Buster Posey will miss the All-Star Game because of an inflamed hip

Buster Posey’s .412 slugging percentage is the lowest of his career if you throw out his abbreviated 2011 season. That’s important because in 2011 he was clearly starting to dig his way out of an early season slump (the Giants’ offense was, too) when Scott Cousins happened. This year, he’s 31 years old, so a decline in power felt like a reasonable prediction, except that he still hasn’t quite looked like himself despite the decline. Well, now we know why.

I was beginning to fear that Buster Posey had declined to a 4 days a week player who would work counts and hit singles every now and again, but that fear is unfounded. Go ahead and put yourself in the batting stance and shift your weight to your back leg and then spin your hips out. If you’re right-handed, you’ll feel all that torque on the right hip.

Now just squat. Hold it for, like, 18 seconds. Don’t your hips feel like they want to shoot out of your sides and embed in the nearest wall?

So, yeah, that’s a lot of pain to deal with and it’s no surprise Buster Posey isn’t spraying balls all over the place. Unlike Andrew McCutchen, who has the highest line drive rate of his career, Buster Posey’s is the lowest of his career since 2011 and almost 4% off from last season. I think you’d agree a rested, healthier Posey will be better for the Giants and all of us versus a backup All-Star who still went through the rigmarole of the whole weekend.

This is probably the only time that losing to the Cubs is a good thing. Wilson Contreras gets to start in the National League’s probable loss, Dave Roberts gets to feel pressure to replace Posey with J.T. Realmuto Francisco Cervelli instead of his boy Yasmani Grandal.

UPDATE:

Get that injection, Buster, and give that hip some time to heal. Then come on back and crack them balls around the yard for the rest of the summer.