A collective sigh of relief was heard from Yankee fans when the announcement broke late last night that the Yankees have re-signed catcher Jorge Posada to a four year, $52.4 million deal. At first glance, a four year deal for a 36 year old catcher may not seem like the greatest thing in the world, but the Yankees had little choice but to do so in this situation. Posada is likely to find himself as a first baseman at the end of this deal, possibly even by the halfway point of it if the Yankees can ever find a suitable replacement. Still, a $13.1 million average salary is hardly excessive for a man who batted .338 with 20 homers and 90 RBI’s, well its not excessive for the Yankees anyway. Posada gave the Yankees and their fan’s a real scare by waiting until right before the Yankees exclusive negotiating window closed and with all the rumors about the Mets trying to pry him away. Fortunately, the Yankees will not have to face a world without Jorge Posada, at least not for another four years anyway. In a way, Posada was the least replaceable of the Yankees free agents, as at least Joba Chamberlain could replace Mariano Rivera and there are some options to replace A-Rod, but there is virtually no one to replace Posada. Jose Molina likely would have been re-signed as the Yankees starting catcher if Posada has left, which would not have been pretty. Priority number one for the Yankees should be to develop a catcher to replace Jorge Posada, as finding one via free agency is never an easy thing. The top current options are Jesus Montero (raw and challenged defensively) and Francisco Cervelli (a bit offensively challenged) to one day replace Posada, but since both have questions and Montero is still a ways away, an option C may be needed if Posada is moved to first base earlier rather then later. Fortunately for Yankee fans, this is a problem that can now be put off a little longer.
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