Buster Posey built a Giants legacy that was nearly impossible to touch. MVP.
Three World Series titles in five years. A retirement that let him walk away on top, with fans ready to celebrate him every time he drifted back into Oracle Park.
That’s why the current mood around him feels so strange.
Now the Giants president of baseball operations, Posey is getting something he never really had to deal with as a player: pushback. And according to Duane Kuiper, it’s hitting him hard.
On the Giants Talk podcast, Kuiper said, “I think he’s taking it super hard…If you look at him, he’s aging like a president…I don’t like to see people mad at Buster Posey. For whatever reason, in my mind, that’s almost sacrilegious.”
That reaction makes sense for a lot of fans. Posey means too much to the franchise for some people to ever fully turn on him. Even if his front-office run never delivers another title, there will always be a lane for gratitude.
But there’s another side to it, and it’s getting louder. Posey’s early moves in charge have not exactly quieted the skeptics. He signed Willy Adames to a massive deal they now want out of, traded for Rafael Devers who they’d also love to move, and hired Tony Vitello, who can’t be blamed for everything but has clearly been working through a steep adjustment after coming from the college game.
That leaves the Giants in a murky spot. They’re still drawing fans, and attendance is up, so there’s no obvious pressure to blow anything up. At the same time, it’s tough to look at this group and see a clear path to simply bringing everyone back and expecting a different outcome.
Posey’s reputation has taken a hit in this role, even if the discomfort around criticizing him is real. Kuiper put his finger on that tension: it just feels wrong to say negative things about a player who gave the franchise so much.
Still, the results are the results. There have been good moments over the past two years, and there have been stretches where Posey’s vision made sense. But the on-field picture is what it is, and that’s where the judgment comes from.
Nobody around the Giants wants to be mad at Posey. They want him to get this right.
But if the decisions backfire, criticism comes with the job. Posey said as much himself recently: “If the team plays well and you win a bunch of games, you stay, and if not there’s conversations that have to be had.”
He knows exactly what comes with the chair he chose. And more than anyone, he probably wants to get back where he belongs - in the good graces of Giants fans.
In Other News...
Giants Fans Are Getting Dragged Back Into This Free Agency Debate
Several weeks after the Giants Pride Night, the fallout from four pitchers protesting the teams Pride hats is still echoing around San Francisco. What started as a game-night controversy has turned into a broader conversation about the city the Giants represent, and whether that environment can become a factor when the club tries to bring in outside talent.
San Francisco Chronicle reporter Susan Slusser said the debate could linger because the citys prominent LGBTQ community is part of the reality free agents have to consider. The question hovering over the Giants now is not just how they manage the public reaction to the protest, but whether that reaction becomes something players weigh when the offseason market opens up again. [Read more 🡒]
Brandon Pfaadt Is Back In A Huge Moment For Arizona
Arizona has been piecing together its pitching plans while working through injuries to Michael Soroka and Ryne Nelson, and that pressure has pushed the club into some familiar roster juggling. The latest move gives Torey Lovullo another option as the Diamondbacks try to steady a rotation that has had to absorb a heavier bullpen workload than planned, and the timing matters with the Giants next on the schedule.
Brandon Pfaadt has been working his way back after time spent in the bullpen and Triple-A, where the results were enough to keep him in the conversation for a return to the starting group. His next outing comes with real significance for a Diamondbacks staff that has been stretched thin, and the corresponding roster move should tell more about how Arizona is trying to manage the rest of the week. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Keep Embarrassing Themselves In The One Area Posey Preaches Most
For a club that has spent much of the season talking about cleaner habits and sharper execution, the Giants keep finding ways to undercut that message with the same old baserunning sloppiness. It has shown up in recent days in more than one form, from Willy Adames losing track of the outs while chatting with Mookie Betts to rookie Jonah Cox making a similar mistake, which only deepens the sense that this is becoming more than an isolated lapse.
The bigger issue for San Francisco is that these are exactly the kinds of details Buster Posey has said matter most, the little things that should be nonnegotiable on a well-run team. Instead, the Giants are leaving the impression of a club that is not nearly attentive enough in the areas that most reward discipline, and that puts pressure not just on the players but on Posey, Tony Vitello and the rest of the staff to make sure the message finally sticks. [Read more 🡒]