Posey shares the ‘lesson’ the Giants learn from their failed quest for superstardom originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
First-year Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey understands his team’s recent shortcomings in pursuing some of baseball’s biggest and most iconic names.
The Giants, as many know, always seem to find themselves in the race for superstar MLB free agents and international prospects, but they never end. land them in San Francisco.
By appearing on The Athletic’s “Starkville” podcast with Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville, Posey explained the lessons the Giants learned from the absence of free agents such as Shohei Ohtani, Aaron judges And Carlos Correa over the last few offseasons.
“I think for me the lesson is – or maybe it’s not even a lesson – if you have the opportunity to pursue this type of caliber player – what’s the alternative, right? what not? If you don’t pursue them, then you definitely won’t get them at this point,” Posey told Stark and Glanville. “I know there’s some sense of frustration among the fans that we can’t get these guys. But from my seat (and) what I can say over the last couple of years is really put a strong foot forward.
“I think ownership — again, from my perspective — has made it clear the priority of trying to target those types of players. And unfortunately, it didn’t work. So we’re looking at that, we’re trying to put together a complete team. (We) go into this offseason looking at some areas where we think there might be holes. I really believe in throwing and defense…”
Laid I didn’t point a finger to his predecessor, Farhan Zaidi, but the retired catcher remained honest. San Francisco has tried to compete for MLB stars, but it hasn’t worked so far.
Last offseason, the Giants signed a third baseman Matt Chapmanlauncher Blake Snellcenter player Jung Hoo Lee and hitter Jorge Soler. But San Francisco’s acquisitions didn’t match those of their NL West rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who signed Ohtani and the pitcher. Yoshinobu Yamamoto en route to their 2024 World Series victory.
Superstar right steering wheel Juan Sotolauncher tracking Corbin Burnes, Roki Sasaki and Snell, of course, lead the current free agent class. Posey made it clear that his phone was on at all hours and his eyes were scanning the globe for upgrades.
“You explore all avenues and angles,” Posey said. “There’s definitely an immense amount of talent coming from the international side, so there’s no doubt we want our hat in there, and we’re going to do our best to convince those great talents to come to San Francisco.”
Despite the Giants’ 80-82 record in 2024, Posey is also confident in what the current roster offers. He cited San Francisco’s pitching, especially young pitching, as something the Giants will work on painstakingly next season.
“I’m really excited about some of the young arms we have,” Posey said. “Obviously, (Logan) Webb lead the way; Robbie Ray he’s not a young arm at this point, but I think we expect big things from him this year, a few years removed from his injury; Hayden Birdsong, Landen Group, Kyle HarrisonWe have Keaton Winn, Tristan Beck; there are some really quality weapons.
“I think for us to take a big step forward, we’re going to have to rely on some of these younger guns to carry some of the heavy lifting for us.”
Maybe Posey will focus internally on pitch improvements.
Still, all options are on the table for San Francisco and its first-year decider. And the recent shortcomings of big-time free agents won’t stop Posey and the Giants from taking their shot and staying invested.
San Francisco could very well look different on opening day of the 2025 MLB season.
