How Buster Posey’s Unexpected Journey Is Reshaping His Legacy On and Off the Field

As the baseball offseason trudges into its later stages, most of the marquee moves have shuffled off the board—yet, in a familiar refrain for the third straight year, the Los Angeles Dodgers appear to be the team sipping everyone’s milkshake, stirring up more than a few wrinkles among rivals. It’s easy to grumble about the Dodgers ‘bullying’ in the marketplace, but there’s something to admire about an organization that doesn’t just rest on past glories. They’ve built a magnet for premier talent, a culture so alluring that agents reportedly reach out proactively, nudging players to chase the Dodger blue dream.

With eyes peeled for the World Baseball Classic and the likely comeback timelines of Kiké Hernández and Evan Phillips, the narrative could easily veer into the usual offseason cacophony—the stirred pot of rumors and blame-games, from lockout whispers to finger-pointing. But let’s pivot our gaze northward, toward the National League West neighbors who’ve been up to less fanfare and more… well, inactivity.

While the Padres wrestle with the uncertainties surrounding Yu Darvish’s hinted retirement plans and the Diamondbacks continue to lurk as the last team to best the Dodgers in October, the Colorado Rockies offer little offseason drama either (though a summer trip to Denver awaits). Then there’s the San Francisco Giants—a team whose offseason could be succinctly summarized by the phrase ‘firm, masterly inactivity.’ For those familiar with British political satire, that may sound like Jim Hacker facing off against Sir Humphrey Appleby, but in the case of the Giants, it’s a rather candid euphemism for standing pat.

Five years of stubborn mediocrity years… save for a brief 2021 sugar rush, the Giants have consistently failed to raise meaningful playoff hopes. Instead of cashing in on an active market brimming with talents like Tatsuya Imai, Bo Bichette, and Kyle Tucker, they’ve settled for signings that barely register. Their payroll speaks volumes—Dodgers’ luxury tax bills nearly match the Giants’ entire roster expenses last season. Such a strategy leaves fans and locals alike, who live within an hour of Oracle Park, scratching their heads.

Even the recent headline-making change—the hiring of a new manager—has sparked more skepticism than enthusiasm. When the biggest offseason buzz revolves around who’s on the bench rather than who’s on the field, it’s hard not to wonder if Buster Posey’s front office tenure is veering toward the same difficulties faced by other former stars turned executives.

In fact, the blunt assessments from beat writers and pundits alike reveal a franchise that’s not just treading water but seemingly content to do so. Attendance figures barely tick upward, postseason aspirations seem faint, and key opportunities to bolster the squad went untouched.

Meanwhile, even Giants pitcher Logan Webb’s diplomatic remarks after FanFest suggested a weariness with the situation—a player tasked with competing under the weight of unmet expectations, watching divisional foes like the Dodgers reload with high-impact signings.

So what to make of it all? Amidst the shuffle, the Giants quietly acquired the Curran Theater, a curious acquisition miles from the diamond but seemingly emblematic of an offseason more focused on sidesteps than strides forward. The Dodgers, on the other hand, continue to write the script of a golden era—one that longtime fans would do well to savor every twist and turn.

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We have reached the portion of the offseason where most of the major pieces have come off the board (and shocker — for the third offseason in a row, the Dodgers are drinking everybody’s milkshake, allegedly bullying everyone, much to everyone’s agita).

Never mind that the Dodgers have created an environment that both keeps and attracts the league’s best talent. No one can accuse the Dodgers of sitting on their laurels.

“We’ve agents reach out and say, ‘Hey, I know you haven’t called, but our player would really like to play there.’”

Andrew Friedman on the Kyle Tucker signing & the Dodgers culture.

( 🎤: @THEREAL_DV) pic.twitter.com/3qk9BshK4y

— AM 570 LA Sports (@AM570LASports) January 22, 2026

At this point, as fans, we await the upcoming World Baseball Classic and the potential returns of Kiké Hernández (think when the 60-day injured list goes live) and Evan Phillips (think All-Star Break).

Rather than devote column inches today on the Gondola, or the absurd narratives that the Dodgers are responsible for the impending lockout in December of this year, which is just so dumb, but when does a lion worry about the shrill bleating of sheep, it’s really the same story but from different angles.

Let us instead look northward and at our northern cousins to see what, if anything, they have gotten up to.

With the hoopla of signing Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz, one could be forgiven for not paying close attention to what the NL West was getting up to. For instance, the San Diego Padres’ arguably biggest news this winter was a report on Saturday that old friend Yu Darvish was going to retire before additional reporting that Darvish “was thinking” about retirement with three years to go on his deal.

As for the Arizona Diamondbacks, I have nothing to say as they are the last team to vanquish the Dodgers in October. Game recognizes game, even if you only thumped a now-retired-as-a-three-time-champion Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller, and Lance Lynn. I have been respectfully silent for three offseasons, which will be long enough once play resumes in March.

As for the Colorado Rockies, well, my mother picked Denver for the August trip.

But the Giants? I always pay attention because of the fact I live less than an hour from Oracle Park. Even if I wanted to ignore them, the citizenry will not oblige. And the Giants’ offseason can be summarized as follows:

Firm, Masterly Inactivity

To quote one of my favorite British comedies, Yes, Prime Minister, which debuted in 1986, featuring Paul Eddington playing Jim Hacker, a well-meaning doofus who ascended to Prime Minister at the conclusion of Yes, Minister (the previous series), squaring off against Sir Nigel Hawthorne playing Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Cabinet Minister: the Giants have mastered “firm, masterly inactivity” during this offseason.

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I have been on record lamenting the obstinate, persistent mediocrity of our northern cousins during these past five years. Apart from a sugar high fluke of 2021, you can basically write the Giants being non-contenders in pen, while glancing and wondering whether a chisel and stone tablets might be more appropriate.

When I last left off, I had the following to say about our northern cousins:

Much like a kid who peaked in high school, instead of engaging in self-reflection and therapy when life did not go according to plan, the Giants assumed everyone else was the problem, 2021 was the norm, and they continued to double down.

And double down and double down. The fun part, especially as a Dodgers writer who lives in the Bay Area, the locals are starting to notice and grouse about this fact.

The Giants signed pitchers Tyler Mahle, Sam Hentges, and Adrian Houser…in a market that had Tatsuya Imai, Bo Bichette, Kyle Tucker, Edwin Diaz, etc. The Dodgers paid almost as much in luxury tax as the Giants paid in total to their roster last year. Talk about not leaving home.

When a head-scratching manager hire is the most notable thing about your offseason, even the locals are starting to wonder if Buster Posey has lost the plot. Sure, he will likely get elected into the Hall of Fame next year, but at this rate, he is mimicking the arc of other star athletes who went into the front office: woefully inadequate.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle spoke to Foul Territory on January 20, and she did not hold back.

To gently disagree with Ms. Slusser on one point, yes, the Giants finished two games out of a playoff spot.

However, portraying the Giants as having any serious postseason aspirations in 2025 is generous to the point of absurdity, without discussing the LOLMets trainwreck. The Mets started 45-24 with the best record in MLB on June 12 before melting down over the next 93 games, going 38-55, worse than everyone except the Rockies, the Washington Nationals, the Minnesota Twins, and the Chicago White Sox.

Yes, the Dodgers were maddeningly inconsistent this summer and even putrid in stretches, but they managed to right the ship, which clearly the Mets did not.

And even if the Giants had somehow bumbled their way into the postseason a la the Cincinnati Reds, their prize would have been facing…the Dodgers, who could be forgiven for what that thumping noise was while easily dispatching the Queen City boys.

Ms. Slusser summarized how team president Buster Posey has said he will make moves, yet ownership has largely been absent in this postseason regarding Bo Bichette (Mets), Tatsuya Imai (Astros), Cody Bellinger (Yankees), and Munetaka Murakami (White Sox). All were available at non-exorbitant contracts.

Attendance was up marginally in 2025, finishing 7th in baseball while averaging 36,121 per game, compared to 10th in 2024, when the average was 33,096 per game. At this rate, one wonders why.

Farhan 2.0?

Dave Tobener of SFGate was even less complimentary of the Giants’ offseason on January 22 in a delightful essay titled “I thought Buster Posey had changed the SF Giants’ ways. Looks like I was wrong.” Some highlights to bask in include:

It’s been an underwhelming offseason for Farhan Zaidi and the Giants. Coming off a year when they missed the playoffs by a handful of games, it seemed like the organization was just a few key moves away from making a real push this season. But instead of addressing their most pressing needs in free agency or through a trade, the Giants instead settled for a series of moves that Zaidi is known for: signing pitchers coming off major injuries, loading up on backup catchers, and crossing their fingers that platoons can give them enough offensive production to get by. Very, very underwhelming.

Whoops, hang on – sorry, this is a lede I wrote a few years ago. I opened the wrong Word doc. Let me see here… well, actually, it still works. I just have to change Zaidi’s name to Buster Posey, and it’s good to go…

…As it stands now, the Giants are going to roll out a team that’s remarkably like the one that just went 81-81, only this time with a weaker bullpen, clear lineup holes and a shaky rotation beyond their ace. They seem to be counting on a new manager to generate excitement and right the ship, but has anyone ever bought a ticket to see the manager? Tony Vitello has been making the rounds lately to talk about how he wants the Giants to be the villains of baseball this season (which is laughable considering the team they share a division with), but what reason would anyone have to hate this Giants team? What have they done to make anyone fear them, let alone hate them?

The only vitriol may be coming from their own fan base. There’s a clear path to the playoffs in the National League that they seem to have no interest in taking. It’s maddening. Posey may not be turning into Zaidi, but the differences are getting harder to spot.

When it rains, it pours, because just before this essay was to be submitted, a news alert gave us one last gift.

A thimble for the ocean

To conclude, the media asked Giants’ pitcher Logan Webb after the Giants’ FanFest in San Ramon about his participation in the upcoming WBC. During the scrum, someone asked Webb his thoughts about the Giants’ offseason.

To his credit, Webb was diplomatic, while looking like someone being asked to empty an ocean with a thimble.

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“It’s not my job to add guys or do anything,” Webb told reporters Saturday at Giants FanFest in San Ramon. “It’s our job to just go out there and try to compete. Obviously, yeah, it’s not fun for me to watch the team that won it and the team that kicked our ass a lot last year go out and get some really good players just to make it more difficult.

The Dodgers prevailed in nine of 13 contests in 2025. For the record, if not for Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott, that count would have been eleven out of 13 contests. And the Dodgers just added to their bullpen and upgraded their corner outfielder play, while likely saying goodbye to Giantkiller Michael Conforto.

Do I have much pity for an organization that helped nudge the Oakland Athletics into their exile in West Sacramento? Sometimes you reap what you sow.

The Giants did make an acquisition back in December that I almost forgot about: the Curran Theater, which is about a mile and a half from the ballpark and the Mission Rock development. I do not recall the McCourts ever buying a theater, but considering that 15 years ago, the Dodgers were the punchline, the recommendation for the Dodgers faithful is to enjoy every drop of this golden era.