'Mutual interest' in Buster Posey extension, but 'no real urgency'

The Giants are in the news again! Kind of. Ken Rosenthal thought enough of the whispers that he posted an update on the Buster Posey extension talks. And the update is … well, there isn't much of an update. That's the update.

Heck, the 25-year-old Posey already is more accomplished than Jeter at a comparable stage of his career, despite appearing in only 308 regular-season games.

Whoops! That's not the quote. Hold on.

Both players won Rookie of the Year awards and two World Series championships in their first three seasons. But Posey last season captured two honors that Jeter never has won, a batting title and MVP award.

Whoops! I messed up again! How clumsy of me.

The two sides have mutual interest in reaching a long-term agreement, but no real urgency to complete such a deal, major league sources say.

Ah. There we go. And even though Posey isn't going to be a free agent until after 2016 at the earliest -- something the Giants should post on their Facebook page once per day -- this is going to become a thing if it hasn't already. I'll go ahead and start a StoryStream™ on this pressing matter, and we'll just update the hell out of it for the next several years.

But if you don't want to read all these words, you're in luck. Here's the dumbed down, simple version of how the Giants should handle a talk of a Buster Posey extension:

If

… Posey's agent approaches the Giants with a mindset of, "Okay, here's the face of your franchise. Here's one of the very special players in baseball. Here's a guy you want to keep around in some capacity for the next six or seven decades until he shuffles off into the Arizona or Florida night. He's four years away from free agency, though, so he's interested in some cost certainty in his own right. " Then, yes. Talks should be frequent and intense.

However

… if Posey's agent approaches the Giants with a mindset of, "Okay, assume Buster Posey is going to put up those kinds of statistics every year," then it's probably best to wait. Because while it's not impossible for Posey to repeat his season -- it might not even be unlikely -- one of the truisms in baseball is to assume that otherworldly performances are probably going to regress, even if just a little bit. Mike Trout is a good bet to regress just a little. R.A. Dickey, Miguel Cabrera, Andrew McCutchen … all of them.

So if Posey (and his agent) wants to be paid like a player who will win the MVP every year, there's no harm in waiting another year. If Posey does it again, well, he'll still be expensive to lock up. The Giants will lose a little leverage because there's one fewer arbitration year to buy out, but if that's the mindset entering the negotiations, there's not a ton of reason for the Giants to commit this early.

Except for the part about Buster Posey.

Considering the ankle injury and the relatively short shelf-life of catchers in general, I'd wager that Posey and his agent are coming at this more from the first angle, which is more pragmatic and sensible. And if Posey isn't those things, dang it, then I'm not sure what to believe in this crazy world anymore.