Outside The Confines: So long, Buster

“You’re embarrassing me in front of Buster Posey.”

I had figured today’s OTC would be all about reactions to the Braves winning the World Series. That’s already yesterday’s news.

• San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey announced his retirement in a press conference on Thursday. Posey cited the physical demands of the game and a desire to spend more time with his family as the reasons for his retirement.
• Austin Laymance and Manny Randhawa have a list of other stunning baseball retirements.
• I think The Athletic has about 15 stories on Posey, but I’ll try to just list a few. Grant Brisbee looks back at Posey’s career and says his career was like no other Giant’s. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Brisbee also has the four most underrated moments in Posey’s career. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Tim Kawakami writes that Posey was the rock of the Giants’ Golden Age. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Buster Olney offers his thoughts on the “other” Buster in baseball and the in-jokes they shared with each other. Olney also writes that Posey could re-write the rules for what a Hall-of-Fame catcher should look like. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Jay Jaffe writes that Posey is headed to Cooperstown.
• All four writers on this MLB.com roundtable agree: Posey is a Hall-of-Famer.
• David Schoenfield, on the other hand, isn’t sure that Posey will be inducted, and really doubts that it will be on the first ballot if he is. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Posey’s longtime rival, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, said that he hopes that his son emulates Buster Posey, both on-the-field and off-the field.
• I’m sure we’ll have more to say about Buster Posey in the days ahead. Turning back to the World Series, Zach Kram notes that the Braves won the World Series because they did one thing better than every other team: the Braves tried.
• Gabe Lacques has a similar take: The Braves won because they never gave up when they could have.
• Eno Sarris has four lessons that other teams can learn from the Braves’ title. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Jeff Passan explains how the Braves carried on and got their “swagger” back after losing outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. midway through the season.
• Buster Olney recounts Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman’s long road traveled from a serious battle with COVID-19 to a World Series title. (ESPN+ sub. req.) Freeman admits that he seriously thought about doing what Buster Posey just did and for pretty much the same reasons.
• Jay Busbee explains why this title means so much to the Atlanta area.
• Dan Szymborski breaks down how Atlanta won Game 6 and the Series.
• Jesse Rogers tracks down what happened to the ball that Jorge Soler hit out of Minute Maid Park in Game 6.
• Former Cub news:

• Bradford Doolittle has three questions for the Braves as they head into the offseason. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Turning now to the losing team. Michael Baumann writes that the Astros were a good team in 2021 that needed to be great team like they were from 2017 to 2019.
• Zach Crizer notes that the Astros have some major questions heading into the winter as well.
• It does look like we have the answer to one question about the Astros, however, as there are reports that the Astros will bring back manager Dusty Baker next year. It seems odd that it was even a question, but it was.
• Tim Keown looks at yet another season that ended in disappointment for Baker and the philosophy and desire that keeps Baker coming back for more.
• We apparently now have an explanation for the altercation between Mets infielders Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil from this past May: reportedly Lindor was frustrated and angry by McNeil’s repeated refusals to position himself properly on defense when the team had a shift on.
• There was a trade in baseball as the Reds sent catcher Tucker Barnhart to the Tigers for infield prospect Nick Quintana.
• As long as we are on the Hot Stove, Mark Feinsand has the biggest need for every MLB team this winter. Other than a new CBA, of course.
• Anthony Castrovince has the Top 25 free agents this winter.
• R.J. Anderson offers his Top 50 free agents.
• As does Keith Law, who serves up his Top 50 free agents of 2021-22. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Shortstop Carlos Correa seems to top everyone’s list and so Thomas Harrigan has a breakdown of what teams are paying for with Correa.
• Outfielder Nick Castellanos has opted out of his contract and will be a free agent.
• Things are looking bleak in Oakland and so Jake Mailhot tries to answer what’s next for the Athletics.
• And finally, let’s return to Buster Posey one last time. Brian McGrath has the most unusual highlight of Posey’s career: the time he threw a ball back to a distracted Jake Peavy so that it bounced off Peavy’s chest and into his glove.

Tomorrow’s the first day of the rest of your life, Buster. Enjoy it.