Last Night's Winner: Buster Posey's Seasoning

Posey happened all over the place yesterday—4-for-5 and a play at home that was something like full-contact jai alai—and it reminded us that once, before the media began handing out Fields Medals and MacArthur Grants, Brian Sabean was an idiot.

Remember back in May, when Sabean pretended that Posey needed more seasoning at catcher in Triple-A and that, no, no, it was Not At All About The Money? (Posey needed so much seasoning at catcher that he played 12 games for the Fresno Grizzlies at first base.) At that stage, the Giants were looking up at the Padres, who hadn't yet decided to take an entire month off. They had one of the worst offenses in the National League, nine guys who might as well have been swinging turkey basters, and their best prospect was picking grass in Triple-A because the Giants general manager wanted to game his arbitration clock. This is a fine strategy—albeit an infuriating one—if you're the Nationals and have no shot at the division. If you're the Giants, though, and your current catcher is an antique Molina, and you're playing in the Superfund site known as the NL West, where a game or two might make all the difference, well, it's a dreadful idea. (It's not even particularly cost-effective if you reckon that a playoff appearance is worth roughly $25 million in revenue.)

The Giants got away with it, though. They eked out a division they might've won handily, and Buster Posey, who was deemed adequately seasoned at the end of May, is currently playing full-contact jai alai on the brink of the World Series. And Brian Sabean—a GM who would've been Minaya'd out of just about any other town by now—gets to look like the genius he's never been.