Jorge Posada News

The Yankees haven't yet signed Raul Ibanez to be a left-handed bat off the bench, but it's been rumored the team is in discussions with the free agent.A Let it be known: I despise this idea.A Ibanez, who will be 40 years old in June, is a replacement-level player at this point in his career.A His -0.4 WAR last season indicates as much.

Catcher is the most demanding position in baseball, as catchers year in and year out undergo a seemingly endless string of injuries, all while needing to maintain an excellent knowledge of their respective pitching staffs.

Russell Branyan hit five home runs in 127 at-bats last season for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Angels.

A team-by-team look at the American League entering spring training, including key players each club acquired and lost, and dates of the first workout for pitchers and catchers, and the full squad: He's Here: RHP Michael Pineda , RHP Hiroki Kuroda , INF- OF Bill Hall , 1B-DH Russell Branyan , RHP Manny Delcarmen , OF Dewayne Wise .

Like an old-time apprentice shadowing a master craftsman, David Robertson has sat next to Mariano Rivera night after night for four years, watching and absorbing everything the elder man does as he plies his trade.

Lester is referring to the new spring training complex of the Red Sox , JetBlue Park .

The team is in serious discussions with two free agents, outfielder Raul Ibanez and utility man Bill Hall , according to major-league sources.

On a Friday evening at Fenway Park on May 22, 1998, in a contest that saw the Red Sox defeat the Yankees, 5-4, Jason Varitek and Jorge Posada opposed one another as starting catchers for the very first time.

Varitek will be 40 years old on April 11. In his heart, he believes he can still play.

Earlier in the week, Mark Teixeira raised some eyebrows by suggesting he may start dropping down an occasional bunt when the infield is shifted against him.

Tino Martinez only met Ted Williams once, a chance passing at Fenway Park in the early 1990s when Martinez was first establishing himself as a major-leaguer. Martinez, the quiet kid from Tampa, stumbled through a forgettable version of hello; Williams, the game's pre-eminent expert on hitting, replied with words as memorable now as that afternoon: ... (more)

Gawker/Deadspin's A.J. Daulerio is not always the muckracker Gotham wants, but sometimes he's the muckraker Gotham needs.

The Yankees of the late '90s and 2000s were an impressive bunch, and they have the most World Series titles since in the advent of the Wild Card, and, like their all-time total, it's not a close competition .

Jorge Posada , having spent all 17 years of his major league career with the New York Yankees , has officially hung 'em up.

Jorge Posada and the New York Yankees share a relationship few athletes and their clubs have.

With spring training just around the corner, it's time to start taking a look at how the Yankees lineup will produce in 2012.

The 2001 World Series was tied at two games each. Mike Mussina was facing the Arizona Diamondbacks Miguel Batista in the pivotal fifth game at Yankee Stadium.

I'll be the first to admit, this isn't an exact science. Projecting a baseball team's expected performance over 162 games requires making accurate assumptions about a dozen or more different contributing factors per player, not to mention taking into account how the competition has changed.

Last Saturday night, Yankee greats Bernie Williams and Don Mattingly teamed up for a great cause.

I responded that he was the third-best catcher in Yankees history in career value, which proved to be a good, not-quite-off-the-top-of-of-my head guess .