Over on X, user @TimmyChooos posted that his dad spotted the new president of baseball operations at Los Angeles International Airport late Monday evening, sparking some discussion among Giants fans on the social media platform.
For most fans, the sighting was a sign the team is going after top free agent pitcher Corbin Burnes, whom the Giants have publicly pursued for weeks. Burnes' agent Scott Boras is based in Southern California, after all.
But then @TimmyChooos posted a blurry photo of Posey in the terminal, sitting at a gate with a man to his left.
The internet sleuths believe, even from seeing only half of his face, that the man next to Posey is Giants assistant coach Taira Uematsu. The former bullpen catcher has been with the organization for years and has been a frequent presence for the Giants' free agent meetings with Japanese players, like he was last year with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
If the Giants are following their usual modus operandi, that would indicate they were actually meeting with Roki Sasaki, a 23-year-old Japanese pitcher. His agent Joel Wolfe works for Wasserman, whose main office, wouldn't you know it, is also in Los Angeles. Posey has outright declared the Giants would love to sign the right-hander.
"Obviously, like probably all other 29 teams, it would be a dream for us to get this guy," Posey said at last week's Winter Meetings. "It's just tremendous upside and there are not too many arms in the world like his. He's a tremendous talent. He's 23 years old. It's fun to dream on, it's fun to think about him at Oracle Park and pitching deep into a game late in the year with the place rocking. We'd be over the moon to add a guy like him."
Sasaki is also the most cost-effective free agent in baseball, as MLB rules designate him an amateur international free agent who can only be signed using a team's bonus pool amount. That means that instead of maybe $100 million or more, Sasaki will likely get less than $10 million in a signing bonus. When Wolfe spoke at the Winter Meetings, the agent said money isn't going to be a major factor for his client's landing spot.
No one publicly knows for certain what Posey was up to when he was spotted at LAX. But given Posey's legendary status with the fan base and Giants fans' fervor over public sightings in free agency, these types of viral moments seem likely to happen more often going forward.