Baseball president Buster Posey met with the media Tuesday afternoon. He predictably expressed disappointment with San Francisco’s place 15 games under .500 while referring to the expected trade deadline.
“I think we’re going to leave all options on the table,” Posey said (links via John Shea of the San Francisco Standard and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). “With the way things are trending now, I can say that we have to stay open to see what are the best ways we can try to improve the club.”
Besides, Posey doesn’t seem interested in hearing other teams out of his ace. Ask them if they would consider a trade Logan WebbPosey simply replied “no.” Webb is signed through 2028 and became MLB’s leading pitcher in June, coming off a season-opening stint on the injured list for three weeks due to knee bursitis.
Posey’s comments follow a recent column from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, who reported that Webb may be off the table as the front office prepares to trade. Free agents are coming Luis Arraez, Robbie Ray again Tyler Mahle all will be available. They will have to pay a portion of Ray’s $25MM salary and may have a hard time finding a replacement for Mahle. Arraez, however, could be the best player on the roster to change hands this summer.
San Francisco is open to spending long-term commitments on them Rafael Devers, Matt Chapmanagain Willy Adams. Those are all above market value contracts, though, and they’ll need to eat up the bulk of the Devers and Adames deals. Chapman, who is making $25MM this season and signed for $100MM through 2027-30, may get more attention from other clubs. Adames and Chapman also have full no-trade clauses in their deals.
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Chapman, a Southern California native who has spent much of his career in the Bay Area, told Evan Webeck of the California Post last week that he had not considered the no-trade clause. Chapman said he hadn’t heard anything from Posey about a possible trade. Posey confirmed that, telling reporters that he had never discussed the matter with the veteran insider.
Devers has no-trade protection, but is owed $211MM over seven years after this one. His .238/.302/.433 batting line would be his worst since his first full big league season in 2018. This player, who has received three times, found himself at the center of controversy on Sunday when he tried to swing a runner. Jonah Cox in the ninth inning. Devers ended up leaving the game to avoid the punch of Jayce Tingler who coaches the bench when he got to the box.
Posey said he had not yet discussed the incident with Devers but “would probably sit down with him.” The first baseman spoke to the media this afternoon and chalked it up to a misunderstanding with manager Tony Vitello (link via MLB.com’s Maria Guardado).
“Two days before that, I had told him I had a muscle problem,” Devers said in Spanish. “I thought that’s why he took me out of the game. That’s why I was trying to show him that I was okay. … I apologized, which was the right thing for me.” Devers added that he sees the media making this situation a bigger deal than it deserves, which he said is due to his habit of avoiding conversations. “Every time something happens to me, you (journalists) make a big deal, I don’t care what you guys think about me because you are the ones who always focus on negative things,” he concluded.
Vitello said there was no problem and the situation was resolved when the two talked about the team’s flight home from Miami. “I feel like Tony has the clubhouse,” Posey said of the first-year captain. “I think he has respect for the club’s players. Everything will be higher if our record is like this, but I’m not worried about him not having the respect of the club.”
