SAN FRANCISCO — For the second year in a row, three men in suits sat behind microphones on the club level of Oracle Park, overlooking a fall morning on the San Francisco Bay and a playing surface that wouldn’t see any action until springtime.
Eleven months ago, Farhan Zaidi sat to the right of Bob Melvin as chairman Greg Johnson introduced him as the team’s 39th manager. On Tuesday morning, hours before the start of MLB’s postseason, Melvin and Johnson flanked Buster Posey on the dais as the franchise icon laid out his vision as Zaidi’s successor.
“There’s a standard and an expectation for being a San Francisco Giant,” Posey said, invoking the names Mays, McCovey, Cain, Clark and more.
After six seasons and one playoff appearance under the modern-minded Zaidi, Posey outlined a desire to recapture the Giants’ past identity. At its core that means fielding rosters with “great players” that make up “great teams,” but ultimately, he said, “we’re in the memory-making business.”
The goal, Posey said, is to contend for championships on an annual basis, and Johnson confirmed ownership would provide the financial backing to do so, skirting any commitment to spend beyond the luxury tax but saying, “we will do it if we have to and we will spend what we need to put a winning team on the field.”
Posey was part of the board of directors that approved more than $300 million in spending this past winter that resulted in a fourth-place finish in the NL West and the fifth non-winning record in Zaidi’s six seasons. He purchased an ownership stake in 2022 and plans to hold on to it, as well as his board seat, in his new role.
Assuming the title of president of baseball operations, Posey received a three-year contract “with no contingencies,” Johnson said. He was short on specifics about the shape of their current roster or what needed to be done to achieve their goals but did announce one major shakeup.
Pete Putila, hired by Zaidi to replace Scott Harris as his general manager, will take on a different role. “One of the first tasks right out of the gate” will be hiring a general manager, Posey said, ideally someone with front office experience and a scouting background. The name of Jeremy Shelley, a longtime front office staffer, came up multiple times, though the team affirmed its commitment to follow the Selig rule and interview minority candidates for any open position.
The circumstances that led to the elevation of the three-time World Series champion and beloved former catcher into the organization’s top baseball post were far more unique. The ouster of Zaidi was hardly a shock, but the instant insertion of Posey into the role just three years since the end of his playing career came as a surprise.
“I think Farhan still is one of the great baseball minds out there,” Johnson said. “But the reality is six years and one playoffs, you can point to all the things that didn’t work or were unlucky here or …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
