Kurtenbach: Peak Posey — calling up Bryce Eldridge is the ultimate Buster move

This isn t several cynical ploy to put butts in the seats It s not a Hail Mary to stave off headline irrelevancy either No ahead of a week-long road trip and amid a playoff race the San Francisco Giants are calling up their top prospect power-hitting first baseman Bryce Eldridge and they re doing it for the purest of reasons They think he can be the difference And it s the right button to push at exactly the right time for Giants director of baseball operations and eager button-pusher Buster Posey Related Articles SF Giants drop crucial series to Dodgers as Ray s struggles persist SF Giants allow runs in loss to Dodgers waste chance to move up in standings SF Giants place Dominic Smith on injured list with hamstring strain Encarnacion reinstated SF Giants beat Dodgers on Bailey s walk-off grand slam in th inning SF Giants can t complete sweep of Diamondbacks as Seymour is chased early Frankly Posey s unit shouldn t be in the position they are A month ago they were spiraling three games under and more than five games back of a playoff spot And since Aug San Francisco has won of games better than good but not elite Yet because the Mets Reds and Cardinals have done everything in their power to hand the Giants a playoff spot they re on the precipice of taking it This weekend they had a chance to do just that They came up woefully short with back-to-back blowout losses on Saturday and Sunday to the Dodgers It looked as if the wind had come out of this wildly streaky and temperamental club s sails A contestant like Eldridge could provide a pennant-winning gust No this move wasn t for the fans or the media my fears for the last limited months It was a move intended to send a message to the unit And that s become Posey s M O as the man in charge Related Articles SF Giants to call up top prospect Bryce Eldridge for key road trip SF Giants drop crucial series to Dodgers as Ray s struggles persist SF Giants allow runs in loss to Dodgers waste chance to move up in standings SF Giants place Dominic Smith on injured list with hamstring strain Encarnacion reinstated SF Giants beat Dodgers on Bailey s walk-off grand slam in th inning For all of my open lamenting about Posey s undeniable lack of personnel experience heading into this massive role concerns that have not been fully assuaged I must note he has proven to be a deft operator when it comes to managing his big league roster He might be three years removed from being a participant but he still has a real feel for the pulse of a group And why waste that skill in a big-league dugout handling pitching changes when you can apply it to the whole operation When the early-season magic of this company started to fade Posey cut consummate teammate LaMonte Wade It was a message that no one on the roster was safe from accountability for poor play The Giants clubhouse picked up what was being laid down they started playing better with picked-up-off-the-streets Dom Smith at first base When that form faded Posey and his front office went even bolder trading for All-Star Rafael Devers from Boston It notified the Giants that the front office deduced that this organization had the core of what was needed to compete That carrot of a message didn t work the Giants were awful for two months so Posey tried the stick at the arrangement deadline moving key relievers Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski And we can t pretend that Posey s soft-power move of sidestepping opportunities to back Giants manager Bob Melvin in August didn t resonate with the association Yes Matt Chapman Devers and Willy Adames all started hitting at the same time the true key to the band s success but the Giants positive run of form that made this season enjoyable again had the gait of a group fighting to keep their manager in his job That only brought the gang this far After demoralizing losses to the Dodgers this weekend and with Smith injured the opportunity was too good for Posey to pass up pressing the nuclear power button This Eldridge call-up is a no-risk all-reward play from Posey Detractors will suggest that the -year-old s percent strikeout rate in Triple-A where there are roughly four total good pitchers amid teams is evidence that the kid isn t ready And they re possibly right But only six games remain on the Sacramento RiverCats schedule That s not enough time for Eldridge to fix his strikeout issues there Meanwhile two weeks and games remain on the big-league schedule The Giants are a game-and-a-half back of the Mets for the final Wild Card spot in the National League That s the perfect amount of time for Eldridge to make an impact It won t affect his function time in any real way but it s enough of a runway that he can get his feet wet at the big-league level and maybe crush homers that could prove critical in a playoff race But if he is indeed not ready for the show quite yet he s not going to be up for a long enough period of time for him to do irrevocable harm to his long-term prospects It s not as if strikeouts will be out of place on this Giants company Devers has struck out nearly percent of the time since he was acquired Clearly the Giants like so multiple other teams believe you can strike out all you want in the big leagues so long as you do damage when you make contact And Eldridge can do several serious damage to a baseball His home runs in the minor leagues tops among all Giants prospects despite missing nearly two months say so His to-all-fields power has created a seemingly nightly highlight on hazy cameras in Oklahoma City Reno Albuquerque and Sacramento it provided a steady knock on the Giants door Posey answered it on Sunday night and in turn sent his association themselves knocking on the door to the playoffs another message It s time for one last push