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Today it was announced that the Giants have signed Buster Posey to a deal that has the potential to make him a Giant for his entire career, or at least until 2022. Alex Pavlovic writes:
The nine-year, $167 million contract is the longest ever for a catcher and is a record deal for a player with fewer than four years of service time. It also easily surpasses Matt Cain’s deal as the biggest in franchise history.
The deal includes a full no-trade clause and awards bonuses (he is the MVP, after all), and guarantees a yearly contribution of $50,000 from Posey to Giants charities.
I'm sure in the coming days, there will be lots of analysis concerning this deal, with various people worrying or concern-trolling about Posey's health and that whole thing about being a catcher.
As a fan, I can't say anything other than I am elated. I thought about posting a photo essay about the various teams for which Posey will not play (in all likelihood...or, at least until he's 35), but I realized I did that last year with Matt Cain. Then I considered that I don't even know what I'll be doing when I'm thirty-five, and that's only a few months away, but that's not really a topic for this blog.
This contract cements the fact that Posey is part of the long-term plans of the Giants, in ways that other position players aren't. Of course, part of this has to do with his offense, with a career slash line of .314/.380/.503, not to mention a 12.9 WAR (according to Fangraphs).
Part of this is perhaps that intangible aspect of how he handles the pitching staff, but it's not difficult to figure out that he won't be spending a majority of his time behind the dish by his thirties. We know he plays first, but now is also a good time to recall that Bochy was grumbling something about Posey being able to play third because he's that athletic.
Speaking of third base, we know that one of Posey's favorite players growing up was Chipper Jones. There's no time like the present to be a fanboy, so let's take a look at those numbers...search...Chipper Jones BARVES...19 years, all with the same team, .303/.401/.529 slash line, 85.1 fWAR. Chipper would be one hell of a comp. Especially concerning spending his whole career with one team, never becoming a Dodger or a Yankee.
Who knows if these are realistic expectations. They might not be. They probably aren't. However, there's time to worry about that later. Right now it's a great day for Giants fans.
