It's no revelation that Buster Posey has a significant impact for the Giants - both at the plate and behind it - but because of his brutal injury last season, no one knows if his impact will be as big as it was his rookie season or if he'll be able to stay on the field enough.
The Giants' offense was terrible last season for many reasons: Aubrey Huff's production massively declined; Freddy Sanchez was always hurt; Cody Ross' postseason heroics didn't carry over; Andres Torres was banged up and much less productive; Miguel Tejada.
While all of these were big reasons for a drop in offensive production, the loss of Posey had the biggest effect.
It's hard to quantify how much of an impact he had on the pitching staff or if he handled the staff much better than Eli Whiteside or Chris Stewart but he without question is a better hitter than both Whiteside and Stewart combined. Losing Posey meant replacing the Giants' cleanup hitter with guys who often didn't look like they should be in the majors. [Stewart and Whiteside are good examples of "replacement" players in the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) statistic].
I and every other Giants' fan hope Posey is fully recovered but it's hard to be hopeful when you see how bad the injury was and that he plays catcher, the most physically tolling position in baseball.
If the Giants don't overuse Posey - and make sure Scott Cousins isn't within 100 feet of him - I expect him to have at least a decent year because he is so crazy talented. There are so many questions surrounding his injury, though, and the uncertainty is not easy on anyone involving the Giants. November 1, 2010 seems so long ago.
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