San Francisco Giants wasting terrific season from Buster Posey
By Tim Boyle
The San Francisco Giants have underperformed more than any other team in baseball this season. The worst thing about it is they are wasting what could be a career-year from catcher Buster Posey.
A lot of the discussion about the 2017 Giants is about Madison Bumgarner’s freak injury on a dirt bike. At the time of the injury, things were already going poorly for the Giants. Losing him just made it harder to catch up.
Of course, not all of the blame should go on that one injury and Bumgarner’s lapse in common sense. The rest of the starting pitching staff has been pretty bad on the mound.
The usually consistent Johnny Cueto has not been ace material. Through nine starts, Cueto has a 4-3 record and 4.50 ERA. Jeff Samardzija and Matt Moore have barely looked like number five starters with ERAs over 5.00 in each of their first eight outings. In what should come as a complete surprise, the best ERA among the active starters belongs to Matt Cain.
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The position players aren’t doing too well either. Entering Friday, the only everyday player with a batting average over .270 was Posey. He has done his best to make up for the shortcomings of the roster as he is among the league leaders in batting average.
The lack of support around Posey is most evident in his home runs to RBI ratio. Through his first 135 plate appearances, Posey has a very respectable 7 home runs. The bad news is he has only 11 RBI on the year. No one is getting on base in front of him thus limiting the runs the Giants are able to score. The only thing the San Francisco offense has hit is a wall. At the same time, one can question if they even came into this season fully prepared.
Nothing was done in the offseason by the Giants to find a solid everyday left fielder. They had hoped to get some good production out of Jarrett Parker, but an early injury has turned the position into a revolving door. Former ironman Hunter Pence is also back on the disabled list again after a not-so-great start to the season.
Others who typically have put up good numbers in the past are not. Brandon Belt is drawing walks and hitting for power, but not doing much else. The rest of the infield has been meek without anything special occurring whenever they step up to the plate. The same is true of their outfielders no matter who they seem to plug in.
One bright spot for the 2017 Giants is their bullpen. Mark Melancon has been very good, but not great. Derek Law filled in nicely for him as closer for a period of time and appears ready for more responsibilities. Cory Gearrin and Hunter Strickland have also done well for themselves this season. They still do lack a reliable southpaw in the bullpen which is only a problem if the Giants seemed serious about competing. Aside from Posey, it looks like this team is taking the year off.
Posey’s numbers suggest the veteran catcher could once again receive MVP votes at season’s end. Last year he finished a distant 14th but did win his first Gold Glove. It was not a particularly memorable year as his home runs, RBI, and batting average was all down from one year prior. This year’s statistics could shatter some of those as he is already halfway to his 2016 home run total.
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As one of MLB’s most successful franchises this decade, it’s a surprise to see Posey in a situation like this. Usually, his top-level play has had a purpose. This season, Posey is getting the treatment guys like Joey Votto and Felix Hernandez have received. He is playing his best and all for naught.