Buster Posey will have hip surgery on Monday

We knew this was coming. As discussed the other day after John Shea first broke the “Posey needs hip surgery” story, there are four different types of hip labrum surgery with varying recovery procedures. The beat reporters have relayed that the surgery Posey will undergo in Colorado on Monday will involve a recovery period of 6-8 months.

This presents a very real possibility that Buster Posey will not be on the 2019 Opening Day roster. If the franchise was worried about losing fans who’d be turned off by a drastic tank and rebuild strategy, then they should be more worried about what not having a healthy Buster Posey on the Opening Day roster will look like.

The recovery period is the bigger surprise here — then again, given that he’s a catcher, it probably shouldn’t be. And, sure, there’s a strong chance he resumes baseball activities on the faster side of the rehabilitation curve and he’s ready by Opening Day... but the news follows a humiliating and demoralizing loss. It’s just a rough night for the Giants and as not terrible as this season has been, it’s only been not terrible compared to last season. Absent that context, it hasn’t been a great season, or even a very good one. It’s been mediocre at best, although lately, it’s mostly been a disaster. Just... outright bad.

The season-ending surgery goblin has claimed the elbows of Julian Fernandez and Johnny Cueto, Pablo Sandoval’s hamstring, and now Buster Posey’s hip. Throw that on top of a heap of ugly losses and “1960s offense”, and hum baby, has this season been pretty crappy. Just, you know, not as crappy as last season.

There will be pleeeeeeenty of time for speculation about the team’s future, but for now, let’s focus on the inevitable: we’ve probably only got one game left with Buster Posey in it. He could start at first, he could pinch hit, he could take off Saturday to give a proper goodbye on Sunday... we don’t really know, but whatever we get, let’s make the most of it.

But, also, let’s get ready to say goodbye. The only way to help soften the blow is with pop hits from the late nineties, early aughts.