{"id":115923,"date":"2025-08-28T09:29:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T09:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/115923\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T09:29:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T09:29:17","slug":"buster-posey-talks-giants-collapse-bryce-eldridges-future-and-what-must-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/115923\/","title":{"rendered":"Buster Posey talks Giants\u2019 collapse, Bryce Eldridge\u2019s future, and what must change"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With five weeks left in a season that started with promise but has become disappointing, Buster Posey didn\u2019t hesitate when asked what he\u2019d like to see from the Giants the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHard-nosed baseball. It\u2019s really that,\u201d Posey told The Standard Tuesday night before the team\u2019s homestand opener against Chicago. \u201cI just want to see that the effort is there, and guys understand that no matter what the standings look like, they\u2019re playing for the name on the front of their jersey, and they\u2019re playing for the name on the back of their jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants are coming off an impressive series in Milwaukee, taking two of three from the top team in the big leagues, but that was an aberration, not the norm. After Justin Verlander earned his second win of the season Tuesday in a 5-2 victory against the Cubs, the Giants are four games below .500 at 64-68 and 11.5 games back of the Dodgers in the National League West.<\/p>\n

The Giants had high hopes June 13, when they were tied for first place, and the expectations and optimism accelerated two days later, when Posey traded for Rafael Devers to beef up the offense, a sign that the Giants and their president of baseball operations were all in on a playoff push.<\/p>\n

But for reasons that have been discussed, dissected, and diagnosed by fans across the city, Bay Area, and beyond, the Giants have been the worst team in the majors since mid-June and have fallen to fourth place, too far out of the wild-card race (seven games) to be considered a threat.<\/p>\n

How does Posey see the season to date?<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of break it up into three sections, in my mind,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first third of the season, I felt like we played a really fundamental sound style of baseball. The second third, I felt it was more mediocre when it came to doing the little things right \u2014 defensively, offensively, on the pitching side. The last third of the season, it\u2019s just not up to the standard that any of us expect.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing off a big series win against the Brewers, you\u2019re hopeful that creates some momentum coming into this homestand, and we finish on a strong note.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ARafael Devers is hitting .226 with a .746 OPS since joining the Giants in June. | Source: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades\/The Standard<\/p>\n

Posey wouldn\u2019t discuss the status of manager Bob Melvin and the coaching staff. Melvin is in his second season at the helm and is signed through next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019re just focused on getting through the season and playing that style of baseball we talked about,\u201d Posey said. \u201cThat\u2019s our focus right now, trying to get the most out of what we can the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Posey and his assistants will have a busy offseason trying to improve the offense with hitters surrounding core players with extended contracts: Devers, Willy Adames, Matt Chapman, and Jung Hoo Lee. Potential holes will be at catcher and second base, depending on how management will analyze Patrick Bailey and Casey Schmitt, along with the outfield.<\/p>\n

Luis Matos made a splash over the weekend and entered the homestand 8-for-15 with five extra-base hits in his first four games since being recalled from Triple-A Sacramento. He has proved to be a contact hitter who doesn\u2019t strike out much, which could play well in a lineup featuring hitters with high strikeout rates, including Devers, Adames, and Chapman.<\/p>\n

Lee and Dom Smith also have keen bat-to-ball abilities. Asked if he\u2019s hoping to add more contact hitters to the lineup moving forward, Posey said, \u201cI think that\u2019s fair. I think you need a balance. You\u2019re going to need some guys that are probably going to swing and miss more but have the ability to hit the ball out of the park, but you also need the guys that are going to swing and miss less and be more line-drive, contact oriented.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Matos figures to get a long look down the stretch, fans shouldn\u2019t anticipate top prospect Bryce Eldridge, a power-hitting, 20-year-old first baseman, to get called up in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say most likely not,\u201d Posey said. \u201cWe want him to just get that consistent play. And we want him, when his time does come, to feel like we\u2019re putting him in the best position to hit the ground running.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ALuis Matos has had multiple hits in four consecutive games since being recalled from Triple-A. | Source: Sara Nevis\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

The fact that the Giants played so well for much of the season\u2019s first half provides reasons for optimism despite the ensuing nosedive. How long it\u2019ll take to return to that form of winning baseball is a story that will play out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a fluke that we played as well as we did the first, whatever it was, six weeks,\u201d Posey said. \u201cI do feel like for whatever reason, we were playing a more aggressive style of baseball early. <\/p>\n

\u201cI get, sometimes, when you\u2019re stealing bases, it has to do with personnel. Do you have the guys who can steal bases? I was not a fast guy, but I was always trying to take an extra base on a ball in the dirt or a base hit in the outfield, and I think that is a recipe to success, and I think no matter if you\u2019re the fastest guy or slowest guy, that needs to be your mentality. And I feel like we kind of backed off of that a little bit as the season went along.\u201d<\/p>\n

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