This piece originally appeared in our twice-weekly sports newsletter The Dime. Sign up here to receive this and other email newsletters from The Standard.
When Buster Posey stepped into his role as president of baseball operations last October, the former Giants superstar demonstrated a clear desire to rebuild a link between the team and fans who had been lost.
“We’re in a memory-making business,” Posey declared.
Posey, after a sterling playing career that included three World Series titles, five Silver Slugger Awards, and an MVP, is well aware of when the most meaningful memories are made.
And no, his first team won’t be playing October baseball.
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One of the most decorated players in Giants history and a future Hall of Famer stunned the industry when he assumed control of the front office and replaced Farhan Zaidi last fall. In a conversation with The Standard in February, Posey spoke of “an expectation to win” among fans and establishing a “standard for the way that we play the game.”
The Giants didn’t deliver a winning first season, and they struggled to live up to the standard of playing the type of clean, fundamental baseball Posey and manager Bob Melvin expected.
Posey, like the vast majority of baseball executives, will be afforded time to turn his vision into a reality. But he knows that starting in Year 2, patience among fans starts to wear thin, and a midsummer collapse — like the ones the Giants have suffered in recent years — will be judged with more scrutiny.
Another October without games at Oracle Park will lead to big-picture questions about how much time the team reasonably needs to recover from the Zaidi era.
Since the franchise arrived in San Francisco in 1958, many of the sport’s most iconic players have donned a Giants uniform. Willie Mays was the first star, Willie McCovey followed soon after, and Juan Marichal became the city’s first ace. Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell led a late-1980s revival, the signing of Barry Bonds ushered in a new era, and drafting homegrown pitchers such as Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, and Madison Bumgarner changed the trajectory of the organization.
Fans remember milestone home runs, multiple no-hitters, and Cain’s 2012 perfect game, but there are three moments that stand above the rest. When the final pitch of the 2010, 2012, and 2014 seasons were thrown, Posey went rushing to the mound to hug his closer and celebrate a World Series title.
It’s been 11 years since the Giants won a playoff series, and fans understandably grew disconnected from a franchise that stopped prioritizing continuity during Zaidi’s tenure. Posey’s first task was to reestablish a sense of stability, and his presence alone achieved that feat.
The additions of Willy Adames and Rafael Devers, who joined a core featuring Matt Chapman, Heliot Ramos, and Jung Hoo Lee, provided fans with a reliable lineup that generated more interest and excitement, evidenced by a surge in ticket sales.
Then there are the memories. Ramos’ Little League home run to beat the Rangers. Patrick Bailey’s inside-the-park walk-off home run in July. The catcher’s walk-off grand slam to beat the Dodgers in September.
Each of those moments represented a step in the right direction. But without a playoff berth, Giants fans are left to think about all the what-ifs.
Expectations should remain high for the Posey era. Next year, the Giants should be playing in October.