Jorge Posada Out of New York: Would You Want Him As A Twin?

Jorge Posada had a rough year. He was one of the members of the Yankee Dynasty, but throughout the year it was shown that even the grace bestowed by that fact runs out eventually. New York broke open the season with Posada as their designated hitter, and ended up catching just once all year: for six innings on September 10th.

As designated hitters went, Posada was one of the worst in the American League. Only Adam Dunn had a worse season. Posada obviously felt a little put out when he was ousted as the starting catcher, and according to this it sounds like those feelings haven't changed:

So why would we want Posada, who turned 40 in August and hit .235/.315/.398 in 2011, to play for the Twins? This is why.

Posada's season looked terrible, at least in part, because he was so astonishingly bad versus southpaws in 65 measly at bats. It destroyed his overall triple slash. But looking at his splits versus right-handed pitchers he still looks like a useful bat. Not only that, he could back up at first base and be the team's emergency third catcher.

Let's go back to my Offseason Blueprint for the Twins, where my payroll came in at just over $110 million. Right now I'd make the following alterations.

1. Instead of signing Roy Oswalt ($11 million per), I'm either tendering Kevin Slowey ($3.5 million) or finding another starter worth $3 to $4 million, and
2. I'm not offering Jason Kubel arbitration, in case he accepts, and in his place I'm offering Jorge Posada a one-year, $2.5 million deal to be my starting DH versus right-handed pitchers. Jonny Gomes gets first crack at being my DH versus left-handed pitchers.

That saves me $7.5 million on a starter, and just over $4 million by replacing Kubel with Posada.

This team, at just under $100 million, certainly isn't as good as the version with Oswalt and Kubel, but it still wouldn't be a bad side. But what about you? Would you take a chance on Posada?