Buster? You can’t say he’s not sincere

But can he bring the Giants back from the brink?

As this unfolds, for me it boils down to one question:

What happened?

Three years ago Buster Posey retired from the Giants and from baseball. Buster, it was said, was leaving for his red dirt home of Georgia. The famously straight-arrow Posey was getting rid of all that Left Coast foolishness. We might never see him again, other than an Old Timer celebration or two.

And then, abruptly, he’s back. Not only back, but an investor who is in for a chunk of the team. And a public figure, speaking out on the difficulties of attracting free agents with a troubled view of SF. Then stepping in and locking down the Matt Chapman contract, when talks seemed to be spinning listlessly in limbo.

So the question is, what happened?

Why did Buster not only decide to come back, but put down roots, push chips into the middle of the table and step back into the whirlwind of PR, snarky columnists, unforgiving fans and a national profile.

And how can we thank him?

Holy fungos, is there a franchise in baseball — a proud, history-drenched, multiple world champion — that is so in need of a jolt of excitement?

The hapless Giants have become the Eeyores of baseball, the melancholy sad sacks of the game.

“Oh well, it doesn’t matter if we didn’t get Aaron Judge. It probably wouldn’t have worked out anyhow.”

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The Buster-fication of the Giants gives the team the big, tent pole signing everyone has been craving. Granted, he’s just not going to grab a bat and solve the lack of hitting in critical situations.

But he is smart, baseball savvy and incredibly well-respected in the game. The players, and I wouldn’t say this often, have a sense of awe.

The oft-told story is that during spring training, Posey would be putting on shin guards in the dugout, and think of something he wanted to say. And everyone would go silent, wanting to hear what it was.

Will he be any good at the job?

You’ve got me.

Running baseball team is a little like singing karaoke. A lot of people think they can do it. And, once handed the mic, a lot of them find out it is harder than they thought.

But every once in a while someone stands up and — unexpectedly — can actually sing.

My guess is Posey is pretty good at spotting talent. That he can watch guys and pick ones who have a chance to be good.

God knows, the Giants need that.

This is too simple, but it seems so much of what ails the Giants comes from a lack of production from the farm system. (Others have made this point much better. Please check with them for numbers and yearly stats.)

But the fact remains, if you are not getting players from the farm pipeline, you are necessarily going to have to populate the Big League team with free agents. And free agents are always a risk. They’re free agents for a reason.

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So down the road, a guy like Posey might give a look at someone in Double A and find a gem. The Giants need help now. It is no fluke that this roster finished at roughly .500 two years in a row. With a ginormous payroll, by the way.

Posey is clearly going to have to do some extensive roster re-jiggering. He is going to not only be the guy to evaluate free agents — obviously the goal will be a BIG STAR — but to land them. The Chapman experience, when he stepped and buttoned things up promptly, is encouraging.

And let’s don’t forget the recent financial reminders about the Giants’ fiscal future. Number-crunching deep thinkers have recently made some interesting points.

A.) The mortgage is paid. The Giants, not some civil municipality, own their ballpark. Which, by the way, remains one of the gems of Major League Baseball.

B.) The A’s are gone. The sad, infuriating saga of an East Bay team is over. The Giants own all of Northern California.

C.) The big office, housing, retail complex across from the ballpark is a Giants’ development.

In short, this could easily be one of the wealthiest franchises in baseball. Wouldn’t it be nice to toss around the phrase “free-spending Giants?”

We will see. We can say the sense of anticipation is at a level we haven’t seen in years. Will Buster have the juice to make big — expensive — decisions? Will he attract the stars, who want to play in SF? Will Kruk and Kuip get to call another playoff run?

TBD.

All be know is that it is a new day in the land of the Giants, and if you’re not excited, or at least intrigued, I’m not sure you are really a fan.

Because, as we know, many of you jumped ship during the Farhan Zaidi era.

And granted, it was a tough watch. The who-is-this-again roster moves. The strict platoon lineup. The “openers,” who pitched an inning or two and then left. The trades and signings for players who disappeared like the morning fog.

The odd thing is, Zaidi was actually as advertised. He was an MIT grad who used was a true believer in analytics. He was ready to take chances — openers — and he went deep into the rosters of other teams’ farm system to identify young guys who fit the statistical profile.

Mike Yastrzemski, who kicked around the minor leagues for the Orioles for years, was the prototypical Zaidi signing. He saw something in Yaz that others did not.

But there wasn’t enough of that. Too many wild hare, here-today-gone-tomorrow signings.

Nor did the Giants draft well in the Zaidi years. Some of that is on the scout brain trust, but the head guy always gets the credit and blame.

Zaidi is also, as advertised, an enjoyable interview. He’s quick-witted, very aware of the media angle and someone you’d like to sit with to watch a baseball game. I suspect even those who called for his ouster would say they like him personally.

But I don’t think he had good judgement.

Which is always a murky area. You can ace the tests and recite the stats, but there’s no substitute for making the right call, choosing the best option.

To me, for Zaidi, it always comes back to hiring Gabe Kapler. For the life of me I can’t get why he hired him, who seemed Zaidi’s polar opposite, for the most critical first hire of his regime.

I’m not talking about the controversy that Kapler and Zaidi muddled into when they were in the Dodger organization. It was an assault accusation in the minor leagues that neither handled well.

It came up at Kapler’s hiring, which certainly put a damper on the announcement. But both said they mis-handled it. And both apologized. What more could they do?

No, it was the Kapler seemed so little like the affable, witty Zaidi, that you wondered if he’d been forced on him by unseen pressures.

Kapler was just, odd. He didn’t offer much in interviews, but then would occasionally veer off in unexpected directions. In a discussion of tennis shoes in the dugout at one point — I don’t know how we got there either — Kapler asked us who was better, Rod Laver or Stan Smith.

It is either the sign of an active, inquisitive mind or an off-beat personality.

It is hard to say what the players thought of him, but the omission of comment speaks volumes. Yastremzeki’s observation that the team became a “fend for yourself” atmosphere was no vote of confidence.

And I think that decision hurt Zaidi. It was just a weird choice. And, in the most cynical view, a referendum on Zaidi’s judgement.

This will be the test for Posey. I like his chances. The the public view, you always get extra points for a sense of humor. (Steve Kerr) And Buster is funnier than he lets on.

He’s no newbie to the media either. The conventional wisdom is that Buster didn’t have much to say to interviewers. But he had a long and well-documented career. He was interviewed plenty, and frequently on national television.

He’s done this part of it. He may not enjoy it, but he gets it, understands it and knows reporters aren’t his friends. And I think he’s fine with that.

At his formal retirement announcement three years ago, Posey gave a nice speech about his time with the team. He’s not a wordsmith, but he’s genuine, and it shows. He expressed appreciation to the team, the fans and the city. It was very nice.

Afterward, during some milling around, I ended up standing next to him, informally.

“You forgot to thank the media,” I said.

That got a laugh.

Welcome back Buster.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Twitter: @cwnevius Threads @cwnevius