00:00So the president of baseball operations for the Giants, and I think we all have the same question.
00:04I guess it's a two-parter. For me, it's why and what. What is he going to say and why?
00:11Like, Buster Posey called this press conference to start a homestand when the Giants have been
00:18fending off PR disasters like, you know, bugs flying out of windshield. And so I think that
00:27there's going to be a lot of curiosity to hear what he says, but also get that answer as to
00:33why.
00:34What exactly is it that the Giants are trying to get out in front of right now?
00:37I think what he's going to say, Mark, is he's just going to clarify the fact that Jared Oliva
00:42was claimed by the Mets today. I think that's why he called the press conference.
00:46There goes the Giants' speed. They had speed, and it's gone.
00:49Well, they had speed, and then they pinch-ran that speed for Rafi Devers, and then they didn't
00:53use the speed at Jonah Cox, but Oliva's been claimed by the Mets. Maybe this whole thing
00:58is just a little bit of a smokescreen to really officially announce all of the news.
01:02And I'm obviously joking, but that's the only thing that right now is newsworthy, and I don't
01:08even know if he's started his press conference yet, but he can address any number of things.
01:13He has. He has started his discussion in the dugout, and again, as we kind of get the
01:21quotes and hear what's being said, we're going to give you all of that reaction as
01:26soon as possible. But I know where people's heads are. Obviously, it starts with Rafi
01:31Devers and reacting to what took place in Miami on Sunday. The Pride Night stuff has
01:37been a little stubborn to go away. The Giants came up again yesterday in a statement from
01:44the commissioner of baseball, Rob Manfred, in talking to politicians who were kind of threatening
01:52to bring action against discrimination. Baseball kind of responded by saying, first of all, keep
01:59in mind, we have a rule in place that's collectively bargained that says you cannot change uniforms.
02:04You can't write stuff on you. You can't do that. Secondly, we didn't punish anybody. So I don't
02:09know how there could be discrimination. All we did was warn everybody. But the thing that made
02:14it kind of new again last night is in the end of the letter, Manfred blamed the Giants. He blamed
02:21the Giants for all of this and said their internal communication was very poor with their players
02:27with regard to what they were allowed to do, what they were not allowed to do, and the fact that
02:33the
02:33uniforms in and of themselves were a choice and that the players did not have to wear them if they
02:38did not want to. Right. And so I don't know if that was communicated to the players or if players
02:43just chose to do whatever they wanted to do anyway. But the whole thing, it's kind of a
02:49powder keg that you're right. It just won't go away. And I wonder if Buster will even address
02:54it because no matter what Buster says, he's either going to alienate part of his clubhouse
03:00or the rest of the clubhouse. No matter what he says on that issue would be inflammatory.
03:04Okay. This is interesting because here are the first two pieces of information that we can give
03:09you as far as what Buster Posey is saying right now in the dugout. Here is issue number one.
03:17Buster Posey declines to discuss anything regarding Pride Night communications and anything else to do
03:25with Pride Night. Quote, baseball questions only. Numerous follow-ups got the same answer. Quote, baseball
03:35questions only. Okay, Buster. What about Rafi Devers? Quote, he has not spoken to Devers yet. It sounds as if
03:44he
03:44might. Devers is expected in the lineup tonight. There you go. So why are we holding a press conference?
03:51I don't know. So you won't address Pride Night and that's fine. And it makes me wonder how he actually
03:56feels as an individual about Pride Night and the entire, you know, movement in totality. I don't
04:03know if I've ever seen him speak on it. And so if he won't answer questions about it, maybe he's
04:08somebody
04:08who agrees with what those pitchers did. A couple more pieces of information to pass along. Buster says
04:14that Tony Vitello did speak to Rafi Devers and then added, quote, everybody has missteps.
04:21So he is characterizing what happened with Devers in Miami as a misstep, said everybody has missteps.
04:29Tony Vitello spoke to Devers. Buster at this point has not. One other baseball issue has come up.
04:35Buster Posey flatly says he is absolutely not open to trade offers on Logan Webb. Right, but open to
04:42pretty much anything at the deadline when it comes to the big name contract guys except
04:47Logan Webb. And I'm reading from Susan Flusser. I know you're looking at Alex Pavlovich and we're
04:52kind of doing the dual Twitter stalking right now. And the fact that, you know, everything is open
04:58except for Logan Webb. I like that because Logan Webb is somebody, if you traded him, you're going to
05:03want to go out and get another Logan Webb. So what are we doing? Buster has added that the San
05:09Francisco Giants have discussed Pride Night internally, but did not want to discuss it
05:15publicly. And then his only quote was, our focus is on the team, the draft, the trade deadline,
05:23and trying to win games. That's from Buster Posey.
05:27I mean, so again, why are you out here speaking? Like, because honestly, you should be focused on
05:34the team, the draft, winning games, the deadline. Like, those are obvious things. So why are you
05:40coming out and speaking? I just don't get that.
05:42Um, I can give you a guess. I'm with you. I don't know how this is technically going to make
05:49anything better or go away. But my sense is, is that the Giants right now have such a high level
06:00of discomfort in terms of the way the public narrative about their team sounds. It has been
06:07one hell of a week and a half. One hell of a week and a half. The San Francisco Giants
06:12have gone
06:13from accusations of bad teammates all the way up to Capitol Hill and claims of discrimination
06:20and beyond. So that's all happened in a week and a half. Um, also meantime, you've had all of the
06:27reports from every baseball reporter in the world, basically saying Giants are willing to get rid of
06:33all their players. Giants just want off of all their players. Add all of this up. I think that
06:39they are so uncomfortable with the discourse right now that Buster just felt, I better go talk.
06:46I better go talk. What are you going to say? I don't know, but I just better be available because
06:52we need, we need to look like we're willing to address this, but odd that he would come out and
06:58on one of the subjects be like, we're not addressing it. Right. And apparently he made a statement and
07:02then, uh, refused to take questions about pride night. So he was able to make that statement. I
07:06haven't seen exactly what he said, but other than that, like he expects Rafi Devers to be in the
07:12lineup. Okay. That's fine. That's Tony Vitello's decision, I guess, but player, your highest paid
07:18player, show up your manager, and then you have an off day and you call a press conference to say,
07:24I expect him in the lineup. What are we doing? Like, what's the point of any of this? For me,
07:29as a Giants fan, you're not assuaging or soothing any of my concerns or my questions.
07:35Quote, it's been a rough year. No question. It's been a rough year. It feels like we get a little
07:42bit
07:42of momentum and it goes right back the opposite way. And again, I'm with, it's like, yeah,
07:48that's obvious. You're 15 below 500. Yeah. That, that, that part is obvious. I think right now in
07:53this moment, the immediate question for Giants fans, and we will take your calls coming up here
07:59in a moment, 888-957-9570. Um, I think we've got the first response with regard to how the Giants
08:07are handling Rafi Devers. And that is Tony Bitello had a conversation. Buster Posey did not.
08:14He characterized it as a misstep. There will be no discipline. So Giants fans, what do you think?
08:20Right. Going out there, Rafi, and he's played in every game. So go ahead and keep playing in every
08:26game. And you know, if you get into a spot tonight where you have to be pinch run for,
08:31go ahead and bring out the index finger, go ahead and wave the finger again. I'm not shocked at all
08:36that he's going to be in the lineup tonight. I actually support him being in the lineup. We
08:40don't know yet if he's playing first or DH. That was one thing I'd love to see, which is the
08:44Giants
08:44back Bryce Eldridge as their first baseman by putting him at first base for at least a few games.
08:50But I will tell you one thing that I would have loved to see, um, a little bit more firm
08:56of a
08:57statement from Buster with regard to what Rafi did on Sunday. Quote, everybody has missteps. To me,
09:05is true. Uh, but it's a little light. I would have loved Buster to give something more along the
09:11lines of you can't do that. Right. We ain't doing that around here. Steve Kerr with the, uh, he cannot
09:17be that guy pounding on the table, which it's easier for Steve because he's been doing it longer and
09:22he's the coach and, you know, pods is a young player, but you should, if you're going to have
09:26a press conference, you should come out and say something either. You know what? It's a misstep and I
09:32support Rafi and this and that, or like, he shouldn't do that and be a little bit more,
09:37you know, condemning of what the action was otherwise. And I'm still waiting for the other
09:42shoe to drop on his press conference. Like why? Why? Like, why are we doing a press conference?
09:46I don't, I don't think you're going to get, I don't think you're going to get what you're
09:49looking for. And I know that I'm not going to get what I'm looking for and shout out you too.
09:54You too. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. But to me, it just speaks to Buster's
09:59inexperience, Tony Vitello's inexperience and the whole front office, which is kind of a
10:04Schmidt show. Honestly, it's amateur hour. Although Schmidt's been playing well, so it's actually
10:10not really that much of a Schmidt show, but I, uh, but I get it.
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