SAN FRANCISCO — Buster Posey traded his shinguards for a board room seat two years ago when the decorated former San Francisco Giants catcher bought an ownership stake in the franchise that he led to three World Series championships.
Now Posey is assuming The Big Chair.
Posey requires no introduction in San Francisco, but a Tuesday morning press conference will mark the first time that he will be introduced as the club’s president of baseball operations.
Posey, 37, has never worked in baseball administration. He hasn’t negotiated with agents. He hasn’t engaged in trade discussions with rival clubs. He’ll have to swap an exacting knowledge of the rulebook for a fine-toothed understanding of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. News of Posey’s elevation to the chief baseball architect Monday morning, replacing Farhan Zaidi after a six-year tenure ended in disappointment, raised dozens of questions that require answers.
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The Giants replaced Farhan Zaidi with Buster Posey. What comes next is a mystery
Will Posey oversee a housecleaning in baseball operations or a targeted restructuring? What positions will the Giants seek to fill from the outside? Will he surrender his board seat? What happens to general manager Pete Putila? How much will Posey administer day-to-day operations? Will Giants ownership finally feel confident that they can sell fans on a “trust the process” season when Posey, who might poll as more trustworthy than Abe Lincoln in the Bay Area, is the one in charge of directing it? Or alternatively, do the Giants believe that a Posey-led front office can reestablish the Giants as a destination franchise for marquee free agents?
And if none of this works out, how could Posey possibly be fired?
Some of those answers, or strong hints at them, are sure to filter out of Tuesday’s press conference. For some of Posey’s closest friends and confidantes in the game, who met Monday’s news with unqualified elation, there was no need to wait for those answers.
“I’m excited for Buster,” former Giants manager Bruce Bochy said via text. “He has such a great feel for the game. He did a great job leading on the field so I’m sure he will excel in this leadership role.”
“I’m really happy for Buster and the Giants,” former Giants Gold Glove shortstop Brandon Crawford said via text. “I think this is a role where he can really succeed. He’s a smart dude but obviously has the background in baseball that can help in so many ways. He knows what a winning clubhouse and roster looks like and is a super competitor. I’m excited to see him get the Giants back into the postseason.”
“I believe Buster will be fantastic in this new role and can’t wait to see what he brings to the table,” Giants right-hander Logan Webb said via text.
“He’s in the chair now, and knowing Buster the way I do, he’s going to surround himself with the best people to cover up his blind spots,” Giants broadcaster and former left-hander Javier López said. “As a former Giants player and fan, I’m excited.”
Posey helped lead the Giants to three World Series titles as a player and retired in 2021 at the top of his game. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
Giants chairman and control person Greg Johnson lauded Posey’s leadership skills in Monday morning’s announcement, saying that the board wanted to replace Zaidi with “someone who can define, direct and lead this franchise’s baseball philosophy and we feel that Buster is the perfect fit. Buster has the demeanor, intelligence and drive to do this job, and we are confident that he and (manager) Bob Melvin will work together to bring back winning baseball to San Francisco.”
The Giants could have operated with Posey in a shadow leadership role as chief decision maker and hired a new president of baseball operations that would report to him. By putting Posey out in front, they likely reduced their potential pool of executive candidates. But elevating Posey also sent an unquestioned message to the industry and their fans that the Giants are seeking a new way forward. It’s a sign of supreme confidence from the ownership group that Posey, who has been Johnson’s polestar in all matters since Posey joined the board, possesses the broad vision and the people skills to boost morale and reestablish an interconnected front-office culture.
It’s also a sign that they are confident Posey is smart enough to figure out the rest.
López said he always envisioned Posey taking on a formal leadership role within the Giants organization someday. Just not someday as soon as this.
“I do think this is something he had in mind down the line, something he wanted to do,” López said. “I’m not privy to everything that went into what happened, but the timeline definitely got a little sped up. I just know this is something he’s excited about. The organization means so much to him and his family.”
Posey retired following the 2021 season, and he and his wife, Kristen, moved with their four children back to Georgia. They bought a house in suburban Atlanta within a short drive of the homes of López and former Giants right-hander Ryan Vogelsong. The three former teammates played a lot of golf and would discuss the current state of the Giants organization. After barely a year, the Posey family returned full-time to the Bay Area.
“That’s why he ditched Vogey and I here in Georgia to head back,” López said with a laugh. “He wants to reestablish the black and orange as a destination franchise in San Francisco.”
And reestablish some of the culture, too. It was hard not to notice last Friday when the Giants presented third baseman Matt Chapman with the Willie Mac Award — a celebrated honor that is voted on by players, coaches and clubhouse staff and recognizes the Giant who best represents excellence and competitive spirit — and only a handful of former winners were present on the field. In recent years, some of the decorations commemorating the three World Series titles from 2010-14 disappeared from the clubhouse walls. Zaidi did not run an orchestrated campaign to erase all signs of the championship era, but there were times when he clearly felt uncomfortable following such a celebratory time while running a franchise that really did need to turn the page in meaningful ways.
In fairness, the final standings and the farm system rankings did not reflect some of the progress that Zaidi was able to make during his six seasons while also under a mandate to field a competitive team each year. There just wasn’t enough of that progress to justify continuing with him. And although Zaidi was often charismatic and personable in one-on-one interactions, club officials under his umbrella often had no idea what he was thinking or why certain decisions were made.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, one specific decision created waves among scouts and player development officials: allowing director of pitching Brian Bannister to work remotely for the entire 2022 season because he declined to comply with the league’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. With Bannister unable to visit affiliates, others were left without direction or to pick up the slack.
For many within the Giants front office, the entire operation developed a work-from-home feel. It paralleled how right fielder Mike Yastrzemski described the clubhouse at the end of last season, just a week or two before Zaidi’s hand-picked manager, Gabe Kapler, was fired at the behest of ownership: “A kind of ‘fend for yourself’ atmosphere somehow fell into place.”
Posey’s former teammates are quick to vouch for this: they never felt like they had to fend for themselves when Posey was on the field.
“As a catcher and an All-Star and future Hall of Famer, he definitely has a different lens than many people in that chair,” López said. “That’s a strength for him. He’s a person who can understand the ins and outs, the analytics and different ways to view the game.
“These are big shoes to fill. But I’ve never seen Buster jump at an opportunity without going through a vetting process. I’m sure he had many discussions with people in the industry. People like (Texas Rangers president) Chris Young, I’m sure, would have been a resource for him. It’s not unheard of for a former player to step into this role. But with his entry point, having not worked in a front office, he probably had a lot of discussions about the pros and cons and everything that goes into this job.”
Yes, analytics are part of the job. It would be a mistake to assume that Posey’s hiring represents an abandonment of the analytic-driven decision making that is part and parcel of every major-league front office. Perhaps analytics might inform those decisions rather than drive them. But López is confident that advanced metrics will have a meaningful place in a Posey administration.
“It’s something he was exposed to, especially towards the end of his career,” López said. “I’m sure he saw the ways that it helped to make him a better player in 2021. So it’ll be a definite priority for him. He’ll be able to evaluate talent with his eyes. But eyes do deceive us at times. When you peel back the onion, the numbers can bear out something different. I think Buster will seek out that input whether that’s trusting a scout’s eyes or to balance it out with the numbers.
“If you look at teams in the postseason, a lot of them have big (research and development) departments. That will be a focus for Buster and the front office as a whole.”
(Top photo of Posey: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
