Buster Posey talks Giants' collapse, Bryce Eldridge's future, and what must change

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With five weeks left in a season that started so promising but has become so disappointing, Buster Posey didn’t hesitate when asked what he’d like to see from the Giants the rest of the way.

“Hard-nosed baseball. It's really that,” Posey told The Standard Tuesday night before the Giants’ homestand opener against the Cubs. “I just want to see that the effort is there, and guys understand that no matter what the standings look like, they're playing for the name on the front of their jersey, and they're playing for the name on the back of their jersey.”

The Giants are coming off an impressive series in Milwaukee, taking two of three from the top team in the big leagues, but that was an aberration, not the norm. They’re five games below .500 at 63-68 and 11.5 games back of the Dodgers in the National League West.

The Giants had high hopes on June 13 when they were tied for first place, and the expectations and optimism accelerated two days later when Posey traded for Rafael Devers to beef up the offense, a sign that the Giants and their president of baseball operations were all in on a playoff push.

But for reasons that have been discussed, dissected, and diagnosed by fans across the city, Bay Area and beyond, the Giants have been the worst team in the majors since mid-June and fallen all the way to fourth place, too far out of the wild-card race (seven games) to be considered a threat.

How does Posey see the season overall to date?

“I kind of break it up into three sections, in my mind,” he said. “The first third of the season, I felt like we played a really fundamental sound style of baseball. The second third, I felt it was more mediocre when it came to doing the little things right, defensively, offensively, on the pitching side. The last third of the season, it's just not up to the standard that any of us expect.

“Coming off a big series win against the Brewers, you’re hopeful that creates some momentum coming into this homestand and we finish on a strong note.”

Posey wouldn’t discuss the status of manager Bob Melvin and the coaching staff. Melvin is in his second season at the helm and is signed through next season.

“Right now, we're just focused on getting through the season and playing that style of baseball we talked about,” Posey said, “That's our focus right now, trying to get the most out of what we can the rest of the season.”

Posey and his assistants will have a busy offseason trying to improve the offense with hitters surrounding core players with extended contracts — Devers, Willy Adames, Matt Chapman, and Jung Hoo Lee. Potential holes will be at catcher and second base, depending on how management will analyze Patrick Bailey and Casey Schmitt, along with the outfield.

Luis Matos made a splash over the weekend and entered the homestand 8-for-15 with five extra-base hits in his first four games since being recalled from Triple-A Sacramento. He has proven to be a contact hitter who doesn’t strike out much, which could play well in a lineup featuring hitters with high strikeout rates, including Devers, Adames, and Chapman.

Lee and Dom Smith also have keen bat-to-ball abilities. Asked if he’s hoping to add more contact hitters to the lineup moving forward, Posey said, “I think that's fair. I think you need a balance. You're going to need some guys that are probably going to swing and miss more but have the ability to hit the ball out of the park, but you also need the guys that are going to swing and miss less and be more line-drive, contact oriented.”

While Matos figures to get a long look down the stretch, fans shouldn’t anticipate top prospect Bryce Eldridge, a power-hitting, 20-year-old first baseman, to get called up in September.

“I'd say most likely not,” Posey said. “We want him to just get that consistent play. And we want him, when his time does come, to feel like we're putting him in the best position to hit the ground running.”

That the Giants played so well for much of the season’s first half provides reasons for optimism despite the ensuing nosedive. How long it’ll take to return to that form of winning baseball is a story that will play out.

“I don't think it's a fluke that we played as well as we did the first, whatever it was, six weeks,” Posey said. “I do feel like for whatever reason, we were playing a more aggressive style of baseball early.

"I get, sometimes, when you're stealing bases, it has to do with personnel. Do you have the guys who can steal bases? I was not a fast guy, but I was always trying to take an extra base on a ball in the dirt or a base hit in the outfield, and I think that is a recipe to success, and I think no matter if you're the fastest guy or slowest guy, that needs to be your mentality. And I feel like we kind of backed off of that a little bit as the season went along.”