The Giants have recalled top prospect Buster Posey from Triple-A, reports Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News. The move has been confirmed by both Ed Price of AOL FanHouse and ESPN's Buster Olney.
"When we bring him here, we want to make sure he’s on the field at least five days a week," said GM Brian Sabean. It's likely that Posey will man first while giving Bengie Molina the occasional day off behind the plate. The 23-year-old crushed the minors this year, hitting .349/.442/.552 in 208 plate appearances, playing some first base in addition to his usual catching duties.
Even though San Francisco waited until the end of May to recall Posey, he's on track to be a Super Two after the 2012 thanks to the month's worth of service time he accrued last September. That could change if the Giants send him back to the minors. Despite being a high profile college player, Posey did not receive a major league contract as the fifth overall pick in 2008, instead taking a $6.2MM bonus (the second largest in draft history) up front.
Why would he play 1B? I’d take Huff over Molina any day.
I agree. In my world Huff stays at first, Molina gets traded and Whiteside stays as backup.
One thing the Giants have done with a fair amount of regularity is ease into decisions, effectively hedging. That’s why they talk with Burrell for a week to eventually sign him (fingers crossed that they don’t). They have Sandoval play first and third, they want to have Posey play first and fill in at catcher. Someone there needs to realize that Molina is not the future, Posey is and he needs regularity. Same for Sandoval; Huff is there on a one year contract, so he should get moved around (I know he has as of late), not Sandoval.
I’m pretty sure that almost everyone in the Giants organization realizes that Molina is not the future. I agree that they should try to get whatever they can for Molina at this point, Posey’s greatest value is if he can be a long-term catcher, and playing him at 1B is only going to slow his development.
DOES THIS MEAN THAT THEY ARE GOING TO MOVE HUFF TO THE OUTFIELD OR IS HE GOING TO BE A BAT OF THE BENCH?
IMO, the Giants will move Huff to LF, and start Posey @ 1B.
Posey will get a couple of start a week @ catcher
best move all year. and ranch wilder would say, “It’s about time.”
Posey WILL start tonight SF_Giants Giants Rumors: Buster Posey is in San Francisco & will start at 1B tonight for the #SFGiants.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!
He’s a catcher. He’s the best catcher on the roster. A great deal of his value is in being a catcher. PLAY him at catcher. Brian Sabean’s idea of reinventing the wheel is making it rectangular.
its not that he won’t catch, but hes young and when he needs a break behind the plate he won’t take a day off, but play 1st. the guy is hitting .349 in triple A. i don’t care if they put him in center field, the giants need his bat more than having him catch.
Right, but it still indicates that Molina will be the primary catcher. That’s a waste of Posey’s value, a stall on his catching development, and an increased injury risk of playing a young player out of position.
he used to be a shortstop before he was turned into a catcher. the reason why hes been in the minors. hes still trying to get used to the position. so moving him to 1st would take a lot of stress off of him.
He also used to be a pitcher. That’s beside the point. The point is that his value–the reason he’s a top prospect and was a top, and very expensive draft pick–is in his ability to be a catcher. If he needs more time to develop there, give it to him, rather than sapping his value and taking away reps behind the plate.
Huff to Left is a no-brainer, his bat has been good, and he is getting himself on base. That is the type of leadership the Giants need in the line-up. My question is where will DeRosa be playing while he “grinds it out”, and if the Burrell talks are still on-going, what are they planning to do with him?
I could be wrong but isn’t DeRosa out for ~1 month? And I would imagine that on a minor league deal that Burrell wouldn’t be promised anything more significant than a bat off the bench.
He’s spent considerable time in many positions, notably SS. He’s an athlete that can play anywhere, not just catcher.
Yup, in one game in College he actually played all 9 positions so he has the ability to play where they need him to. That said his primary position for his career will be Catcher.
I wish he hadn’t done that 9 position thing, its showboating. So I blame it on the coach.