Giants Talk: Buster Posey shares how lottery jump impacts 2026 MLB Draft mindset | NBC Sports BA

Giants Talk: Buster Posey shares how lottery jump impacts 2026 MLB Draft mindset | NBC Sports BA

All right, Buster Posey, it’s been a very quiet week, but you did have some really good news and I know it wasn’t very quiet in the suite here. Yeah, you guys moved up from 15 to four on the lottery. You were down there, you did the show, you kind of talked about what it means to be that high a pick. Giants have had a lot of success with top five picks. How big is that for you? I mean, it’s it’s huge. Um, little bit of good fortune, you never know. I mean, could change the trajectory of of a team for 10 plus years or more. So, you know, now the fun part starts debating um kind of who we think might uh fall into that or not fall but be there when we pick fourth. And um watching Michael Holmes, our our scouting director, walk around these last 24 hours, he’s uh he’s got a little extra pep in his step. So, um it’ll be fun to to you know, you you’re hoping when you pick right there, you find an impact player that that can uh help you win a lot of games at the big league level for a long time. I’ve seen him. He’s just holding up four fingers everywhere he goes. Excited about this. Uh, it has been a very quiet week, not just for you guys, but in the industry in general. Has that surprised you at all? Uh, I don’t know. I mean, this is my second year doing it, so I don’t know if how different this is from from last year. You know, for us last year, we signed Adamus right before the winter meetings and knew that was probably going to be our our big move. Um, yeah, it’s it’s I I think you somewhat alluded to it in the first question. It’s it’s quiet as far as news. It’s certainly not quiet um on the suite. there’s a lot of different ideas being thrown around um amongst oursel and then with other teams and um you know it’s it’s uh I learned last year you think you might have something and you don’t and maybe you think you have something again and you don’t and a lot of times you don’t. So that’s kind of uh that’s kind of the way things are. As a catcher you’re able to control the game as an executive you have to be patient. Is it hard for you as we sit here in mid December to to just be patient and know that there’s still a ton of players out there? Um, I don’t think it’s hard. I mean, I think I just understand that that’s part of it. Um, so I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s hard. I mean, I think everybody would tell you that, you know, you wish you could sign and trade for every player that you want, but the reality is that’s just not going to happen. I mean, um, you know, I had to be patient as a player when I was 0 for 15 and wanting to, uh, you know, try to find a way to get some sleep at night. So, um, it’s part of it and, uh, we’ll keep keep going and and see what we can do to to try to improve the team that we feel is, um, in a really good spot to, um, really feel like we’re right there. We’re right there to getting back to where we all want to go and know that the Giants belong. A lot has been made this off seasonason about maybe financially where you guys are at. How would you describe to fans maybe where you’re at and what you’re able to take to Greg at times? Yeah, I mean the way I would describe it is is that Greg and the rest of the ownership group um from my experience has always been very willing to listen. Um so if if we find a player that we think um help is going to help us win games and and you know compete for a World Series, they’ll they’ll listen on it. Um, at the same time, I mean, they’re they’re pragmatic people as well. And, um, so that’s, you know, that’s part of part of my job is being able and Zach’s job being able to say we believe in this player and and then there’s a conversation to be had with them. But, um, you know, I go back to the De’s trade last year. It’s not like we we took on, you know, a guy making Yeah. 260. Yeah. We took on a lot of money. And, uh, so the the the willingness is there. um just it need needs to make sense for us. When you look forward and maybe what you’re looking at with some of these long-term contracts, how much in the back of your head is is the potential of labor uncertainty and not knowing how much you’ll lose a year from now and and what this roster might look like two two three years from now? Um yeah, I mean I think it’s like you said, I think it’s in the back of your head. I mean ultimately the way I I try to think about it is like our job is to to win in 26. I mentioned earlier that we feel like we have a team that’s that’s right there and capable of doing that. Um, so that that’s really how I’m approaching approaching it is is we’re trying to construct a roster that we feel like is is going to be great in 26. I know there’s some things that you don’t necessarily want to talk about in terms of like qualifying offers, stuff like that. One thing that that in the past I think there’s a perception that maybe this new front office doesn’t like opt out as much as the previous one which which did them quite gave him out quite often. You guys have done the big deal with Willie. Obviously, you take on Denver is a big just traditional deal. When you see some of these other deals that do have the optouts now, how do you feel after doing a year of this and maybe having these conversations with agents? I’m definitely not opposed to them. Again, I just think that you’re weighing um like any deal that you’re going to do, you’re you’re weighing the the upside and the downside of it and and what how that does impact you um in the short term and the long term and but no, definitely not opposed to it. I remember after a year of Farhan doing this he said I kind of looked around and said young pitching that’s a huge hole in this organization couple drafts where they basically only take pitchers. Is there anything over the last year when you’ve just sat back and watched and you go like this is one area that we can really target and get better at? Um I mean on the on the position player side I mean I think it’s probably pretty obvious based on some of the trades we’ve made and how we’ve drafted. Um, I’m a believer in contact and and that you can develop power um if you’ve got somebody that can put the ball in play. So, that’s probably, you know, a decent uh philosophy that we’re trying to hold true to. And again, there maybe there’s exceptions to to that that thought as well. I mean, pitching, it’s I don’t think you’d ever ask somebody and say, “We’ve got plenty of pitching. You know, we don’t need any more pitching.” So, um you’re always looking for for great arms that that you think can help you. You’ve been very high on that group and last spring you were very high in that group. Obviously Kyle helps you get de Landon RP establishes himself. When you look at that whole group now with RP and Birdong and Tidwell and Tang all these guys how many of them are do you think are in your plans for the start of next year and how much of this is like you said you you’re going to need them over the course of year. I’d say that’s up to them you know it’s up to them on and how how they perform. So, uh, certainly hope that there’s a a handful of them that that we’re saying like we need we need this guy in the rotation or we need him in the pen, but ultimately it’s going to boil down to to how they perform. Finished with this a year ago. This time you guys are poised to sign Joshua Arkansas has a very good first year. You’re poised again to do very well internationally. You’ve had some time now to look at that. I’m sure maybe something you didn’t get to see as much as a player. What kind of impact have you seen from that group on this organization? Well, Joe Sermo um leading the charge for us in the international department has done a has done a great job. I mean, uh Joshua, somebody that we spent some time talking about yesterday and uh look, he’s 17 18 years old, but I mean, some of the reviews from our scouts and are are glowing reviews. And again, you try not to get too excited because you understand that there’s a lot that can change for somebody that’s 17 or 18 years old by the time that um they’re going to be in the big leagues. but he’s somebody that we’re really excited about. Um there’s handful of pitchers now that you know been at the low A level or high A um that have come from the international side that we’re really high on and as you mentioned um hopefully again here in a month we’re going to bring in another group of players that have the chance to to really help us. Was there a moment this year watching Joshua in the Dominican? I don’t know how much of him you got to see on on tape or watching the games that you kind of was like, “Oh, I I I get it now. I get why they were so high on that. I I mean, as much as anything, I think you you just look at him and you’re like, “This is different.” You know, you watch the way he walks around the batting tunnel before he even takes a swing. You listen to the ball coming off his bat. The defense is the defense is is very real. Um so I think you just combine all that. Um he’s a very confident kid, too. Um so it’ll be exciting to watch him. I mean, he’s uh a long way to go still, but it’ll be exciting to watch him. All right, Buster, thank you for the time. I know it’s very busy. We’ll maybe see you at a press conference at some point in the next few weeks. We’ll see. Maybe. Yeah, we’ll see. Thanks, Buster.

San Francisco president of baseball operations Buster Posey joins NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic on “Giants Talk” to preview the 2026 MLB season.

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Why Giants’ draft lottery result can ‘change trajectory’ of franchise | Giants Talk | NBCSBA