Photo: Robert Edwards
All right, Buster. Whatcha got?
Now that the visceral part of satisfying dissatisfied Giants fans is over— Buster Posey! Running the Giants! Really! Buster Posey! — there remains the matter of just exactly what the new president of baseball operations is, you know, *actually going to do.*
I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s felt good reliving all the positive memories of 2010/2012/2014, and it’s felt good hearing testimony after testimony about Posey’s character, leadership, high moral fiber and all-around championship vibe. It’s felt good hearing that Posey won’t micromanage Bob Melvin and it’s felt good that Posey said the word “scout” and didn’t make it sound like a swear word.
But there remains the nettlesome issue of fixing the Giants.
Like, does the fact that Buster Posey looks great in a suit mean that he can:
— Find a legitimate middle of the order?
— Find a shortstop?
—Sign Blake Snell, or failing that — sign a Blake Snell-like figure?
— Turn prospects into everyday dudes?
— Rebuild a Sabean-era bullpen?
— Make daring and creative trades?
— Draft more guys like Corbin Carroll and Jackson Merrill, players the other guys always seem to draft?
— Stay on the field with the Dodgers?
— Stay on the field with the Padres?
— Heck, stay on the field with the freaking Diamondbacks??
We could go on.
Posey will win hearts and minds by just showing his face — now can he win ballgames?
The ebullience surrounding the hire obscured the fact that Posey was quite light on specifics in Tuesday’s press conference. By speaking in those generalities, he reminded us that he is a cagey media veteran, and won’t show his hand to the enemy. We’ll be OK with that, as long as he’s a stone-cold killer when it comes to transactions. After all, Brian Sabean wasn’t exactly Don Rickles with the media. Loose lips sink ships, and all that.
That’s what will be so riveting about the Buster Posey Executive Era: how big will he go?
When Farhan Zaidi was hired in November 2018, the press conference’s final question came from Henry Schulman of the Chronicle, who asked Farhan if he could summarize his philosophy: “No move too small,” said Farhan, in words that now send chills down our spine. Including failed attempts to land Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, Farhan’s tenure will be defined by the endless roster churn on the road to nowhere. The AJ Pollock Rule, as it were.
In my lifetime as a Giants fan, the best executives were the one who went the biggest. Al Rosen, who deserves more mention in Giants lore, traded for eventual NL MVP Kevin Mitchell and for playoff stalwart Dave Dravecky and closer Steve Bedrosian, who was on the mound when the Giants won the pennant in 1989. And Sabean, of course, traded Matt Williams for Jeff Kent (and Jose Vizcaino and Julian Tavarez and Joe Roa) to redefine an era.
I’m banking on Buster being more Rosen-Sabean than Farhan, who pulled off a couple of clever deals along the way, but failed to dazzle.
The only tangible clues Buster gave us were during his live KNBR hit right after the press conference, when he gazed out on the sight of an empty Oracle Park in the early October sunshine, and told Papa and Lund how pitching and defense defined previous Octobers on Third and King. He’s right, you know. All the spreadsheets in the world would be wise to tell you that.
So we’ll take that as a start.
The “Hall of Fame Athlete As Executive” narrative can be spun both ways; if you want the ideal, Buster Posey becomes Jerry West or Ozzie Newsome, both champions in the front office. Buster’s many allies are convinced that his cool head and raging competitive fire mean he is on that track. After all, he didn’t have to take this gig. He wanted it.
Now we get to see what he’s got. I’m fascinated. And maybe that’s the biggest takeaway of all — after six years of mostly irrelevant mediocrity, people are talking about the Giants again.
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