Rough beginning, but Cain truly hangs tough
Posey needs a vacation — like a month at 1st base
Is it time for the Giants to put the best catcher in baseball out to pasture?
That question reared its ugly head in the first inning of the Giants’ home opener Monday. One misguided missile, a 94 mph heater that clunked Buster Posey in the batting helmet, created a cloud over his future and the future of the Giants, short-term and long-term. Am I being too dire? Hyperventilating over a minor headache?
The Giants and Posey might say yes, but what do you expect ’em to say? That the sky is falling?
Posey is on the seven-day disabled list with “concussion symptoms.” Wednesday, manager Bruce Bochy used the word “foggy” to describe Posey. That’s a good word for San Francisco’s atmosphere, a bad word for your catcher’s brain.
If Posey comes off the DL on Tuesday, the first
day he’s eligible to do so, he could the designated hitter in a two-game series at Kansas City, a likely scenario.
What then? If Posey feels good and gets medical clearance, should the Giants slap him back behind the plate?
I say no. Officially, Posey has only concussion symptoms. But if this was your kid and the doctor said he/she had “concussion symptoms,” you’d say, “Is that like broken-leg symptoms?”
For at least a couple of weeks after he returns, the Giants should treat Buster Ballgame like what he is, a human Ming vase, breakable and irreplaceable.
That might be a smart option now even if Posey had not been plunked. Left field has been a black hole for the Giants, offensively. Move Brandon Belt to left, put Posey at first, let Nick Hundley handle the dish. Instant offensive upgrade.
Put me in charge and, once Posey is cleared for action, I would give him a month’s vacation at first base. There’s a lot we don’t know about concussions, or concussion syndromes, but it seems that recovering from a head blow is like getting over a heartache — there’s no shortcut.
Am I saying the Giants should baby Buster? If you want to call it that. I know this: The Giants are in the same situation they were in in 2010, ’12 and ’14 — wherever they go this season, Posey will lead ’em there. No Buster, no red-whiteblue bunting.
This isn’t 1950, or even 2000, back in the days before concussions were invented. It was easy then. You got your bell rung, you snorted some smelling salts, laughed it off and went back to work.
A couple of clicks on YouTube and you can survey Posey’s greatest hits, mostly foul tips that slam into his mask like Mike Tyson punches. Most resulted in standing eightcounts, but a couple shelved him.
Now there’s the beaning, and you know what the medical scientists say about cumulative effects of blows to the head. And you know that there’s no way to prevent foul tips to the mask.
For Posey and the Giants, the timing is bad. Not that there is a good time for concussion symptoms. Posey and the Giants finally had quieted the armchair managers demanding that Posey be moved to first base full time, to extend his career and keep him fresher for hitting.
Posey made it clear he is The Catcher. The organization, from Bochy up, made it clear that it seconds that emotion.
Posey is in catching for the long haul. Before February’s FanFest, he was asked about the offseason and he mentioned that he had done some baseball work.
“I try to change and get better each year,” Posey said. “I like to pay attention to guys who do things well.”
What did he work on this past offseason?
“The biggest thing the past few years, oddly enough, is my throwing mechanics,” Posey said. “Making sure my shoulders are in a certain position, it kind of gives me a little bit more consistency throwing the ball to second base, get better backspin and consistency.”
Doesn’t sound like a catcher looking to phase himself out of catching.
Eventually, Posey will get out of the squat for good. First base is the first option, but I asked Bochy on Wednesday if third base, or even left field, could be an option down the road.
Bochy said no, that first base is the only other full-time position the club has ever considered for Posey, and that it is not considering such a move now.
The Giants can’t. They are a pitching-centric team, and the pitchers love them some Buster. It’s no different now than it was in the 2010 World Series, when rookie hurler Madison Bumgarner said of his rookie batterymate, “I just threw whatever Buster put down.”
Posey was on the field before Wednesday night’s game, receiving his first Gold Glove. There could be a few more of those in his future, but that future is now cloudy.