In fairness to Sabean, Molina is hitting 345/420/460 at the major league level at the moment. Amazingly enough, Molina seems to have learned the value of a walk at age 36 and is on track to obliterate his previous season high. Posey would mostly be riding the pine until Molina tails off.

Legally, teams can't say their managing service time clocks. The players' agents would file grievances.

Sadly, don't think the Giants are managing service time - they think DeRosa and Molina nad co are better hitters. BORK (what we've taken to calling Bochy) will sit Posey and give him an AB a week.

Re: Strasburg

Does it make sense for the Nats to have him pitch out of the stretch on occasion even with no runners on base? While the point about his refining his mechanics from the stretch is more of a cover-up to a service-time excuse than a real reason to keep him in the minors, if it's something he can work on to get better, well ... he ain't pitching much from the stretch right now.

Concerning Posey's defense, the one catching skill for which there is no metric (as opposed to errors, passed balls & caught stealing) is how he is handling the pitching staff, calling pitches, etc. Is this the area of concern for the Giants as opposed to just how he's catching and throwing the ball?

I really don't understand the reasoning that he isn't ready to call a major league game as an excuse to keep Posey in Fresno. How much better is he going to get at calling a Major League Game by spending an extra month in the Pacific Coast League catching Bumgarner, Pucetas, Hacker and Joe Martinez?

Let's look at the many aspects to Buster Posey.

. The primary reason the Giants sent Buster to Fresno (aside from re-signing Bengie Molina) was to work on his pitch-calling and handling of pitchers.

Posey's catcher's ERA of 3.46 this season is nearly a run and a half lower than former Giants backup Steve Holm's.4.87. Over the past four weeks Buster has been a 2.81 compared to Holm's 5.16. That's approaching a two and a half run difference.

I can't say how Buster is calling pitches or handling his pitchers, but I can say his pitchers are getting results when he is behind the dish.

. The Giants also wanted Buster to work on his defense, since has been catching for only three and a half years after being a shortstop through his freshman year at Florida State University.

As mentioned by Kevin, Buster is errorless (at first base, as well), has allowed only one passed ball and as far as I know, only one wild pitch.

I believe Kevin officially has Buster at 6-for-12 baserunners caught stealing. In reality, one of those CS came when Madison Bumgarner picked a runner off first base and the runner was caught trying to "steal" second. Still, Buster would be 5-for-11 (45%) on his actual throws.

We know Buster is athletic, and he seems to have cut back markedly on his previous propensity for passes balls. The Giants believe he will become one of the best in baseball at playing defense and showing generalship from behind the plate. It would appear if Buster isn't there already, he's closer than the three-hour drive from Fresno to San Francisco.

. As Kevin pointed out, Buster's OPS is above 1.000. When the Giants called up Pablo Sandoval in 2008, Pablo's numbers between Class A San Jose and AA Connecticut were a .355 batting average with a .588 slugging percentage. Buster's numbers this season at AAA Fresno are .355 with a .579 SLG.

Despite the similar results, there is a tremendous difference in their style's of hitting. Unlike the free-swinging Sandoval, Posey is a disciplined hitter. In his minor league career he has walked only two fewer times than he has struck out.

. After a day off, Buster's hitting turned the corner 10 games ago. The right-handed hitter was already achieving a high average, but most of his hits had come to center and right fields.

Using the whole field has long been one of his strengths. But using the WHOLE field includes pulling the ball on occasion. Buster had hit only one home run and was averaging only a base and a third per hit.

In his past 10 games he has hit four home runs to left field and used the entire field to add six doubles. After averaging a Bondsian two bases per hit during those 10 contests, he is now up to nearly a base and two-thirds per hit.

. The primary component Posey lacks in being major-league ready appears to be a position to play. Bengie Molina and Eli Whiteside not only have the Giants' team ERA under three, they may have been the best-hitting catching duo in the majors. Aubrey is playing a decent first base, both offensively and defensively.

Giants left fielder Mark DeRosa will again need surgery on his re-injured wrist. If it hasn't improved by the weekend, he will likely go on the disabled list. If he undergoes the surgery during the season, he will likely miss the rest of the year.

If I were the Giants, I would begin having Buster play left field when he's not catching. At Florida State, Posey once played all nine positions in a single game. He picked up first base in spring training with little or no practice before being put into the lineup.

Posey's speed is average, so I don't think he could play center field or possibly even his previous position of shortstop. Although he closed in college with a 94 mph fastball, he doesn't really look like a pitcher. But I think he could play any other position on the field.

Right now the Giants have no place to put Buster. The guy has poise, and he's one of the most intelligent and athletic guys in the organization. Work him out in left field and at second base so he has three positions to play when he's not catching.

Posey doesn't have the speed, but he's got the verstatility of Craig Biggio. The Giants should take advantage of it to find places to get his bat in the lineup on a daily basis.

The comment was made that if the Giants brought up Buster Posey up they wouldn't play him.

They would -- for two reasons.

First, they aren't going to sit their top hitting prospect. If for some reason he's not yet ready for the majors, they would send him back to Fresno. Aside from the food, playing in Fresno is better than sitting in Frisco.

Second, notice that playing starts with P, and sitting with S? Bruce Bochy uses a PS system for when to play his players, young and old.

Produce and you will Play. Stink and you will Sit. It's as simple as PS.

No BS.

I see that today, the Richmond Flying Squirrels played a game where *everybody* except the pitcher played out of position. Nick Noonan, a 2nd baseman up to now, caught, holding the opposition to 2 runs and throwing out an attempted base stealer. It really makes you wonder how much 'savy' one needs to catch - or play any other position really since apparently there were no errors.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2010_05_13_altaax_ricaax_1

Dustin Ackley's certainly happy to turn the calendar page.

April: .147/.289/.227

May: .353/.476/.529

I'm still waiting for a Drew Storen comment.