Jorge is sensitive?

Guys who piss ontheir hands (on purpose) are NOT sensitive, but it's a nice line, Joe.

February 18, 2006 -- TAMPA — Jorge Posada's pride has been dented. You bet it has, he says. After all, pride is as much a part of his game as power and patience, and the catcher has endured a year when his abilities and his cherished spot as a Yankee have been under assault.

"I try to ignore it," Posada says, "but it is tough to ignore."

Of course, it is. It is in his face. The ace of the staff, Randy Johnson, did not want to pitch to him. Suddenly, his mental abilities behind the plate were being impugned. His offensive numbers fell across the board for a second straight year. Now, his physical skills were viewed as slipping with age. And then there was an offseason in which his name was more in trade rumors than any teammate's. That threatened what surges through his very veins, that the Yankees are in his blood.

"Jorge is sensitive," Joe Torre says.

This is what GM Brian Cashman has to say about Posada being on the trade market because the Yanks do not want him to start the 81 games behind the plate in 2006 that would trigger a $12 million option for 2007: "What I worry about is how are we ever going to replace Posada, not how to get out of next year's option."

AMEN. Maybe for a YOUNG, Munson, Bench, or the best clutch guy ever, Yogi, otherwise, sorry Poundstone, not even for a Carlton, or Varitek.