Report: Giants’ Buster Posey will announce retirement

Associated PressNov 3, 2021, 11:26 PM EDT
Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
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SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey plans to announce his retirement, according to a person with direct knowledge of the decision.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Posey had yet to make his formal announcement.

The Giants said last month that they would exercise Posey’s $22 million club option for the 2022 season as long as the veteran catcher wanted to keep playing after a stellar year.

Posey hinted during the playoffs he might be done – the seven-time All-Star ready to embrace more family time with four young children at home.

“I’m definitely just going to take some time with my wife, talk with her, be able to be full-time dad of four kids for the first time in a while,” Posey said. “Yeah, just kind of take it slow and see how things progress.”

The 34-year-old Posey opted out of the coronavirus-shortened 2020 campaign to care for prematurely born adopted twin girls. He and wife, Kristen, also have twins Lee and Addison, who just turned 10.

Posey, whose contract includes a $3 million buyout, helped lead the Giants to a franchise-record 107 wins and their first NL West title since 2012 by playing regularly down the stretch as he demonstrated his health and durability during his 12th major league season.

He batted .304 with 18 homers and 56 RBIs, showing his surgically repaired right hip had finally regained full strength three years post-op.

The 2010 NL Rookie of the Year, Posey came back from a devastating, season-ending leg injury in 2011 to win NL MVP the following year.

He tore three ligaments in his left ankle and broke a bone in his lower leg when he was run over by the Marlins’ Scott Cousins on May 25, 2011. Posey responded by winning the 2012 batting crown and MVP honors while leading the Giants to a second World Series championship in a three-year span. In all, he won World Series titles in 2010, `12 and ’14.

He advocated for rules to better protect against home-plate collisions to avoid injuries for both catchers and baserunners alike.

“I try to keep myself out of the conversation as much as I can because I know people are going to connect me to it regardless,” Posey said in January 2014. “I’m just kind of sitting back and letting the higher powers hammer it out. I have my thoughts but I’ll keep them to myself.”

Posey was selected by the Giants fifth overall in the first round of the 2008 draft out of Florida State, where in May 2008 he played all nine fielding positions in the same game.

“Buster Posey hangs ’em up. What an incredible career for a lifelong Giant,” former Oakland Athletics left-hander Dallas Braden wrote on Twitter. “The statue is already being built.”

The Athletic first reported Posey’s pending retirement.

Trevor Bauer pulls on No. 96 for Yokohama’s BayStars

Associated PressMar 24, 2023, 12:35 PM EDT
Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images
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YOKOHAMA, Japan – Trevor Bauer apparently was shunned by every major league team, so he’s signed a one-year deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.

Before about 75 reporters in a Yokohama hotel, he slipped on the BayStars uniform – No. 96 – on Friday and said all the right things. Not a single Japanese reporter asked him about his suspension in the United States over domestic violence allegations or the reasons surrounding it.

The only question about it came from The Associated Press. Bauer disputed the fact the question suggested he was suspended from the major leagues.

“I don’t believe that’s accurate,” he said of the suspension. “But I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to pitch again. I’ve always wanted to play in Japan.”

He said the suspension dealt technically with matters of pay, and he said he had contacted major league teams about playing this year. He said he would have been eligible, but did not say if he had offers.

The 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Jan. 12, three weeks after an arbitrator reduced his suspension imposed by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred from 324 to 194 games.

The penalty followed an investigation into domestic violence, which the pitcher has denied.

Manfred suspended Bauer last April for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy, after a San Diego woman said he beat and sexually abused her in 2021.

Bauer has maintained he did nothing wrong, saying everything that happened between him and the woman was consensual. He was never charged with a crime.

Bauer joined his hometown Dodgers before the 2021 season and was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts before being placed on paid leave.

Bauer said his goal with the BayStars was to strike out 200 and keep his average fastball velocity at 96 mph – hence his uniform number. He said he is also working on a better change-up pitch.

He said he hoped to play by mid-April – about two weeks after the Japanese season begins – and said he has been training for the last 1 1/2 years.

“I’ve been doing a lot of strength training and throwing,” he said. “I didn’t really take any time off. So I’ve had a year and a half of development time. I’m stronger than ever. More powerful than ever.”

Yokohama has not won a title in 25 years, and Bauer said that was his goal in the one-year deal.

“First and foremost, I want to help the Stars win a championship,” he said. “That involves pitching well. That involves helping teammates and learning from them. If they have questions – you know – share my knowledge with them.”

He also repeated several times about his desire to play in Japan, dating from a collegiate tournament in 2009 at the Tokyo Dome. He said playing in Japan was on his mind even before winning the Cy Young – and also immediately after.

“The Tokyo Dome was sold out,” he said. “I’d never played in front of that many people – probably combined in my life. In the United States, college games aren’t very big, so seeing that amount of passion. How many people came to a college game in Japan. It really struck me.”

He said he’d been practicing with the Japanese ball, which he said was slightly softer with higher seams.

“But overall it just feels like a baseball and the pitches move the same. The velocity is similar. I don’t notice much of a difference.”

Other teams in Japan have made similar controversial signings before.

Former major league reliever Roberto Osuna – who received a 75-game suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy – signed last season with the Chiba Lotte Marines.

He has signed for this season with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.

In 1987, Dodgers relief pitcher Steve Howe, who had a career plagued with drug problems, tried to sign with the Seibu Lions. But he did not play in the country after the Japanese baseball commissioner disqualified Howe because of his history of drug abuse.

Bauer was an All-Star in 2018 and went 83-69 with a 3.79 ERA in 10 seasons for Arizona (2012), Cleveland, (2013-19), Cincinnati (2019-20) and the Dodgers. He won the NL Cy Young Award with Cincinnati during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.