The Giants will not go forever without convincing a major free agent to land here. Buster Posey will not strike out as often as Farhan Zaidi struck out before him. This drought will end. At some point. Down the road.
But not this off-season — the Giants went hard after Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki and, as has happened habitually over recent years, the Giants (along with several other semifinalists) were recently told that Sasaki will not be signing with them.
Posey didn’t get into the public auction for Juan Soto this winter, remained quiet about Corbin Burnes, and didn’t engage with Blake Snell. All too expensive. Too much energy and time was necessary for those chases. But due to international signing rules, Sasaki’s offers are all strictly limited. It would’ve been malpractice if the Giants didn’t line up for his services. And, as with Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Aaron Judge, and many others during the Zaidi regime, the Giants came out of this process with zilch. New, very famous team president. So far, same result.
This, of course, is only Posey’s first off-season as the Giants’ baseball czar. But he was part of ownership for most of the other failed pursuits. And he knows that the Giants need an influx of star power. So, when and how will the Giants start to land some of these guys, Buster?
“I think the obvious answer is … we’ve got to take care of business on the field going forward, right?” Posey told me on my podcast Tuesday. “I mean, I think you’re in a better position if you go and get in the playoffs, make a deep run in the playoffs — it’s going to be attractive.
“So that’s really where, to me, the focus has to be. Let’s look at ’25, what’s in front of us, and go take care of business on the field then hopefully we’ll be in a good spot.”
It all makes sense, but of course that’s exactly what the Giants have tried to do for years. The major problem with the Zaidi era was that this was never a roster that superstars wanted to join. They had the magic 107-win run in 2021, but followed that up with 81 in 2022, 79 in 2023, and finally 80 wins last season, which led to Zaidi’s firing and Posey’s elevation.
The Dodgers landed Ohtani and Yamamoto because those players knew they could win in Los Angeles — and, of course, they did exactly that in last year’s World Series. The Dodgers or Padres might land Sasaki because both teams just feel like winners. For too long, the Giants have felt like a mediocre team urgently treading water.
But there’s a theme to what Posey’s done by making a big early push to sign shortstop Willy Adames and recently adding future Hall of Fame starter Justin Verlander — and before that, pushing to sign Matt Chapman to an extension at the end of last season. Lacking overwhelming talent, Posey wants a team of leaders and workers. He wants the clubhouse to be full of good vibes and personal accountability. Will that guarantee a playoff spot in 2025? No. But when you put together a group of guys who want to play every day and motivate their teammates, you might start building something.
“No question, no question,” Posey said, when I asked if he was focused on adding players who never wanted to miss a game. “That’s very important to me. It’s very important to our group. And I think when you have leaders that act that way, you know, Matt Chapman, Adames … I don’t know Jung Hoo [Lee) well, and we only got to see a little bit of him last year, but by all accounts, he’s another one of those guys. I mean, you know, the way he got hurt was because he was going hard [crashing into the wall]. And Verlander [and Logan Webb]. I think you get a core group of guys that that’s their way, that’s their mentality. And it’s hard for everybody else, even if that’s not their first nature, to not follow along that.
“I think as much as anything, I’m hopeful we can create that culture, that vibe that when the San Francisco Giants are in town or when you come to play the San Francisco Giants, you’re getting every bit of them every single time that you play them.”
The Giants are probably done making major moves this off-season, Posey said, though smart teams never stop scanning for good deals. Adames was the key move to solidify the middle of the infield and allow Tyler Fitzgerald to move to second base. Chapman is locked in at third. And now the Giants have Webb, Verlander, and Robbie Ray at the top of their rotation, with youngsters Hayden Birdsong, Kyle Harrison, and others behind them. It’s not a superlative rotation, but it’s not bad.
“I’d say most likely we’re not going to add [more] starting pitching,” Posey said. “We feel really good about where our starting pitching is. With [Jordan] Hicks, Harrison, Birdsong, you’ve got [Landen] Roupp. You’ve got [Carson] Whisenhunt in there knocking on the door. Gosh, who else? [Mason] Black. I’m probably missing somebody in there. But feel really good about that.
“We’ll keep the door open to try to see what we can do offensively. Also, we’ve got to think about the winter that [Luis] Matos and [Jerar] Encarnacion had. We’re excited about that. [And] for [Heliot] Ramos to build. I believe a tandem, hopefully, with [Wilmer] Flores and [LaMonte Wade Jr. over there at first will be really productive. Feel like we’re in a good spot.”
It’s not a roster that compares to the Dodgers, though. It wasn’t last year, either. If the Dodgers just keep adding great players, the Giants — and everybody else in the division and in baseball — might never field a comparable lineup. The Padres won’t be far behind if they land Sasaki. The Diamondbacks just surprised everybody by signing Burnes.
Posey won three World Series championships with the Giants when their roster wasn’t exactly filled with superstars, but it wasn’t anything like the talent deficit on paper that exists now. So what’s a new team president to do? Well, he’s thinking about his final year as a player, 2021, when the Giants came out of nowhere to win 107 games and win the NL West over the Dodgers (then lost to L.A. in the divisional round).
“I think the way I look at it is, and we all watched, it’s what we love about sports, right?” Posey said. “You never know until you go and play on the field and see how it shakes out. … If anybody had told you that team was going to win 107 games, they would have laughed right in your face and not felt bad about it whatsoever.
“So I’m very optimistic with the guys that we have on our roster, that we can go and put a great product on the field.”
Here are a couple more highlights from our conversation:
Disappointment over Sasaki
Posey and general manager Zack Minasian were grim-faced on Monday when they revealed that they were out of the Sasaki sweepstakes, but Posey was more philosophical about it on Tuesday.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing,” Posey said. “There’s going to be 29 teams out there that are disappointed. … [Sasaki is] obviously a great talent, a great arm. You know, the way I look at it is, I’m just proud of … the group and the effort that they made. Zack had put [time in] even before I was on board here, a ton of leg work going over to Japan and establishing relationships. And then the team putting together really quickly a video that highlighted the ballpark, highlighted the city, the culture.
“Ultimately, I look at it that we put our best foot forward. And that’s what we can control.”
The Giants landed Lee last off-season but have lost out on Ohtani multiple opportunities and Yamamoto and several other high-profile players from Asia. Is Posey worried that the Giants — who seem ideally set up historically, demographically, and geographically for players from Asia coming to MLB — are getting boxed out of this ultra-important market?
“That’s not my sense; I personally don’t have that feeling whatsoever,” Posey said. “We have Jung Hoo. I got to play with Nori Aoki. By all accounts, everybody had great experiences here. Hard to put … your finger on it exactly, maybe why they make the decision. But yeah, I mean, I don’t have that sense whatsoever that there’s a particular reason why they don’t want to come here.”
So the Giants will continue to scout Asia and get in the bidding for Asian players?
“Yeah, most definitely,” Posey said.
Not rushing Eldridge
Posey praised 20-year-old first baseman Bryce Eldridge, the Giants’ top prospect by far, but made sure to note that the Giants gain nothing by rushing him to the big leagues before he’s ready. Interestingly, Posey pointed out that Eldridge, who raced through the Giants’ system due to the power in his bat, needs some seasoning in the field.
“I think everybody is excited about Bryce; I think it’s important to realize, too, that he’s just had one full season in the minors as a 19-year-old last year,” Posey said. “So does that mean he’s not going to knock the door down and force us to make a decision later in the year? No, it doesn’t. But there’s going to be other factors in that decision as well. And No. 1, all the upside that I think we see with Bruce, we want to make sure that he gets the necessary reps in the minors.
“And not just offensively. It’s important at the big-league level that you’re strong defensively. I think I’ve mentioned it several times since I’ve taken this role, is that pitching and defense wins. So yes, we need offense. Yes, you’ve got to score runs. But from my experience, being in those big games, the teams that pitch the ball and catch the ball are usually in a good spot to win the game.”