A couple days after the fiasco in New York with the Yankees and Jorge Posada, I’ve come to the realization that as an Orioles fan I’m grateful for guys like Mark Reynolds. The new Orioles third baseman has taken a solid amount of criticism for his struggles at the dish this season (.180 AVG, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 17 BB, 39 K), but compared the stunt that Posada (.165 AVG, 6 HR, 15 RBI, 15 BB, 30 K) pulled, I’ll take Reynolds’ numbers and character every time.
By no means am I comparing the careers of Posada and Reynolds, merely just the way they both have handled their manager’s decisions this season.
After seeing himself listed as the number nine hitter in Joe Girardi’s lineup, Posada removed himself on Saturday evening which began a flurry of rumors about a potential retirement for the 39 year old. In the end, it just turned out to be a bad day. “Reflecting on it, everything, all the frustration came out. I’m trying to move on.” Hip, Hip, Jorge!
Reynolds has had a similar story this year, except he has handled it as classy as possible. He’s been benched for Robert Andino and moved to the bottom of the lineup, only to respond like a great teammate should. “But like I said, it’ll be nice to relax today, and if (manager Buck Showalter) needs me late, I’ll be there,” he told MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko after being benched.
Reynolds went 3 for 11 with two runs, a home run and two RBI against the Rays, his May is already off to a better start than April.
Get ready…We’ll be going through this with #52 across the street at M & T in a year or so.
Zach I 100% agree with you. Part of me was very angry when I saw that he threw that tantrum, but the other part of me looked at it from Posada’s point of view. He probably thinks that he is in that class with Jeter who Girardi wouldn’t dare to move down in the lineup. To me in the broader sense of things what does it matter what position in the batting order you are? Is it embarrassing for players to bat in that 7-8-9 hole? To me they are just as important as the 1-2-3 batters.