? Given his production and hitting ability, I'd say two, not three. But for those two years, you give him any amount he wants.
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