Buster Posey reveals surprising plan for Giants closer in 2027
LAS VEGAS — There is probably one arm in the Giants’ organization with the trust and the track record to handle the ninth inning.Buster Posey doesn’t want him closing games.“I don’t think it’s out of the question,” the Giants’ top baseball official said Tuesday at MLB’s general managers meetings, “but … my preference would be not to close right out the gate.”If not Randy Rodriguez, the flame-throwing 2025 All-Star who missed this past season rehabbing from elbow surgery, then who could wind up closing games for the Giants?“In a perfect world,” Posey said, their ninth-inning man will come from outside the organization.That would allow the Giants to ease Rodriguez into his first season back from Tommy John surgery.
He posted a 1.78 ERA in 50 appearances in 2025, including 15 games he finished, but was shut down in August and had his ulnar collateral ligament surgically repaired in September.Posey said he expects Rodriguez to be ready for Opening Day, even if it’s in a reduced role.The Giants are scheduled to open their season about 18 months after Rodriguez’s operation, but the looming lockout could give him even more time to ramp up.Rodriguez took a major step in his recovery last month, appearing in three Arizona Fall League games in his first time facing batters in game action since before the surgery.
His velocity touched 98 mph, but the Giants shut him down after experiencing some elbow pain.Posey said the team was “just being careful … just being cautious.”Still, he wasn’t comfortable penciling in Rodriguez as their Opening Day closer just yet.“Really [to] be able to monitor his workload the best we can as he continues to get back to where he was before the injury,” Posey said.“But things can change.”Camilo Doval, who saved 107 games for the Giants from 2021 until he was traded to the Yankees in 2025, is back in the organization after being designated for assignment by the Pirates in September, but he is project...