This has been a career-worst offensive season for Giants catcher Buster Posey, but the hip surgery the potential Hall of Famer underwent a year ago may be among the reasons for his decline at the plate, as John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle observes. If so, there’s hope Posey will bounce back in 2020, when he’ll turn 33. “It’s at least a year before you get back closer to what you were. Hey, this guy wasn’t able to do much during the winter,” outgoing manager Bruce Bochy told Shea. “We had to watch his workload this spring, and we’ve done it during the season, to be honest.” If Posey doesn’t come close to revisiting his prior form early next year, it could give the Giants all the more reason to hasten the promotion of their No. 1 prospect, catcher Joey Bart, whom they chose second overall in the 2018 draft. Whenever Bart does arrive in San Francisco, he’ll have a tremendous mentor in Posey. “One of the greatest gifts you can give to a young player is to have his back and support him whenever he gets here and try to help him grow,” said Posey, who expresses a willingness in Shea’s piece (which is worth a full read) to eventually see more time at first base if necessary. The 2020 campaign will be the eighth season of a nine-year, $167MM contract for Posey, owner of a full no-trade clause.
- Rangers right-hander Jose Leclerc was one of baseball’s standout relievers in 2018, but this season got off to a horrific start for the 25-year-old. After he yielded 10 earned runs on 13 hits and eight walks (with 13 strikeouts) in 8 1/3 innings in April, the Rangers removed Leclerc from the closer’s role at the outset of May. Leclerc has since revived his season and regained the job, though, and odds are that he’ll enter 2020 as the Rangers’ go-to game-ending option, according to manager Chris Woodward (via Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram). “As of right now, yeah,” Woodward said when asked if Leclerc’s the in-house favorite to close next year. The presence of Leclerc – he of the 4.10 ERA/3.66 FIP with 13.15 K/9, 5.09 BB/9 and 13 saves on 17 tries over 63 2/3 innings – should enable the Rangers to focus on more pressing needs when the offseason arrives, Wilson writes.
- Injured Angels infielder Tommy La Stella was aiming for a mid-September return just a couple weeks ago, though he still hasn’t come back from the fractured right tibia he suffered July 3. Now, with just two weeks left in the Angels’ season, there’s still no timetable for a comeback, Bill Ladson of MLB.com relays. It seems possible we’ve seen the last of La Stella in 2019, which would put him in company with a few notable out-for-the-year Angels in Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Justin Upton. The 30-year-old La Stella unexpectedly earned the first All-Star nod of his career before landing on the IL, on the strength of a .300/.353/.495 line with 16 home runs and 2.2 fWAR in 312 plate appearances.
- Padres catcher Luis Torrens hasn’t played in the majors since 2017, the season after the club acquired him during the Rule 5 Draft. Torrens, then 21, was clearly in over his head that year. He batted a meager .163/.243/.203 in 139 plate appearances in the bigs, but the Padres still haven’t given up on him a couple years later. And Torrens performed so well at the Double-A level this season that he’ll be in the mix to win a major league spot next spring, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune suggests. Not only has Torrens hit .300/.373/.500 with 15 homers in 397 trips to the plate this year, but his defensive progress has impressed the San Diego organization. “The video I see, his energy behind the plate is incredible,” said Padres bench coach Rod Barajas, a former MLB catcher. “He’s a spark plug back there.” It seems Torrens will be part of a battle that will also consist of Francisco Mejia, Austin Hedges and Austin Allen next spring. In the meantime, he’ll start “a few” games in the majors before this season ends, per manager Andy Green.
Posey will be a great mentor for Bart. You couldn’t ask for a better mentor than posey. Although Posey has struggled lately he always seems to hustle and have a smile on his face. He’s been a great Player to watch over that past 10 years. I hope he bounces back next season, which I really think he will.
Feeling the catching position is becoming equivalent to the traditional center in basketball and the running back in football. It’s becoming tremendously devalued as a long-term investment, but at the end of the day is a critical part of winning and winning big.
Posey playing first base… isn’t Belt better at first from a defensive side? This year Posey is batting .254 with 6 homers, 33 walks, 33 RBIs and 41 runs (if I read it correctly). Belt is only hitting .237 but has 17 homers, 78 walks, 56 RBIs and 71 runs. What do we gain by playing Posey at 1st instead of Belt? I’m curious. We need a new first baseman. I have liked Belt and Posey btw (not a Belt hater like many are)
Belt is far and away a better defensive first baseman.
Belt never lived up to his potential, or a penny of his contract. I’ll be happy when he’s finally gone. Posey’s numbers career wise are significantly better when playing at first. A full offseason of rest and rehabilitation will hopefully see some improvement in Posey’s numbers.
But is Posey a better option at 1st than Belt?
Re-read your reply, think you answered that last question. I still think Belt is the better option of the two. But neither are the answer. We need a new first baseman! And new starters!
That’s not the point. You are stuck on the wrong question
That’s not the point. The giants are not competing for the post season anytime soon. If they get rid a belt they can get similar offensive production for cheaper. And posey can play 1st more while tutoring Bart. Belt is not necessary
But the point is the giants are not threatening anytime soon so belts number matter very little in the big picture. The giants can get another less expensive 1B and have posey share 1B while he plays less C and grooms Bart.
la stella will come back healthy for the next season. hopefully, even better!
Reality says he will regress, then the Angels fans will forget he was ever good, and complain how stupid management is. Kind of like how they complain about Upton, Harvey and Cahill, bit conveniently forget about Goodwin, Robles and Fletcher. Angels fans only blame management for the bad, but never commend them for the good.
very true
“Potential Hall-of-famer”.
Hold on there TeX; still quite a bit short on bench mark numbers.
And no, using ” bench” was not a play on words.
MVP, batting champion, ROY, 6 time All-Star, .300 career average, and 3 rings. What more do you need? He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer
He’s not a hall of famer. But he was a great player, and will always be revered in San Francisco, like Will Clark.
Wow, and don’t forget the leg injury and the fact that he plays the toughest position in baseball. If Buster Posey isn’t a Hall of Famer, nobody is
Then, nobody it is.
Wrong. He’s not a Hall of Famer as a positional hitter, but he is as one of the best catchers in the game. Ozzie Smith isn’t a Hall of Famer as a positional hitter either. And catcher is a more important position than SS. There are multiple reasons why the Giants won 3 WS titles in 5 years, but Posey catching is one of the main ones. And the Giants do not win those 3 without Posey controlling the game.
If Bill Dickey, Roy Campanella, Joe Torre, Yogi Berra, Gary Carter, and Carlton Fisk are Hall of Famers than Posey is, because the numbers are all similar. The only thing that separates Posey from those guys is length of career. Look at their career wRC+:
Bill Dickey 126
Roy Campanella 123
Joe Torre 129
Yogi Berra 124
Gary Carter 116
Carlton Fisk 117
Buster Posey 128
Granted, if Posey retired at the end of the season, he’s not going in. But with a few more years of reasonable production he’s a definite. Look at Carter. He played 8 more seasons than Posey has so far. But look at his last 6 seasons. He had a wRC+ of 84, 96, 51, 104, 102, and 82. Like a lot of Hall of Famers, the end of his career was nothing but a little stat padding. Posey is a good bet to go in.
So Gumby he had a leg injury and plays the toughest position so you say he goes to the hall if fame for that?
If you think Posey isn’t a hall of famer you haven’t watched baseball in over the last 10 years. He will undoubtedly be voted in on his first ballot. The argument otherwise is ridiculous
Those stats don’t mean much if the big numbers are not there. I agree he is in the conversation but less than 8-9 effective years is not HOF.
Which “bench mark numbers” are you comparing him to? If it’s HoF catchers then he is not a bit short.
JAWS has Posey as 14th all time at catcher. He would be a borderline hall of famer at that rank. If his offense bounce back next year and the next, he should cross the threshold.
I don’t know how moving to first base for the end of his career would impact JAWS. Joe Mauer is 8th btw.
What do you do with Hedges? Mejia and Allen hit better. Torrens is an interesting additional option. The Padres are loaded at catcher.
I think you trade Hedges to a team who has enough hitting to hide his bat. I don’t think the return will be massive but he arguably is the best defensive catcher in the game.
And he’s already in arbitration. Hedges certainly won’t fetch much at this point.
The more catchers, the better. When the Padres acquired Mejia last year, Hedges started killing the ball. Once Mejia went down this season and Hedges had the position “secured” again, he stops hitting. He’s a pansy at the plate, but a piranha behind it. Get somebody to push him and get it into his brain that he’s going to be a career backup very soon if he doesn’t start hitting. It’s like he starts trying again when the pressure is on him to lose his roster spot.
It’s official Halo Clowns! The Angels are officially 30 games out.
I heard Joe Girardi on MLB network talking about receiving, and throwing (both to first in pick-off attempts, and to 2B to cut down base stealers), and he cited Posey as someone he thought was the best at it (even though he said his technique was a little different from Posey’s). When it comes to catchers, you can’t just look at batting stats. If he does bounce back next season, he’s a shoe-in for the HoF.
Which also explains why Girardi wants the Giants’ job next year.
Give the job to hedges and stop the mind games. How about a hitting coach to help him??? Very little development happens in the bigs. These coaches should give back their check. The team ERA with hedges is much lower. Yates and Mejia can’t get on same page. Mejia doesn’t speak good English….that hurts him with pitchers.
Yea give job to a .180 hitter
best catcher since Pudge!