San Francisco Giants: Time to move Buster Posey to first?
By Dylan Smith
The San Francisco Giants will lose Buster Posey for 6-8 months, is it finally time to move their star to first base?
The San Francisco Giants will lose their star catcher, Buster Posey, for six to eight months as he recovers from hip surgery. Posey will see his season end on Monday as this surgery will repair his labrum and remove some bone spurs.
According to Alex Pavlovic, Posey has known for months that he would eventually need surgery. The Giants’ injured star was able to play through August 24, but the decision to shut down his season was announced early Saturday morning. This decision seemed to come after Posey received a second opinion during the Giants’ recent trip to New York.
Prior to the announcement, Giants General Manager, Brian Sabean, discussed Posey’s impending surgery on KNBR-680 AM.
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“Credit to him he’s died on the sword and now with the type of surgery he’s going to have which is an entire clean out of that hip, he needs as much recovery time as possible. It’s not a matter of if it’s going to get done it’s just when now.”
And the Giants’ brain trust felt that Posey should have this surgery as soon as possible, especially with the club recently sliding out of playoff contention. Going into play on Saturday, the Giants sit nine games out of the Division and Wild Card.
Even though these injuries have sapped some of Posey’s abilities over the past few months, the star was still able to be productive. Through 105 games, Posey hit 5 home runs, drove in 41 runs and slashed .284/.359/.382 with a WAR of 2.4. These numbers are very respectable, but there is a pronounced drop off from Posey’s usual production.
In 2017, Posey hit 12 home runs and drove in 67 runs while slashing .320/.400/.462 in 140 games. We have seen Posey’s average and on-base percentage fall by .40, but the biggest dip is seen in his slugging percentage. This drop of .80 is likely a direct result of his hip issues as a lot of power is generated from batters’ lower halves.
Via MLB Trade Rumors, Brian Sabean is very confident that Posey will make a full recovery.
“Health-wise they say it’s a very common surgery, more so maybe in football,” Sabean said. “Recovery time is what it is, it’s six-plus months, and if you hit the mark well enough you should be able to perform in spring training and hopefully start the season on time.”
If all goes to plan, we should see Posey in a Giants uniform on Opening Day as the 2019 season is set to begin in approximately seven months. But should Buster Posey continue being the everyday catcher for the San Francisco Giants?
This has been a question circling the baseball world ever since Posey sustained multiple leg injuries in a home plate collision in 2011. Posey has played a number of games at first base each season since his debut, 13 in 2018 and 38 in 2017, but is this enough to keep him in the lineup for the long run?
San Francisco Giants
Catchers have a tendency to break down over their careers and Buster Posey is too valuable of a bat to risk in this way. Over his career, the Giants’ star is a career .306/.375/.465 hitter and has the power to hit 20+ home runs. It is reasonable to assume that Posey could reach these home run totals if his home field was not spacious AT&T Park.
Posey is now 31 years old and has logged more than 7,000 innings behind the dish. Maybe these hip injuries are a result of his body beginning to say enough is enough?
The San Fransisco Giants should consider moving their star to first base before the injuries start to permanently sap his hitting abilities.
The Minnesota Twins faced this same issue with their star catcher, Joe Mauer. The Twins arguably waited until they HAD to move Mauer to first base. While he still is a solid hitter, Joe Mauer is a few concussions past his prime.
With the addition of Joey Bart, the Giants do seem to be preparing for life after Buster Posey’s catching days come to an end, but his move to first should be considered sooner rather than later. The only issue will be the decision of what to do with Brandon Belt… Could he be moved to be the team’s everyday left fielder? Will they look to trade Belt? Will his presence force the Giants to keep Posey as their everyday catcher?
The future of the San Francisco Giants will become clearer as we get into the offseason. They are a club with a lot of questions that need answering.
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Going forward, we will see Nick Hundley and Aramis Garcia pick up the catching duties in Posey’s absence. The veteran, Hundley, will likely see a majority of the opportunities down the stretch of the season as the rookie, Garcia, will serve as his backup.