The San Francisco Giants don’t need another trade deadline flyer. They don’t need another minor league, maybe. They need their Jimmy Butler.
That’s the challenge San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler just laid at Buster Posey’s feet: Find the guy who can save the season—not patch it. Not stall. Change it.
And after watching the Giants sleepwalk through a 1-0 extra-innings loss to the San Diego Padres, the urgency has never felt louder.
Posey Can’t Wait for Plan A
The current strategy? Hope Willy Adames starts hitting. Pray, Patrick Bailey remembers how to hit at all. Wait for LaMonte Wade Jr. to break out of a slump he’s been in since March.
None of that is working.
The Giants have scored 18 runs in their last nine games. They went 7-for-57 with runners in scoring position during that stretch. It’s not a slump. It’s a structural failure.
Adames, who finished 10th in MVP voting just last year, is down to a .206 average with a .618 OPS. Bailey is hitting .188. Wade Jr., now day-to-day after taking a pitch to the hand, was hitting .167 before getting hurt.
Posey can’t afford to ride this out. As Ostler said, “It’s getting late for Plan A.”
Plan B? Too Green. Plan C? Do It.
The obvious internal option is 20-year-old slugger Bryce Eldridge, who hit .307 with six homers in May at Double-A. But he’s only played 34 games this year and has never faced Triple-A pitching.
Conventional wisdom says it’s too soon. But conventional wisdom is what got the Giants stuck in this cycle. And honestly, could Eldridge be worse than Wade Jr.’s .167 or Pederson’s ghost of a platoon bat from years past?
Still, the honest answer—Plan C—is what Ostler hammers home: Make a bold trade. Find your Jimmy Butler.
It’s what the Warriors did when their window was closing, sitting in 10th place in the West with no momentum and a roster showing its age. They didn’t wait, they went out, and got a star.
Now it’s Posey’s turn.
What “Jimmy Butler” Means for the Giants
The Jimmy Butler comparison isn’t about position or even skill set. It’s about impact. The Giants need a hitter who doesn’t just fill a lineup spot but transforms the offense.
They need an edge. Someone who can pull them out of neutral. Not a role player. Not a platoon specialist. A guy who can take over a series, fire up a dugout, and flip a season.
Do those guys hit the market in June? Not usually. But the correct GM doesn’t wait for the market to open—he makes the call before someone else does.
Posey has the farm system, arms to dangle, and credibility. What he needs now is the boldness that the Giants’ leadership has lacked for far too long.
Time’s Up for Sitting on Your Hands
This isn’t just a cold spell. The Giants haven’t scored more than four runs in 15 straight games. They’ve cooled off after a hot start, slipping in the standings because the bats have gone silent.
Posey wasn’t hired to stand still. He wasn’t hired to play the same patient game Farhan Zaidi did. He was hired to change the culture—to think like a competitor, not a calculator.
Scott Ostler’s point is clear: The Giants are at their crossroads. They can wait, hope, and watch the season slip away—or Posey can swing big.
The Giants don’t need a role player. They need a tone setter. A fighter. A leader.
They need their Jimmy Butler. And it’s Buster Posey’s job to find him.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Giants Columnist Drops NBA Superstar’s Name in Challenge to Front Office appeared first on Heavy Sports.