The Giants got their guy. Since Buster Posey’s abrupt retirement after the team’s stunning, 107-win season in 2021, there’s been a glaring hole in the lineup and the clubhouse.
In comes Carlos Correa. Can he be that same type of presence for the Giants? Marty Lurie thinks so.
The legendary Bay Area baseball whiz joined Papa & Lund to break down the Giants’ offseason on Wednesday morning.
He believes that the team’s most glaring need was to fill the void that Posey left and that Correa does that.
I think that’s the next step here for the Giants is to get somebody around Correa, but y
“You’ve got the guy who can be your leader in the clubhouse. You’ve got your Posey back again,” Lurie said. “And maybe he’s not quite on the level of Posey, the maturity of Posey, but Posey was the guy in the clubhouse and the Giants didn’t have anything like that. So my big point with Correa is he’s the voice.”
Lurie thinks the Giants will keep him at shortstop and potentially move Brandon Crawford to second base, but that Correa is too valuable and too highly paid to move him from short.
When asked what grade he’d give Correa as a hitter, Lurie said a 7.5 or 8 out of 10. As excellent of a hitter as he is, the Giants need to surround him with other pieces
“I think he’s like a Posey,” Lurie said. “I think if he’s got to go to right field, he can go to right field. If he’s got to hit a fly ball, he can hit a fly ball. He’s that good of a hitter. He’s not going to strike out 150 times or 175 times.
“I think he’s a good hitter and I think he’s gonna fit in nicely, but you’ve got to surround him with people. Look, if they got Judge and didn’t have anyone around Judge, he’d never see a pitch to hit. You don’t want that with Correa. They probably need something to help him and as John says, center field is a likely spot.”
Lurie was later asked how he looks at Farhan Zaidi looks in all this.
It seemed to be a disappointing offseason, then the Giants got a star. But he wasn’t Aaron Judge. So how successful has it been?
“I think with Correa, it becomes excellent because he solved the Posey issue,” Lurie said. “They were awful last year because they they missed Posey in that lineup and now they’ve got the guy who can be that kind of hitter.
“So I think I think it’s excellent. He had to get Correa, Judge, Turner. He had to get one of the big guys and he got the big guy.
He’s got a ton of depth now with his pitching which he loves and who knows how he’s going to use all these people. But I’d say he had an excellent offseason so far. Even if he doesn’t do anything else, I think he’s made great strides.”
Correa’s signing is the fourth substantial free agent signing for the Giants this offseason, excluding the retention of Joc Pederson on a nearly $20 million qualifying offer.
With Correa’s addition, the Giants have brought in pitchers in Sean Manaea, Ross Stripling, and outfielder Mitch Haniger. They have now committed to spend the most of any team in the majors this offseason.
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