MLB 21st century face of the franchise — San Francisco Giants: Buster Posey
With Barry Bonds consigned to baseball’s historical dust bin, there are only two logical candidates to be the face of the Giants franchise … and one spent most of his career throwing to the other.
In the end, the nod goes to Buster Posey over batterymate Madison Bumgarner. There are four reasons to favor Posey.
1. He has a career 129 OPS+. Bumgarner’s career ERA+ with the Giants was 120.
2. Posey’s career 44.8 WAR is way ahead of Bumgarner’s 32.3 WAR during his time in San Francisco.
3. Posey won both a Rookie of the Year Award (2010) and an MVP (2012). Bumgarner’s best Cy Young finish was fourth.
4. Both are gone. Bumgarner took a five-year, $85 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Posey retired at the end of 2021.
Giants fans have good reason to remember Bumgarner fondly, especially for his post-season success. He basically carried the team to the 2014 World Series win and was undefeated in five World Series appearances.
But Posey had a lot to do with those titles, too. He batted .305 in 2010, led the league at .336 in 2012 and hit .311 in 2014. In those three championship seasons, Posey was responsible for 16.6 WAR, providing the principal offensive boost to the Giants’ efforts.
In the wings: It takes some imagination to envision anybody supplanting Posey in the hearts and minds of Giants fans. Maybe if Logan Webb can put together a half dozen seasons atop 2021-22, when he was a combined 26-12 in 58 starts, he might have a chance.