Jorge jeading back to the DL

By now, I'm sure you've all heard the news that Jorge Posada is heading back to the DL, and there's a strong possibility that he won't be back until next season. Posada is to have an MRI today to help decide whether he should have season-ending surgery now in order to make sure he's ready for next year, or play through the injury and finish out the season. Personally, I'm hoping that he chooses the latter. It's far more important for the Yankees to make sure that they have Jorge Posada the borderline Hall-of-Famer for the next few years than it is for them to try and have Jorge Posada the catcher who can't throw for the rest of the season.

Assuming that Posada does opt for the surgery, the question the Yankees must now answer is whether they can do better than Jose Molina at catcher. The short answer is probably not. The long answer is that good catchers are hard to find, and the names that are currently being floated as possible trade candidates, like Yorvit Torrealba and Paul Lo Duca, aren't any better than the defensively great and offensively terrible Molina. Right now, the only catcher who might be available and might be an upgrade over Molina is Rangers' prospect Taylor Teagarden.

Teagarden is a very good defensive catcher who has good power and plate discipline, but struggles to make contact. At worst, he'd be Molina's equal, and he has the potential to be much better. However, Teagarden's availability depends on whether or not Texas believes that either Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Maximiliano Ramirez is a long term solution at catcher. Additionally, a prospect of Teagarden's caliber wouldn't come cheap, and considering the Yankees' weak bargaining position, they'd have to give up a lot. In other words, I wouldn't hold my breath for this deal to happen.