San Francisco Giants may move Buster Posey to third base
By Bryan Rose
A Rookie of the Year award and two World Series titles in the span of his first five-plus seasons, one of which was shortened to just 45-games after a season ending collision at home plate. Needless to say, San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey has a resume few can rival.
More from MLB
- Braves get dose of bad news on Max Fried as ace nears return
- Shohei Ohtani trade rumors live tracker: Every update so far
- MLB Rumors: Yankees mistake, Cardinals trade package, Cubs choice
- Inside the Clubhouse: What I’m hearing ahead of the MLB Trade Deadline
- After frantic trade day, Kiké Hernandez grateful for second chance with Dodgers
However, the Giants’ backstop has been taking a significant amount of foul balls in recent months, some of which have forced him to the bench. It’s a near daily occurrence to see Posey attempting to straighten out his jaw or catch his balance after being dinged. It’s an obvious long-haul concern for the San Francisco Giants, who presented Buster Posey with a nine-year, $167 million dollar contract extension.
It’s safe to assume the Giants didn’t expect Posey to play out his entire career at catcher, but might they be moving him out from behind the dish sooner than expected? It might be a possibility, especially if current third baseman Pablo Sandoval leaves in free agency.
"But looking to 2015… with Andrew Susac and Hector Sanchez presumably viable as a young righty-lefty hitting platoon at catcher, and with the Sandoval contract issue looming… if Posey turns in another sub-800 OPS season, shouldn’t the Giants think about Posey as their possible third base answer?Yes, the answer is yes. Eventually, this is going to happen."
The problem here for the Giants is that Buster Posey is a much more valuable talent as a catcher. That’s not to say he isn’t a very valuable player elsewhere on the diamond, though his extremely impressive offensive numbers for a catcher become solid, though not overly elite at the hot corner.
It’s something the team won’t have to think about for a few months at least, though it should be an interesting offseason if the Giants do lose out on re-signing Sandoval and are forced to make a Posey decision.