Dear Jorge Posada:

Please retire.

Believe me, this is written with great respect and the best intentions. No one is more of a fan than I am, except possibly my daughter. We think you've been a terrific Yankee, often under-appreciated, and not well treated in 2011 especially.

But you don't have anything else to prove. 

Jorge (if I may call you that), you're over 40 years old. You will at best be a backup catcher and part-time DH to a new team for one year. You'll essentially have to start from scratch. You'll probably be limited to American League teams because you won't be in the field much. You want to play for a contender, and that limits you some more. Are you really going to answer the phone if the Red Sox or the Rays call?

Let's face it: You don't want to give up the legacy you have now. The raucous standing ovations when you decide to attend Old Timer's Day. The possibility of Jorge Posada Day at Yankee Stadium. Maybe the ability to be a coach or eventually a manager in the Yankee system. Maybe you could still get some of that stuff after playing for a year with the California Angels, but will it be worth the upheaval for your family and yourself?

I know what it's like to be 40 years old. Okay, I can remember it reasonably well. You're in the prime of life, you're feeling good. In some ways, you feel like you're just beginning.

But the fact is, you're an athlete, and your body is starting to betray you. Do you think you're going to hit .300 again? Get 30 home runs next season? Think your knees and your back can take another year of squatting behind the plate?

You're a proud man, Jorge, and you have every right to be. You have excelled to a degree that only a very few catchers ever have. You have carved out a place for yourself in Yankee history, and you can be in the argument for the Hall of Fame.

Mickey Mantle regretted playing that last year in 1968. It brought his lifetime batting average down below .300, and that bothered him for the rest of his life. Okay, you don't have a single statistic that's going to suffer that pointedly, but do you want your lifetime numbers even slightly eroded by playing a year longer than you should have?

Think of the fans. We've been behind you every step of the way. We cheered your return after the Red Sox incident this past season. We went nuts when you delivered, reliably, the hit that clinched the division championship this year. We know you're starting to fade, but we don't care. We love seeing you in the pinstripes.

We really, REALLY don't want to see you in another uniform. I don't think, in your heart of hearts, that you do, either.

Please. Retire.