{"id":434288,"date":"2025-12-08T23:15:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T23:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/434288\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T23:15:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T23:15:42","slug":"as-buster-posey-seeks-upgrades-to-giants-rotation-the-team-will-listen-on-bryce-eldridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/434288\/","title":{"rendered":"As Buster Posey seeks upgrades to Giants rotation, the team will listen on Bryce Eldridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Starting pitching is the Giants\u2019 No 1 focus at this week\u2019s winter meetings, and Buster Posey is open to trading for accomplished rotation pieces or signing them through free agency.<\/p>\n

And not of the scrap heap variety.<\/p>\n

The popular narrative entering the meetings was that the Giants were out on the big-name free-agent starters in part because of chairman Greg Johnson\u2019s comment to The Standard<\/a> that the franchise will be \u201cvery cautious\u201d about pitchers commanding $100 million or more.<\/p>\n

But on Monday, while sitting in his hotel suite between general manager Zack Minasian and new manager Tony Vitello, Posey suggested that he has trust in ownership to be aboard on certain players that will be costly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as much as anything, Greg has shown that if we come to him and feel strongly about a certain player, he\u2019ll at least listen on it,\u201d Posey said. \u201cEvery team has to operate within a certain set of parameters, and that\u2019s part of it. Greg and the ownership group didn\u2019t blink \u2013 well, I shouldn\u2019t say they didn\u2019t blink \u2013 when we brought the Devers deal to them, but obviously they pushed it through for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I know [Minasian] and I feel really lucky that we get to work with a group that if we\u2019re passionate about somebody and think that it makes sense and makes the team better, they\u2019ll listen on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

2 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

5 days ago<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

Tuesday, Nov. 25<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

In the wake of Dylan Cease\u2019s seven-year, $210 million contract with Toronto, the top remaining starters include Framber Valdez, Ranger Su\u00e1rez, Tatsuya Imai, and Zac Gallen.<\/p>\n

Asked if the Giants could be a landing spot for one of the big arms, Posey said, \u201cWe\u2019re keeping our options open. I don\u2019t know how to dance around that better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that point, Vitello, the former coach at the University of Tennessee, quipped, \u201cI\u2019m not going to miss recruits telling me they\u2019re keeping their options open.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those recruits was a tall, lanky high school kid out of Virginia, who eventually chose the pros over college after the Giants drafted him 16th overall in the 2023 draft. Since then, Bryce Eldridge has soared through the farm system while crushing baseballs at every stop.<\/p>\n

Posey noted the Giants\u2019 analytics department registered Eldridge with the highest hard-hit rate in the minors, and he continued making extremely hard contact after breaking into the majors in September, though without many positive results.<\/a><\/p>\n

The front office is confident Eldridge will enjoy a successful career, but there\u2019s some redundancy on the roster with both Eldridge and Rafael Devers. Both play first base, and both swing left-handed. Posey said the Giants could make it work so that they share the position while alternating as designated hitters.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Eldridge is an attractive trade piece, and teams already have been asking about his availability. He could help fetch a top-notch starter to the Giants, though it would be tough letting him go with all his projected upside.<\/p>\n

Monday, Posey didn\u2019t waver when asked if he\u2019d listen to trade proposals for the team\u2019s top prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe listen on everybody, but we think the sky is the limit for this guy,\u201d Posey said. \u201cHe just turned 21 years old right after the season. I know he didn\u2019t put up great numbers in his limited playing time, but he didn\u2019t look like he was overmatched or scared, and I thought he had some really good at-bats for being not even 21. So I think sometimes you can say, \u2018Well, the guy\u2019s young and maybe you\u2019ve got to take that into account. I mean, this guy has flown through the system, playing in a Double-A and Triple-A at 19, 20 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s got a chance to be one of the biggest impact bats for the next 10 to 15 years in the big leagues, potentially. So we\u2019ll listen, but we like him a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitello recalled recruiting Eldridge and shared their interactions with his new bosses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cThere was obviously heavy interest from everybody in the country. \u2026 It\u2019ll be good to catch up with him a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

However the rotation is built beyond Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, and Landen Roupp, Posey said he\u2019s encouraged that it\u2019ll be a solid contingent of starters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident we\u2019ll find it,\u201d he said. \u201dI don\u2019t think any of us have a timeline. We feel good about the possibilities out there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":434289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[17492,1266,1275,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-434288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-buster-posey","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-san-francisco-giants","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115686496154511065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}