The Giants are making a few notable staff adjustments, and Buster Posey says Harrison Bader’s situation still isn’t fully resolved.
Speaking Tuesday at the MLB GM Meetings in Las Vegas, Posey addressed the coaching shuffle around the club. Hunter Mense has left for the Kansas City Royals organization, a move Posey said was made so he could be closer to his family. In his place, Taira Uematsu will take over as first base coach, while Shane Robinson is being moved into a minor league role.
Uematsu’s promotion stands out for more than one reason. He has been with the organization for years, and he even filled in at first base during 2026 when Robinson was away because of a personal matter. He’ll also make history as the first Japanese-born base coach in MLB history.
The rest of the coaching staff is staying intact in key spots. Gary Pettis will return as third base coach, and Ron Washington is back as infield coach.
Washington’s work with Luis Arraez was especially notable, with Posey’s staff seeing him develop into a strong defender. Pettis, meanwhile, stepped in after Hector Borg was reassigned and did a much better job.
Posey also offered an update on Bader, and the answer was not a clean ending. The “Harrison Bader scooter saga” still hasn’t been wrapped up, but Posey said Bader will remain in the organization and that a joint statement is coming soon.
That’s a surprising turn given how things had appeared to be trending after Bader allegedly crashed his scooter into a fire truck late at night, an incident that led the Giants to suspend his pay. From a roster standpoint, it’s not hard to see why the situation is awkward. Drew Gilbert and Jonah Cox handled center field well enough, and both offer more upside than the often-injured Bader.
There’s also the financial side of it. If the Giants don’t have a way to get out from under the money they owe him next season, keeping him around could simply be about avoiding dead money on the books.
Even so, bringing him back would send a strange message after such an embarrassing episode. Whether this ends with Bader staying, getting traded, or being moved on from before next season, Posey made it clear the story isn’t finished yet.
In Other News...
Bryce Eldridge Just Got The Perfect Fuel For A Bigger 2027
Bryce Eldridges rookie season gave the Giants enough reason to believe they may have found something real, even if the broader league did not fully catch up yet. He finished with only two fifth-place votes in National League Rookie of the Year voting, a reminder that awards often reward the loudest full-season cases, not always the player who looks like he is just starting to turn the corner. Sal Stewart of the Reds took the honor after playing all 162 games and putting up the kind of power numbers that tend to stick in voters minds.
For San Francisco, though, Eldridges case is less about where he landed in one award race and more about what came next. He got into 107 games, posted a higher OPS, and still looked like a player with more growth ahead of him than behind him. If the rookie year was the introduction, the Giants have every reason to think the next step could be the one that changes how the rest of the league talks about him. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Offseason Plans Hinge On One Financial Question
The Giants already have a clear shopping list for the offseason, with rotation help, bullpen depth and a better answer against left-handed pitching all sitting near the top of it. The catch is that every one of those needs has to be weighed against the clubs long-term payroll picture, and right now San Francisco is staring at $183 million committed against the luxury tax in 2027.
What makes the planning trickier is that the next Collective Bargaining Agreement cycle could change the luxury tax threshold and the penalties tied to it, which would alter how aggressive the Giants can be in the market. They can identify the free-agent pitchers and bullpen upgrades they want, but how far they can actually go may depend on a financial landscape that is still very much in flux. [Read more 🡒]
Giants May Already Have A First Pitching Fix In Mind
After a disappointing season, the Giants are expected to spend the winter looking for ways to steady a pitching staff that never quite found its footing. One name that has started to surface as a possible fit is Nick Martinez, with Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report predicting San Francisco could target the veteran right-hander on a two-year deal.
Martinez has built a case through his recent performance, and his profile makes him an interesting match for a club that needs reliability as much as upside. He is hardly the only arm the Giants could chase in free agency, but the idea of landing a pitcher with some momentum behind him gives the front office a practical place to start as it sorts through rotation options. [Read more 🡒]