San Francisco Giants: Life Without Buster Posey and the Road to Another

11 days ago, life couldn’t have been more perfect. The San Francisco Giants were three games ahead of their division after dispatching their cross-bay rivals in a three-game sweep. Brandon Belt was bludgeoning pitchers in Fresno. Pablo Sandoval was primed for a big return off the DL (bye bye Miggie) and Shamsey Supsup finally accepted my friend request on Facebook.

Then with one play everything changed.

Following an unbelievable ninth inning rally against the Florida Marlins, The Giants lost their star catcher for the rest of the season after a horrendous crash at home plate.

I don’t know what was worse about that play: watching a worthless utility player smash into a young superstar, or the subsequent reaction that Giants fans had to endure from the national media.

The Giants postgame shows have gone from bad to downright interminable ever since KNBR hired former Athletic and Diamondback “superstar” Eric Byrnes to host Sports phone. Eric spends most of his three hours plugging himself on Facebook and Twitter, and it’s embarrassing how he resorts to playing loud sound effects and Rihanna music whenever he runs out of things to say. 

He also thinks that screaming the same point two or three times in succession makes it sound coherent.    

“He just stood there like a deer!! He could have run over to second base and just stood out there…like a deer.”

After the Marlins Game, I knew Byrnes was going to regal us with stories about base runners slamming into catchers when he was sitting in the dugout filling out scorecards, but it didn’t feel any less tiresome the way he finished before every commercial break

“It was a hard hit!! But there was nothing wrong with it!!! It was a clean play!!!”

As anyone who has seen the replay will tell you, Cousins had a clear path to the plate and charged directly at Posey like a blitzing linebacker, leaving his feet to make a flying shoulder to chest hit. It’s the sort of hitting a helpless receiver play that would earn a 15-yard roughing penalty in the NFL. Scott won’t see any kind of retribution until the Giants play the Marlins again in late August. He should probably consider wearing a different sized helmet when that time comes.

Any non-Giants fan will say that it was hard, clean baseball.

What it was, was a bad baseball player making himself useful the only way he can—by turning his body into a weapon on the base paths.

Yahoo! Sports “expert” Jeff Passan defended Cousins with the absurd explanation that it was necessary to plow into Posey in order to avoid a tag. 

By that same the standard, Alex Rodriguez shouldn’t have been called out for trying to slice off Bronson Arroyo’s arm in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS. If I’m Andres Torres, I’m bowling over every shortstop every time I try to steal second base.

Giants fever has been at an all-time high ever since the final out in last year’s World Series, and Buster Posey has been a large part of that. His absence has been felt by all fans—young and old, men and women, basically anyone who’s followed baseball in the Bay Area for the last 18 months.  

I realized the extent of my man love for Buster last week after my cousin and I made him a get well card using construction paper and crayons (though she was the one who drew all the little hearts and roses around his name).

Not having their star catcher for 120 games is devastating to say the least, but the Giants are still a good team. Good enough to their division, good enough to win another World Series. 

But, just like last year, there’s plenty of room for improvement.  Luckily for Brian Sabean, he only needs to plug up one hole and then there’s little room left. The Giants are a weaker team offensively and defensively without Buster, and making Eli Whiteside the starting catcher isn’t going to solve anything. Kirt Manwaring  (in his present condition) would be an upgrade over Whiteside.

Having Eli in the lineup creates two problems, an Oregon-sized sinkhole in the batting order and almost no chance for the Giants to stop the running game. Heath Bell could steal a base standing with Whiteside sitting behind the plate.

I don’t hate Whiteside. He didn’t ask to be placed in this position. He’s doing what he’s being paid to do. I just prefer it if he would do it somewhere else. Aside from his shortcomings on offense, he’s terrible at blocking pitches, often trying to backhand a wicked slider instead of reflexively dropping to his knees.

Eli’s basically a younger version of Benito Santiago, except he’s likable, drug-free, and doesn’t look a day older than 75.

The Giants don’t need to mortgage their future to rent a premier catcher. They just need someone who can hit the ball out of the infield and cause base runners to be a little more timid in between pitches. Chris Snyder is a suitable option since he’s batting .270 with three home runs this season, but he’s currently making six million this year with the Pirates (three is being paid by the Diamondbacks), which is somewhat of a gamble considering how much the Giants are paying Rowand, Huff, and Zito.

No matter who they get, we’re going to be pining for Buster every day until spring training 2012.  

If there’s a positive way of looking at Posey’s injury for Giants fans, it’s that Miguel Tejada and his .238 OBP might be gone a lot sooner than we think. Bruce Bochy likes what he’s seeing from Brandon Crawford and Pablo Sandoval started his rehab assignment in Class A San Jose on Friday.

If all goes well, we should be watching a Tejada-free team in two weeks (though a lot of fans will still visit Miguel in the Torrey Pines retirement home). And, if the impossible should occur and the Giants land Jose Reyes before the trade deadline, this is how the Giants infield could potentially look like.

1B Aubrey Huff

2B Freddy Sanchez

SS Jose Reyes

3B Pablo Sandoval

I get misty eyed just thinking about it. Bruce Bochy might have toyed with the idea of benching Aubrey Huff and moving Pablo to first base before the final game in St. Louis. Then Aubrey decided to let everyone know why he’s the highest paid position player on the team, homering in three straight at bats driving in six runs. While he’s struggled with consistency this season, he always seems to hit the ball hard at the right time (he homered on Tuesday give the Giants the lead in the late innings and had the game-tying single in that four-run ninth inning rally against the Marlins).  

Since the outfield is already crowded with Ross, Belt, and Torres, and Schierholtz, there isn’t anywhere to stick Huff if the Giants actually acquire their dream shortstop. It’s likely that Brandon Crawford would be sent back to the minors, which sucks considering how much potential he’s demonstrated in the last six games. But as it’s unlikely that we’ll see Reyes in a Giants uniform before the trade deadline (there’s a better chance that Subway hires Kirstie Alley to film their next commercial), the infield appears set for the season.   

What we’re forgetting is that the Giants didn’t win the World Series with their hitting. They like to pitch. And they’re pretty damn good at it.  

They’re fifth in team ERA, and the bullpen is tied for the league lead in wins.

The starting rotation is still kicking ass, especially now with the miraculous resurgence of Ryan Vogelsong in the No. 5 spot. Who knows? Maybe Jesse Foppert will come back from a Chinese fishing village throwing a slider that magically splinters every bat on contact.

Sounds crazy.

And plausible.    

Lincecum and Cain single-handedly carried a Buster-less team to 88 wins in 2009. This year’s rotation is so outrageously talented that they could win the World Series with a softball team. The beards are certainly up to the task. With the years Ramirez, Lopez, Romo and Wilson are having, the game is essentially over if the Giants get a lead into the seventh inning.

Right now the offense looks like it was just involved in a 10-car pileup. Half of its key contributors have either been to the emergency room or are sitting at home squeezing an ice pack without using their hands. But here they are sitting in first place by a half game over the sneaky snakes. What does this prove?

One great athlete on the mound is all it takes to win a baseball game in the major leagues.  

The Giants have five.

I like their chances.