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The Giants are… back?
Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler have built a plucky, grindy, don’t-waste-an-at-bat roster that has exceeded expectations to begin the season, and at the time of writing, sit second in the National League behind only the Dodgers.
This is not your slightly older brother’s Giants team. The new regime has shown there is little room for nostalgia when constructing a major league roster, see Pence, Bumgarner, Sandoval, etc.
Only three players from the 2014 championship team remain: Brandons Belt and Crawford, and Buster Posey. Both Belt and Crawford are on the final year of their contracts, respectively. Posey’s contract ends in 2022, but the final year is a $22 million team option.
What’s a realistic scenario for Buster next year? KNBR’s Brian Murphy asked press box denizen Andrew Baggarly if he thought Posey would be in a Giants uniform next year.
“I think there’s a number of things they could do,” Baggarly said. “The one thing that we know, and we could say this for Belt and Crawford too, the better of the year that they have, the more likely it’ll be that there are scenarios that they could be back.
“With Buster, I think he was always going to be the most likely to be back just because he plays a position where he could be sort of kind of knocked into more of a reserve roll and still bring a lot of value, if that’s the case. But right now he’s a guy who’s telling you he’s still an everyday player, he’s still an awfully good catcher in this league. And we know the Giants have an option that’s probably going to be more than what his production value would be at this point. Or maybe not. Maybe they’ll pick up the option. They did save themselves $8 million bucks by him not playing last year, don’t forget.
“But overall, I think there’s a long way to go until we get to that point. I do think whether they pick up the option or not, there’s definitely going to be mutual interest in him coming back on some level. I could see them maybe ripping up the one year option and the buyout and giving him like a two-year deal and a lower base perhaps, something like that. There’s a lot of permutations. Let’s just say the better he plays the more open the door will be.”
Posey currently leads the team in batting average (.316), slugging (.632) and home runs (four), helped by the two he hit Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
It might be hard for the Florida State product to see that entire $22 million into his bank account next year, but he helps his cause with every game like that.