After 12 Major League seasons, Buster Posey has called it a career. Alongside his wife Kristen, the longtime Giants catcher announced his retirement in a press conference Thursday afternoon.
Going into the offseason, the only question surrounding Posey seemed to be whether the Giants would simply exercise their $22MM club option on the catcher for next season, or if the two sides would work out a longer-term extension. Posey hit .304/.390/.499 with 18 home runs in 454 plate appearances in 2021, rebounding to prime form after opting out of the 2020 season, and struggling through a 2019 season in the aftermath of hip surgery.
Instead, Posey will now hang up his cleats, ending an outstanding run as a Bay Area icon. Drafted with the fifth overall pick of the 2008 draft, Posey made his big league debut in 2009 and then won Rookie Of The Year honors in 2010, helping lead the Giants to their first World Series title since 1954.
That was the first of three championship rings for Posey, as he became the face of this era of Giants baseball. Posey’s long list of achievements includes the 2012 NL MVP Award, seven All-Star selections, four Silver Slugger Awards, and a Gold Glove in 2016. He retires with 158 home runs and a career slash line of .302/.372/.460 over 5607 plate appearances, and is likely heading for a Hall Of Fame induction in five years’ time.
While Posey’s outstanding 2021 leaves the impression that he has plenty left in the tank, it shouldn’t be ignored that at this time last year, a retirement following the 2021 campaign seemed quite plausible, or even likely. The hip surgery was the latest in a series of notable injuries for Posey throughout his career, including leg and ankle injuries suffered in a collision with Scott Cousins in 2011 (the impetus for MLB changing its rules about baserunners can make contact with catchers while trying to score). Most troubling, Posey also suffered multiple concussions over the course of his 12 years, and there was long speculation that the Giants would eventually move him over to a semi-permanent first base role.
Posey is only 34 years old, but with all of his accumulated wear-and-tear, it could be that he simply preferred to leave on the high note of a great personal season and the Giants’ 107-win campaign. Posey and his wife are also the parents of four children, including adopted twin girls born prematurely last summer (which Posey said factored into his decision to opt out of the 2020 season). There is certainly nothing left to prove for Posey, and he can now enjoy a well-deserved retirement and more time with his family.
While Posey’s role in Giants history can’t truly be replaced, the team hopes it already has a worthy heir apparent in Joey Bart, the second overall pick of the 2018 draft. Posey’s return to form created some questions about how exactly San Francisco would juggle playing time behind the plate, yet now the catching situation looks like it will consist of Bart and incumbent veteran Curt Casali. The Giants could quite possibly target another veteran to compete with Casali in Spring Training and provide more backing in case Bart (who has played in only 35 Major League games) needs more time to get acclimated.
San Francisco also now has at least $22MM in extra payroll space next season, not that the team didn’t already have plenty of spending capacity. The Giants’ surprising 107-win year has left the team well ahead of schedule in their rebuild, and the focus will squarely be on contending for a World Series title in 2022. While truly big expenditures haven’t been part of the strategy thus far for president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, he will have every avenue open to him this winter, whether it be major free agent signings, big-ticket trade acquisitions, re-signing notable in-house free agents like Brandon Belt, or all of the above.
Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic first reported Posey’s decision to retire.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Well that came out of nowhere. Congrats on a hall of fame career!
Wow
WHAT THE ^&:$
The rigors of catching. I’m not that surprised.
see yadi
Yadi’s refusal to retire has hurt his HOF perception if anything…. If he retired after 2018 he’d seem like less of a Vizquel and more of an actual superstar (which he was during his prime)
Yadi is a finalist for the GG and made the all-star team this year?
Have you seen Yadi’s OPS+ the last 3 seasons?
Yadi has still posted seasons of 2+ WAR a year (or the prorated equivalent in 2020) recently. Him continuing to play hasn’t hurt his Hall perception at all. Even his recent offensive numbers are still average or better for a starting catcher.
Wait what….
Hmm, he did opt out of 2020, but he’s leaving a lot of cheddar on the table even at 34….No last call or long kiss good-bye? From what I have heard, he’s well respected around the league as well..
…wish him well….
So long, sweet prince.
Wait what?!
Wtf
HOLY CRAP
Sad but in line with giants retiring early for family. Thanks for everything buster I’ll never forget being at game 5 of the World Series in 2014!
I’m a bit stunned. As I’m sure the entire baseball world will be with this news. As a Dodgers fan, he was a pain for the last decade and I’m quite happy that he’s retiring.
As a baseball fan, he was an absolute class act and an all around, amazing player to watch. Congrats on the fantastic career and enjoy retirement.
With the MVP, 3 World Series Rings, and ROY, I think he’s Canton bound. Thoughts?
kind of surprised
Giants have a boat load of money to spend. As for catcher , time for Bart and eventually Bailey
This also could be good for Casali. I imagine he sticks around for at least another year so odds are he will probably get a decent amount of playing time. We’ll have to see how far along Bailey is in his development and how Bart has managed his developed since his stint in 2020
Wow! Certainly didn’t see that coming. Enjoy your retirement, Buster.
Guess he wanted to go out on a high-note. 7x all-star, 3 rings, 4 silver sluggers, a Rookie Of The Year, Gold Glove, and the only Giants to ever have a higher fWAR were Bonds, Mays, Ott, and McCovey. Plus he made over $150 million (ovbisously not all because of tax), but great career, Buster. Have a happy retirement.
Still surprised by it. Figured he’d at least give it one more go.
An all-around good guy…. best wishes in retirement
Wow no way!
Will his career be hall of fame now that it’s only 12 years and less than 6,000 abs? Was the case for Jim Edmonds
Think he falls under that category that stats don’t give the entire picture. Where you saw the player and just said hall of fame. Mattingly, molina, Keith hernandez.
FYI, none of those players you mentioned are in the HOF.
Oddly enough, that still doesn’t contradict the OP’s thought.
What I was trying to say is they should be like posey. People judge hall of fame candidacy on brref page rather then what they did on the field. You look at poseys page I say no. You saw what he did for his team on the field then yes.
You forgot Brad Radke.
Sure I am missing a bunch. One I did. Why is lou Whitaker not in the hall. Has to be race because no other reason.
Race? Really? How about the fact that Whitaker was on the ballot when traditional stats were the norm and Whitaker was not that strong with the big numbers? I grew up during Whitaker’s era and always thought he was just a good, not really great, player. Kind of like Tony Fernandez or Ozzie Guillen or Tom Herr. Lou Whitaker was never thought of by most as a potential Hall of Famer during his career and it reflected in him just getting a handful of votes in his only year on the ballot.
Bringing up racism here only shows your ignorance.
Lee Mazzilli for HOF8 hours ago
Why is lou Whitaker not in the hall. Has to be race because no other reason.
======================================
While I think Lou deserves it, he is not close to as good as Grich was,
They should contact me about being the new catcher. I would bring a World Series to San Francisco
Couldn’t have gone out with a stronger performance. Only thing he was missing was the swan song WS. Congrats to Posey on a wonderful career.
It was fun to see the old Giants core go nuts one more time in 2021. It’s disappointing that that’s it for Posey, but he’s had a hell of a career and he’s retiring as an all-time great catcher.
Goddamnit
So Yadi lasted a season longer and played way more years.
@ajrodz: What’s your point?
Posey would make the hall of fame in the 1800’s not 2027 or whatever.
And was worse
Offensively sure, but if you base how good a player is only on offense, you’re a doofus
Andruw Jones had a better career than Yadi, and should be in yet Yadi will get more love on the ballot.
Buster is a first ballot HOF. Molina wont be.
You’re biased.
Posey isn’t a first ballot HOF. He’ll get in, as will yadi for different reasons.
Despite being one of Posey’s biggest fans, I would have to agree. Posey will be in the HOF I would imagine, although I’m not sure he’ll be a first ballot(even though I would love if he was). Yadi will not be a first ballot either, despite being such a consistent catcher for so long. Yadi will make it though
only two catchers were 1st ballot, and Pudge barely got in. I’d be shocked if Posey was 1st ballot.
This is recency bias at its finest. If Posey gets in–and I don’t think he will–it won’t be for a number of years. Which, imo, actually hurts his case. The further we’re removed from the non-statistical stuff, the less of a chance he’ll have.
Bummer he’s going out so “early”, but I always like seeing guys have outstanding exit years like this!
Jimmy, I will bet you a thousand dollars Posey is not a first ballot hall of famer. I’ll go as high as ten grand.
I’m sure collecting on that bet wouldn’t be a problem at all.
NOT a first-ballot HOFer, Giants homer or whoever you are.
Gary Carter needed six ballots. Pizza Man needed four. Both much better. socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2021/11/buster-posey-b…
Less is more.
wow, sad but what a great career for Posey
More surprising given the state of the Giants. But the reality is there are more important things than baseball and money. Great career.
Posey is a great example of your statement “there are more important things than baseball and money”. He made a good amount of money that every single person that comments on this site would be more than happy with, and he could’ve cashed in for another $22m this season if he wanted. Great family guy
IMHO SFG have known for 2 years, it explains the P. Bailey draft pick.
But they have Joey Bart…
what have they known for 2 years? That Posey wasn’t gonna play forever?
Even if he was to stay, I doubt he would have played C with the possibility of the DH coming to the NL.
Posey retiring is totally irrelevant to SF drafting Bailey. Teams do not draft for need.
Tell that to the 2021 Angels lol
Just waiting for the Yankee fans to flood the comments with preposterous trade proposals, Crawford and Joey Bart for Gary Sanchez.
Hope you are prepared for a helluva long wait, @deuce. Yankee haters post that stuff. Not us. Was hoping you guys would step up your Yankee trolling game this winter. It’s just so damm boring, heavy handed, mundane, & overwhelmingly predictable.
Looks like I am in for a long wait too.
I wish him well. First class guy.
So he’s gonna be the next Padres manager then?
Mets.
Melvin??
Wow, that’s crazy. Especially after such a tremendous bounceback season.
I’m a Dodgers fan and he was a helluva good player who killed us for 12 years.
Incredible career. Among the best of all time. A sure fire HOF’er.
Enjoy the well earned rest.
Dodger fan here. He was a great player and will be missed. Truly a joy to watch a real professional play the game.
Wonder if the Reds knew of Posey’s retirement before they traded Barnhart to the Tigers for a minor leaguer who’s probably not hitting his weight?
how does that facor in?
I mean it’s pretty early in the offseason but I suppose in theory, having one more team in the market for a catcher could’ve driven the price up slightly.
Congrats!
Going out at the top if your game, well done Mr. Posey! It was a treat to see you play.
Congrats on the great career, Gerald. Hope you get to enjoy more time with the kids now.
Congratulations Mr. Posey on a great career!! Wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavors!!
That’s to bad. Great catcher, far superior to the neck tattoo guy who will not go away.
Posey will soon get a call from the Mets now that he retired from playing
Noooooo. He was my best fantasy pick in two leagues this past year. Wish him all the best.
Yikes man… wasn’t ready for this
I kept telling myself it was coming soon, but it still hit me like a truck
Time for top prospect and potential superstar Joey Bart to man up. Let’s see what he is really made of. Wishing him the best!
One of the best catchers I got the privilege to watch. 100% hall of fame bound. Good luck as you ride into the sunset Posey!
As an outsider looking in, I was surprised by the great years that several older players on the Giants had. I was figuring with their rotation going free agent, and the older players unlikely to repeat these career years, SFG would have a hard time doing this again next year. After Buster spent a year with his family, I wonder if he didn’t feel the same way and decide going out on a high note was the best option.
Surprising, definitely didn’t see that coming. I thought he was going to retire after 2022 while spending time as a catcher with Joey Bart as his understudy and the rest splitting time at 1B with Darin Ruf.
What a career, what a fun player to watch. He’ll get his number retired in a few years and have a nice comfy second career as a ‘special assistant’.
All the best, Buster. Go enjoy time with that wife and kids. You did San Francisco proud!
I think for a lot of guys it’s better in their minds to burn out than to fade away, so they will feel that due to wear and tear, if they continue to play through the following season, they’ll see their numbers decline or dip in some way that’s almost certainly due to age and they’ll have either a bad season or a lost season and if they already had that and came back strong in the final year of the largest contract and AAV of their career, they may know they won’t get nearly the same kind of money and may not want to play for less money or become an albatross on a similar-ish deal going forward where they then see their numbers actually crater due to age and wear and tear and maybe they also just don’t feel like they need the additional money or to prove anything else.
David Ortiz retired under similar circumstances.
Posey was almost certainly going to be bought out for the $3M and may have made an extra $10-15M, but also would have had to play again after a regular off season, versus getting to rest, recuperate and rehab whatever was bothering him during the full year he opted out, so his numbers this season were a result of that long layoff, something he can’t do every other year and he’s only getting older.
Plus he’s a catcher and those knees get tore up.
He was not going to be bought out. Zaidi was asked about it sometime in October and he said he was prepared to exercise Buster’s option
Actually, and also per another commenter, not only was Zaidi prepared to buy the option, but they were looking at, say, a two-year, maybe three, extension, probably for around that $15M per year.
Walking away from $22MM and whatever the actual sum was for 2020, for his family. Not to many like him.
Love you Buster, thanks for the memories and those rings. Hope to see you in the future in some capacity with SF.
He’s already made $168M in his career, Though $22M is a lofty sum, he can afford to walk away.
Agreed, he is a rare breed. Thumbs up for a class guy.
Very rare for an athlete to retire so early at the top of his game. He’s probably worth at least $60-80M for the next 3-4 yrs. Truly shocking but not when you consider being away from family for so long. Family first, Much respect to Posey family.
It’s nice to end on a high note but still shocking. I would have thought the NL dh would have given him a bit of a break physically and let him last a few more years.
Anyways, good luck in retirement!
Whether or not the guy is a HOFer is a question for another day. For what it is worth, the Bill James HOF monitor has him falling short by quite a bit. His “most similar batter” is Victor Martinez and I don’t think anyone considers him even a potential HOFer.
But that aside, today is a day to celebrate a good career regardless of whether or not he makes it to Cooperstown.
Victor Martinez’s HoF case is very underrated. would be fully deserving in my mind if he didnt have to give up catching.
I too believe Victor Martinez was very underrated for his career. He was a very good player, but didn’t have the WS titles to boost his name like Posey. I don’t think Posey was nearly as good as Joe Mauer, let alone guys like Bench and I-Rod and Berra.
VMart was a bat-first guy, and not close to Posey at playing the position. VMart might have been the most similar, but HoFer Carlton Fisk was 3rd most similar through age 34, along with HoFer Barry Larkin 5th most similar. He’s also ranked similar to HoFer Roy Campanella.
If the mets call, he’ll report to camp.
Your trolling skills seem to be growing year by year. I commend you for it .
parody account…
Not overly surprised. Dad duties were calling. The man is all class.
Takes a lot to retire when you still have a bit left in the tank, but better now than when you have nothing left. Pure class. Hell of a final season. Nice to see him back in peak form, which no one expected.
I had a feeling this would happen
Talk about going out on a high note! Congrats on a great career Buster!
We approve of this message.
Love, Dodger fans everywhere.
I wonder if it had ANYTHING to do with his contract. He might not wanted to play for $22M for example. Or I wonder if he wanted to get traded to Braves to be closer to his family…..
Anyways, always Mr. Classy Posey!
No, he was just physically done. The only reason he played in 2021 was to prove to himself that he could still play
What a career Buster. Enjoy retirement
No HOF for Posey. He had several good years, especially playing C position, but he’s not HOF level. BR agrees, he’s not close on any of the HOF monikers. Nice career, he got his money, he went out on top rather than hanging on for too long.
Yikes…
He did better than several good years. Looking at WAR over the 7 best seasons, Posey ranks 7th all-time among catchers, better than 10 HoF catchers including Berra, Campanella, and Simmons.
IF you look at Posey’s WAR over his best 5 consecutive seasons he ranks 5th all time, better than 11 HoF catchers, including Fisk.
What hurts Posey is the 12 year career. The numbers are there for 12 seasons, but unlike most HoFers, he’s not going to add on a bunch of mediocre seasons to pad his stats.
For instance, look at Gary Carter. Posey has slightly better numbers over their first 12 seasons. Carter finished his career with 70.1 WAR, almost 26 points better than Posey. But in Carter’s final 7 seasons he posted .238/.307/.381, .688 OPS, and a 93 OPS+.
If the writers look into the numbers better than you Posey will go in.
“HOF monikers”?
I suggest you look up both the word “moniker” and Posey’s career stats. Start by looking at his WAR and compare that to catchers who are in Cooperstown.
Posey will be inducted into the HOF by 2029.
I take it the Marlins won’t be trading for Joey Bart now
Unless Trevor Rogers is included I would imagine you are correct lol
Classy Guy! Enjoy chapter 2 BP!
WOW
The news on this Catcher came out of Left Field.
I would guess that the retirement has it’s roots in 4 factors:
He’s earned more than enough money
He loves his family and spending time with them
His body has taken a considerable toll over the years
Concern over the long term effect of multiple concussions
That rule change kind of ruined baseball, but he was a great player and I also respect him immensely for adopting children. It’s always better to go out on a high note.
Sure would have been nice to hear it from Posey first, instead of from this other guy.
Terrific player….how many have that kind of a triple slash line? Walking away after such an excellent season, leaving a boatload of money on the table, I don’t know if he will make the HOF (JAWS isn’t that optimistic) but wouldn’t bother me at all to see it happen.
Sad day for us giants fans. His return this year was BY FAR the most important reason for the team’s turnaround. There is no replacing him.
Buster will definitely be in the HOF. He is giant of his era and easily one of the classiest people in the game.
I think Posey should be considered for MVP for 2021. When you think about where the Giants were last season(2020), without Posey, versus where they were this season(2021), with Posey, it makes sense. Posey had quite a year and even helped the Giants outdo the Dodgers. Now, obviously, he didn’t play as much as he probably could’ve, but when he was on the field, he and the team were pretty successful.
Great ballplayer, great career.
Re the HOF, every player has a different Hall of Fame story and the narrative of who gets in, or not is evolving, I mean if 300 wins as a bar for starters that never changes then is any starting pitcher ever getting in again? Posey will have a strong case and his story is a blend of old and new school. Old school hardware including WS rings + new school offensive and defensive metrics show him to be an elite player. Injury interrupted some of his counting stats but the manner that he’s exiting, when the local discussion was not only the team going to pick up his option, was he going to get a 2yr deal.
If I could bet I would say he gets in, Crazy stat from this past season’s NLDS, the Giants game 3 win 1-0 was the 14th playoff shutout he caught in his career. 2nd Yadi, 8, 3rd Yogi Berra with 7
Fyi, neither Kershaw (185) and Scherzer (190) have even 200 wins entering their age 34 and 38 year seasons.
Your take on HOF is well considered. Posey may not be a GOAT, but he’s a cut above all of the best catchers of his generation. He probably has meant more to his team and to baseball than any player since Jeter. His short career is a strike against him, but his excellence lasted just long enough to justify induction, IMO.
Too bad. A few more good seasons and he could make a HOF case.
Thank you Buster. You will be missed. All the best to the Posey family.
Only player I’ve ever seen snubbed by his teammates (several of them, if not all) while high fives were being exchanged following a win.
I thought he’d play at least one year at 1B. With their young catchers ready to step in, and their championship caliber team.
Looking at the Stats alone do not support HOF case.
.302 career hitter in 12 seasons?
.302 career hitter because he’s retiring at age 34. We won’t see what would have been his decline years.
Most voters like to see both a high peak and longevity. Exceptions have been made, such as Koufax, but he had extenuating circumstances (forced to retire to injury), plus he was unquestionably the best pitcher in baseball at the time. Posey has been a nice player, but nowhere near that kind of elite, once-in-a-generation talent.
Posey, if elected, would hardly be the worst player in the hall. But he’s hardly a first-ballot, slam-dunk candidate like so many commenters here seem to think.
I’d have to question what the difference is between him and Freehan. Posey is definitely the better hitter, but Freehan was still a good hitter. But Freehan won 5 GGs, and made the AS team 10 straight times, 11 in total.
.302 hitter with 1500 hits, an MVP, a ROY, 3 World Series titles(all which he was the backbone of), 2x comeback player of the year, 7x all-star, gold glove, WBC champ, batting title, 4x silver slugger, and he has the most postseason hits for a Giant. We actually did see some down years that you could argue were decline years until he found his stride this season. 2019 was not a good year for him because he had 7 homers while hitting .257, and 2018 he had 5 homers but hit .284 in 105 games. We’ve also seen him hit .300+ in 6 seasons, and .310+ in 4. In his MVP season he hit .336 coming off of his plate collision the year before
Not to mention, he has caught the most postseason shutouts in MLB postseason history
Stats do support his HoF case if you compare them to other HoF catchers.
Only if you compare him to the worst of the HoF catchers, which no one should ever do.
Sometimes the voters (usually the veteran’s committee) sends an undeserving candidate to the Hall (think Harold Baines). That does *not* mean we have to judge every potential HoF candidate by that low standard.
Do you consider Gary Carter one of the worst? He has the 2nd highest WAR for any catcher. Carter, like other HoF catchers, had similar numbers to Posey, over their first 12 years.
Posey: .302/.372/.460, .831 OPS, 129 OPS+
Carter: .273/.347/.463. .810 OPS, 125 OPS+
Berra: .290/.354/.492, .846 OPS, 129 OPS+
Bench: .268/.343/.484, .827 OPS, 130 OPS+
But players with longer careers aren’t putting up HoF numbers as they age, they only pad their stats.
Carter’s next 7 seasons: .238/.307/.381, .688 OPS, 93 OPS+
Berra’s next 7 seasons: .270/.332/.455, .787 OPS, 116 OPS+
Bench’s next 5 seasons: .266/.337.448, .785 OPS, 115 OPS+
By my account, Posey was just as good as Berra, Bench and Carter over their first 12 years. Posey, by retiring early is only forgoing the opportunity to pad his stats, as the others did with good, but not great numbers.
Tad,
Bench
75 WAR, 2 MVPs, 1 WS MVP. 14 AS Games, 389 HRs, 10 PS HRs
Posey
45 WAR, 1 MVP, 0 WS MVP, 7 AS Games, 158 HRs, 5 PS HRs
Posey may make it in, but Bench is markedly superior
Wrong. What numbers are you looking at?
One of my favorite players in the game. What a stand-up decision for his family. I don’t blame him, but selfishly would’ve liked to see him ride out this recent Giants’ retooling. What a phenomenal final season too!
HOF or not, he’s one of the best contemporary catchers in the game.
Not too many players, of any sport, would leave $22M on the table while being guaranteed a final year with a solid, winning team.
The pessimist in me says theres more to the story here (did he battle with coaching?) but the optimist says who cares and wish him the best.
Congrats Buster – now go take care of that family and don’t look back.
See you in Cooperstown Buster.
Posey was a cut above every other catcher of his generation. He deserves a HOF nod.
Sad for us he was kind of player make me watch a giants game just to see him
Just became a Pusey fan a few months back. Sorry to see him go
Sorry meant Posey not Pusey
My phone tried to auto-correct to Pusey as well. Weird.
Of all the changes in the past decade to the way baseball is played, this rule change is the least consequential. Not once have I thought, “man, this game would have been better if the catcher had been plowed into the ground at least once.”
His retirement will cost SF butts in seats. Should be packed when his number is retired….
Good for this dude. Made plenty of money, got hurt a lot, won his rings, and gets to go be a family man at still a young age.
I’m bummed out as I figured the Marlins and Giants matched up well for a Bart trade. They need starters which we have in spades and we need a catcher badly. Seemed like the perfect scenario.
Oh well good luck to him.
Wishing Buster all the best in his future endeavors.
He could’ve had a monster season as a DH should that rule be included in the next CBA.
Hopefully, his family is well and he is making this decision on his own terms for whatever reason.
Congrats to a great catcher.
Congratulations on a great career Buster. A great player and a gentleman going out on top of his game and not chasing an extra year of what to most would have been an extraordinary salary. Says a lot about the man and his priorities.
This guy was a hero. As soon as he arrived in SF to stay, they started to win. After being called up in 2010, he immediately went on a hitting streak. The team won its first championship in half a century. When he got hurt, they lost. When he recovered, they won another championship. He was an incredible leader in the clubhouse and on the field. He played the game the right way, didn’t fight with umpires, and was respected across the league.
Thank you, Buster.
One of the best catchers to ever play the game. Hall of famer no doubt.
Nope.. Putting him with Berra bench and pudge? Wake the f up. Good yes legendary not so much
22 million freed up? That looks like Robbie Ray money to me.
I had always hoped he (or Hunter Pence) might bring back the player/manager concept. I’m pleased with what the Giants did this year, but still haven’t warmed to Kapler. I do wonder if Posey has it in him to manage, as he always a leader with a quiet equanimity and confidence.
so the back story is the Giants didn’t go for Scherzer or another high profile rental because they wanted to keep Joey Bart
which led me to believe at the time that they might’ve had a good feeling that Posey wasn’t coming back
Or maybe they just value their #2 prospect (or whatever) more than they valued a rental for a few weeks?
Congratulations on a fine career Buster. Three championships in twelve seasons all with the same team is something to be truly proud of.
Not to mention his MVP, ROY, Gold Glove, 7 all-star selections, 4 silver sluggers, and a 2x comeback player of the year. He’s also a huge family guy who now gets to watch his kids grow up. Congrats Buster. Enjoy retirement
A slam-dunk Hall of Famer. I admire players who go out on their own terms despite there being something left in the tank. It’s not the best lifestyle, even with all the money. Posey’s decision reminds me of Mike Mussina, who retired after his lone 20-win season that gave him 270 wins for his career. Some people were screaming he should stick around to win 300, but Mussina saw his life differently and was ready to move on. Those are happy stories, in my opinion. These guys are more than just jocks.
@Cey Hey: Well said.
Moose played 20 years not 12.. hof players have to be the best of the generation. 12 years is not enough
@FG-3: Sandy Koufax begs to differ.
Sandy Koufax was the greatest pitcher anyone had seen for 30 years, and retired due to injury, not by choice. It’s not a valid comparison.
12 years is 12 years. FG-3 set the bar, not me.
You can compare Posey to Sandy Koufax now? Have you ever watched baseball?? I mean really? That’s just asinine
You said 12 years. That’s the cutoff, right?
“12 years is not enough”
-FG-3
Slam dunk?? Like Jordan?? Posey was the best catcher for 2 years. Put him up against Fisk.. Bench.. piazza . Berra . Pudge. Molina. He’s good. And I’m sure a nice guy. Not a hall of gamer
Based on WAR he’s better than Molina. and he’s played six fewer years. Molina had 4+ WAR twice. Posey had 4+ WAR six times.
I’m a Cardinals die hard, so I am biased. Having said that, WAR is a useful stat but sometimes the eye is useful too. IMO, Molina and Posey are both Hall worthy. Sometimes stats fail us. How many games have the Cards won because of something Yadi did that doesn’t add to WAR? Calling a certain pitch, calming a young pitcher down. Eliminating the running game, etc.
Brandon, I don’t disagree with you, but FG-3 is pretending there’s a huge gulf between Posey and those other guys (including Molina). IMO, Posey and Molina are in the same stratum. Neither one is a Bench or a Berra. They are both Hall-worthy.
Something tells me there were underlying concussion issues involved in his decision. I’m bummed but he really leaves the game on a high note. Greatest catcher in the Giants 140 year franchise history hands down. Time to step up Joey boy.
Posey was a really good catcher. A part of 3 Championship teams. But… Bench Fisk Berra Pudge not quite. A fair assessment.. posada and his numbers are better he didn’t sniff the hall. Posey makes it I call White Privilege! He’s good not great
White Privilege? Really?
Yea really… he won 3 titles. Posada 5 275 hr 1000 rbi. Never sniffed hall.
Posey was good. You would put him up against Berra Bench piazza? Pudge that’s a joke
White Privilege? You’re unhinged.
Posada was a good player on a team stacked with stars year after year. Posey was one of the stars on his championship teams. Posey was an MVP, Posada may have gotten a few down ballot MVP votes. Big difference.
Piazza? The steroid user? Haha
White privilege? What a moronic statement. The Baseball Writers Association of America is a racist organization founded to keep minorities down? Stupid. Idiotic.
You had a relevant argument with Posada’s numbers, then you trashed it playing a useless race card. Glad there’s a mute so I dont have to see your trash any more…
Oh I forgot… Piazza! Best hitting catcher of all time? Putting posey next to him. Are y’all serious
Piazza was a steroid user too, so yeah, I’d stack Posey up next to him.
If he’s not a hall of famer, there isn’t one
There are 235 hall of famers who were MLB players, most of them with statistically greater careers than Buster Posey. He was a great player with a nice career. You don’t have to say something silly just because it’s over
How does he rate among catchers in the Hall and not in the Hall? That’s the only question that matters.
Bench, Berra, Fisk, Campanella, Gary Carter, Piazza* and Rodriguez* are the only catchers I feel were better than Posey and there’s heavy suspicions Piazza and Rodriguez juiced. Safe to say Posey is a top ten catcher all time…are you really saying someone who was top ten at a position shouldn’t get in the HOF?
How many catchers are in the Hall in the approximate 150 years of MLB? 14? 15? It’s an underrepresented position considering it’s importance. He should receive strong consideration.
@lordd99 There are 18 catchers in the hall of fame but only six have played a game in the past 50 years (Bench, Fisk, Carter, Piazza, Simmons and Rodriguez).
And now I feel old. Posey was at Florida State my freshman year of college. Was such a privilege to watch him play there, and cheered for him his entire career. Congrats on an amazing career Buster!
Congrats from a Dodgers fan for a great career. As a fellow dad of two sets of twins myself, if my earnings at age 34 were even a fraction of his $168 million, I’d retire as well.
This is shocking to me. He seemed to have many more years left in the tank with a lot of money still left on the table. Transition to 1st or DH somewhere. Too good, but respect his career. His choice at the end of the day, right? Made his money, enjoy retirement
i muted a know-it-all
The youngest Giants manager to be born in a few years.
Buster Posey invested 5-6 million in Body Armor when it first started. It was just sold for 5.6 billion! Kobe invested 6 mil, and his estate got $400 million when it got bought it.
I don’t think he needs to play ball anymore.
I don’t think he’s needed to play for years. He played because he wanted to. Mike Trout was also an investor. I doubt he’ll be announcing his retirement.
Only 34. Seems like he’d have at least 2 maybe 3 years left. His knee injury I’m guessing really took a toll on him. He came back strong but knee injuries are the worst for catchers. Unfortunately Kyle Schwarber knows all about that.
Posey was so highly thought of that America’s past time was forever changed. Rip Ray Fosse
This is a bit of a surprise. I wonder if the nagging injuries have just piled up and he said F it. It is weird to see a player walk away from that much money but good for him if that is his decision.
Good for him. Seems he’s been around longer than that. Quite a career.
One of the many great picks by John Barr, the unsung hero of the Giants success (and other teams as well). If only the Mets would get him. That’s where he started.
Good to see him go out on top. Great player who led successful teams. All the best to him
::Slow Clap::
Great career but not a HOF career.
Great career.
Buster Posey is a great player. Congrats on a fine career.
Is he a Hall of Famer? I dont think so, but I believe a lot of Hall of Famers dont deserve to be there.
1 batting title… 1 mvp… roy… 1500 hits… are all great, but I would think he would need either a longer career or more awards.
Enjoy retirement.
Posey may not be first ballot, but he’ll be in the Hall no doubt. Roy, 3 titles, silver slugger awards, mvp, gold glove lifetime .300 hitter….yeah, HOF all day
And boom goes the dynamite
I’d like to have seen one more season for HOF purposes, but he likely gets in anyway. Not as good as Freehan, but just as worthy.
Past that, I have a lot of respect for guys choosing to walk away on their own terms. Whether the SFG were going to pick up the option or not, he’d have still pulled down a substantial paycheck.
thumbs up for the bill freehan love
solidly above-average hitter for his era (122 ops+ from 1967-1974) and elite defender
Nice, this means we get to see collisions at home plate again!
And here I thought Z was going to have to extend Posey for 3 more years. It will be strange NOT seeing Posey in the lineup any more. As a Dodger fan, I can say that Buster is the real deal. Hated how many times he came up big against us. The rivalry takes a hit with this.
Thank you, Buster, for being a worthy and respectful opponent. I wish you and your family only the best.
Wow, huge loss for the Giants. Joey Bart will not be good.
He can’t even hit home runs. Damn this guy is irreplaceable.
Great player, hall of fame bound. Will be missed.
I used to call him Poser lol. Hope they can at least re-sign Belt and bring in a big hitter.
We’ll see with Bart, his entry in 2020 was last minute and out of necessity and he went from A ball to the majors with no development so what you saw in 2020 was essentially his AA performance against major leaguers. He may not pan out but I am not going to judge what he did in 2020as indicating how he will play out when he comes up next year.
I believe Posey will be a 1st ballot Hall of Famer. With all the cheats I doubt there will be much of a class of HOF players entering at the same time as him.
And he’s turned down the Mets GM offer.
Now veteran Curt Casali will return possibly sharing starting duties with Bart…many fans will get to hear more of the best walk up music of today’s rock. GVF
he’s my all-time favorite player so i’m biased, but you can make a hall of fame argument for jorge posada. defensively he’s not in the same league as posey, but his offensive production is close and posada wasn’t a full-time player until his age 29 season which somewhat offsets posey’s early retirement
I’m a RS fan, and I liked Posada plenty darn well. That said, he’s in the star category, not the HOF category.
a red sox fan who doesn’t despise posada is rare. fwiw i loved watching pedro pitch, even when he made my team look silly
Once they work remotely, it’s hard to get people to come back to the office.
Posey execelled at the plate and in tne field,has 3 WS rings, won MVP and closed out his career with a very strong season. He is a HOF player and as much as I liked Simmmons and especially Carter IMHO there is no comparison. Simmons was a greaf hitter but not great behind plate and Carter was exceptional behind the plate, great power but wasn’t the hitter Posey was.
Thank you for the contribution to the game, wishing you a happy retirement!
Side note.. do hope he becomes a MLB manager later on when/if he is ready and if he wants to do it. I think he could be a great one if it is anything like his playing career. Super high baseball IQ.
Mike Scioscia, Bruce Bochy, Bob Melvin… Yeah. It will work.
Shattered! But what a career, I raise my cap to him for doing what’s right himself and his family. Suddenly makes the Giants catching ranks a little more pressing. Big off-season coming up. Happy retirement
Character is part of the hall..he is locked in. It’s just the stats that don’t add up. Kirby Puckett was injured. Koufax was injured. A 12 year career and the numbers just don’t add up. His span doesn’t add up to Bench. Piazza, Fisk or even pudge. Maybe my standards are too high
It’s going to be quality v quantity argument. Posey is ahead of Molina in fWAR, and Molina has 2,677 more PAs. Unfortunately, the defensive component of WAR, for catchers, is unreliable. But Posey generally grades out pretty well.
He also has some peripherals that voters like. ROY, MVP and 3 WS rings.
All the more reason the Giants now have to go out and sign a first basemen that can play without numerous trips to the IL.
I think the upset here is that the Giants never offloaded Brandon Belt to move Posey to first to save his knees. It certainly didn’t help this oft-mentioned prognostication’s chances that Belt really started hitting the last few years, and of course Posey opted out in 2020 as well.
If the Dodgers don’t re-sign Corey “Moving to 3B Eventually” Seager, two NL West “inevitable position change” narratives will have died before coming to pass. In both cases, it’s possible that neither organization felt a move was needed, either. And I feel like maybe I heard Posey himself wanted to catch?
This Dodger fan won’t miss Posey seemingly going 3-4 every damn game against LA though. And I say that as a compliment to Posey’s career.
Buster Pusey was my favorite right handed catcher in the national league west.
A legendary Giant and a giant of baseball.
Respect.
he’ll be lucky to sniff to hof in 10 years
Sign Austin Hedges.
MVP 3 rings and ROY but a first ballot HOF highly unlikely. He will get in at some point but no way on first chance
Don’t get this, even if the injuries have piled up, move to the American League and become a full-time DH.
Posey isn’t like that. He isn’t one to jump around on teams. If he were to leave it would’ve been to Atlanta to play for the team he rooted for growing up
Could of been one of the best but was always injured and missed a ton of time.To young to retire.He will take a year off and return most likely Atlanta.
He won’t play again. He said it best in his press conference. Baseball is merely the vessel that has provided him with the opportunity to live a good life. Listening to a man that has perspective in relation to the game was very refreshing.