San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, citing health concerns for his newly adopted twin baby girls because of the coronavirus pandemic, announced Friday he was opting out of the 2020 major league baseball season.
Posey said the adoption was made official on Thursday, SFGate reported.
“A week ago, identical twin girls were born that my wife and I are adopting,” Posey said at a news conference. “My wife, myself and our older children are overwhelmed with joy ... to share life with them. Since I knew this adoption was on the table, I’ve decided to opt out of the 2020 season. We feel this is the best decision for our babies.”
"My wife, myself, my children are just overwhelmed with joy to welcome them into our family." - @BusterPosey discussing the adoption of twin girls. #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/b5eOxZxG4g
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) July 10, 2020
The twins, named Ada and Livvi, were born prematurely and are in a neonatal intensive care unit but are doing well, SFGate reported. They have weakened immune systems, Posey said.
Posey, a six-time All-Star, three-time World Series champion and the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 2012, is one of the more prominent baseball players to opt out of this year’s shortened season. He joins Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher David Price, Washington Nationals first baseball Ryan Zimmerman, Colorado Rockies outfielder Ian Desmond, 2010 Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez and Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Mike Leake in sitting out the 60-game season, which begins July 23.
“The Giants fully support Buster’s decision,” the team said in a statement Friday. “Buster is an integral part of our team and will be sorely missed, but we look forward to having him back in 2021.”
“This is not a difficult one,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “I think that a lot of people around baseball will say family first. I think it’s important that we actually put that into action by throwing all of our support in making these decisions even easier for players because they know that they have to support the leadership in the organization.”
Posey was scheduled to make about $8 million in salary this season, which the Giants do not have to pay under an agreement between MLB and the players’ union, The Associated Press reported.
Giants President Farhan Zaidi and his son with a message for Buster Posey after he announced he was opting out of the season pic.twitter.com/Mmv6dwZtiV
— Jason Appelbaum (@JasonAppelbaum1) July 10, 2020
Posey has two other young children -- 8-year-old twins Lee and Addie -- and had hinted he might skip this season on several occasions, SFGate reported.
“I think there’s still some reservation on my end as well,” Posey told reporters earlier this week. “I think I want to see kind of how things progress here over the next couple of weeks. I think it would be a little bit maybe naive or silly not to gauge what’s going on around you, not only around you here but paying attention to what’s happening in the country and different parts of the country.”
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