New Giants president Buster Posey asked for the ball — and the accountability

SAN FRANCISCO — Buster Posey wanted to ask a million questions. He also wanted to maintain the tightest possible circle.

He did not like the direction that the San Francisco Giants had taken over the past few seasons. He began to feel more strongly in recent months about actively imparting his own restorative vision for the franchise. And being Buster Posey, he did not feel right about taking on that kind of broad and burdensome responsibility in a shadow capacity. Leaders by their nature should be out in front. They should not merely accept accountability. They should welcome it.

But also, being Buster Posey, it was important to him to be respectful to Farhan Zaidi, the Giants’ president of baseball operations, whose measurable if granular gains over the past six seasons could not offset the flagging morale and treadmill ethos that set in over the past three years. So Posey did not broadcast his intentions. He sought counsel from a select few: former Giants general manager Brian Sabean, special assistant Dusty Baker, former scouting director John Barr.

What will be the hardest adjustments to make? Who do I need to surround myself with? How can a club president create a culture of empowerment and pride?

“There’s so much to learn,” Posey said on Tuesday, standing off to the side of the dais on the club level a few minutes after being introduced as the Giants’ president of baseball operations. “It’s hard to pinpoint one thing. Ultimately, without getting to the nitty gritty of what might be the most difficult, or where the strengths might be, I think it’s ultimately all about relationships. It’s relationships with everybody that you’re working with. It’s relationships with agents and players and just having a common vision and trying to treat people well.”

A message from @BusterPosey: pic.twitter.com/6vMnDJ3ptj

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) October 1, 2024

Posey hasn’t sat across from an agent to negotiate a free-agent contract. He hasn’t sized up rival executives in trade discussions. He hasn’t commanded a suite full of department heads and special assistants at the winter meetings. He hasn’t taken heat for a transaction that backfired. He hasn’t presided over a war room on draft day. He hasn’t crossed rhetorical swords with Scott Boras.

But he has won three World Series titles. And he led those three championship drives from the middle of the lineup and from behind the plate. A baseball team is not an orchestra, but if it were, the catcher would be its conductor. There is no doubt that Posey has demonstrated the kind of leadership skills that interlace across departments and hierarchies. And in the estimation of Giants chairman Greg Johnson, despite all the mechanics involved with being a major-league club’s chief baseball architect and despite all the inexperience that Posey brings into this role, it’s broad-based leadership that the franchise most lacked.

“To me, the gap in the organization was the tone at the top flowing down,” Johnson said. “What is the philosophy? What are we trying to do? That was the main need: to get somebody in there who understands the Giants way.

“And then what Buster and I talked about was, ‘All right, how do we set this up for success?’”

Posey and Johnson sat in front of reporters and a phalanx of cameras on Tuesday afternoon and they outlined that setup in the broadest possible terms. They took two dozen questions and gave mostly vague answers. Perhaps as a result, there was a muted energy to what otherwise ranked as one of the most consequential press conferences in franchise history. For all the enthusiasm over installing Posey as the Giants’ top baseball official, for as trusted and beloved as he is as a Bay Area sports icon, the day perhaps fell short of a celebratory coronation. Posey announced that he is here to get the Giants back on the road. But there was no immediate way to tell if he knows how to operate a winch, or if the Giants even have one.

The press conference contained a few nuts and bolts, though.

— Posey is signing a three-year contract. He will not give up his ownership stake or seat on the six-person board of directors.

— Pete Putila has been informed that he will be relieved of GM duties and reassigned to a yet-to-be-determined role.

— Posey’s first order of business will be to hire a new GM who will largely handle the day-to-day roster demands, and ideally, that GM will have a scouting background.

— There will be changes throughout the organization but perhaps not an immediate or major housecleaning that would change the complexion of the scouting, player development or major-league coaching staffs. Longtime assistant GM Jeremy Shelley will continue as the department’s primary administrative executive.

— Manager Bob Melvin, who joined Posey and Johnson on the dais, will continue on as skipper and serve as a critical thought partner. Neither Johnson nor Posey would comment on whether Melvin’s club option for 2026 would be renegotiated into a guaranteed year or as part of a longer-term extension. But both men left no doubt that they are pleased with the current dugout leadership.

“I’m really excited to work with Bob as well,” Posey said. “If I ever made eye contact with Bob when I was playing, I never felt like he liked me.”

Melvin piped up: “Oh, I admittedly didn’t.”

Opponents usually had grudging respect for Posey the player. He always seemed to make the right decision. He always seemed so centered and focused. His near perfection could be downright annoying when part of the game is seizing on your opponent’s mistakes.

Even as a rookie, Posey demonstrated poise and a placid demeanor while leading the Giants to the 2010 World Series title. So Johnson and the board have faith that Posey will be just as assured in a new rookie capacity.

“You know all of the tremendous memories that we had with him in leading us to three World Series, the Hall of Fame (and) MVP career, but those aren’t the reasons that we’re here today,” Johnson said in his opening remarks. “For me and for the board, what we have observed with Buster and working with him over the last three years is that competitive fire he has to win didn’t end when he took his jersey off. It’s as strong today as ever.

“I’ve grown to respect all of his skills and how he deals with people, his intellect, how he listens. It’s a ‘we’ mentality, and it’s really all of the skills you need in being a leader. Also, (it’s) the pride he takes in the Giants organization, and the responsibility that comes with representing the Giants organization. So we believe there’s no better person to lead the baseball side and set the right tone at the top of the Giants organization. And most important is his desire to build the kind of team that lives up to the expectations of our fans.”

How will that building occur? Those are pertinent questions that had no answers on Tuesday.

GO DEEPER

The Giants replaced Farhan Zaidi with Buster Posey. What comes next is a mystery

Posey said he valued analytics as an inescapable and important part of the modern game but did not detail how or to what extent he would implement them in decision making. He said the Giants must play cleaner and smarter fundamental baseball but steered clear of commenting on what areas of the roster would be priorities to upgrade or how they might achieve those improvements. He acknowledged that the margin between winning and losing can be razor thin, which makes every incremental baseball decision so important. But that’s also the line that his predecessor cleaved to, and what he was most adept at. As much as segments of the fan base wanted to be rid of Zaidi, his dismissal will result in a brain drain that will not be easily replaced.

Posey made it clear that he will not seek a Zaidi clone in the GM chair, either.

“I want a servant leader,” Posey said. “I want somebody that is going to empower the people working with them and for them. You know, ideally, somebody that does have somewhat of a scouting background, I think would be important to me as well. Today’s game is so much about meshing what your eyes see and your instincts are with what the data is telling you.”

Longtime Oakland A’s executive and current assistant general manager Billy Owens, who worked for more than a decade with Melvin across the Bay, is expected to be a candidate. Pittsburgh Pirates assistant GM Kevan Graves, who got his start in the Giants organization, interviewed for the GM position under Zaidi and could receive fresh consideration. If former Miami Marlins top baseball official Kim Ng is interested, the Giants would be almost certain to talk with her.

And Sabean, who has one year remaining on a three-year contract as a New York Yankees special assistant, could rejoin the Giants front office, as well.

“Yeah, it’s possible,” said Posey, who first would have to secure permission from the Yankees to talk to Sabean about returning. “We’d have to see what type of role he’d want to be in.”

Posey retired as a player following the 2021 season, bought a small stake in the ownership group less than a year later, and pledged to give counsel only when it was sought. But whether it was a clubhouse that lacked accountability under former manager Gabe Kapler last season or a roster that lacked continuity or dull games that just didn’t hold much entertainment value, Posey encountered more and more occasions when he had to speak his mind and insist on a different path forward.

And in late August, when negotiations on a multiyear extension with third baseman Matt Chapman did not result in swift progress between Zaidi and Boras, Posey took control of the proceedings. He partnered directly with Chapman to wrap up the six-year, $151 million extension that had been a priority for both Chapman and the ownership group.

By then, the wheels were in motion. It became clear to many in the organization that Zaidi would be replaced. The only question that remained was whether Posey was willing to take the wheel.

The board didn’t have to convince Posey to take the role. He asked for it.

“Having Buster ready to go probably accelerated it,” Johnson said. “My first reaction was ‘wow,’ because I’d always joked with him for years that he’d be doing this. It was probably a little sooner than I anticipated. But when the timing’s right, the timing’s right.”

Why was it important to take the extraordinary step of having an owner out front as president of baseball operations?

“There were a lot of different scenarios we could come up with, but Buster is somebody that asked for the ball,” Johnson said. “He wanted the accountability and … that’s really what a leader does. We talked a lot about complementing his skill set with hires and building around him. We will be doing that. It’s really Buster’s desire to be accountable 100 percent for the baseball. That spoke a lot to me.”

Melvin followed up with the line of the morning: “When somebody like Buster asks for the ball, you give it to him.”

And if none of this works out? How would the board go about firing Buster Posey, exactly?

“Very easily,” Johnson said with a laugh. “It’s just like any other. It doesn’t matter if it’s a part owner or not. It’s business.”

It’s more than a business, though. For fans who adore the Giants as a civic institution and source of pride, it’s as personal as it gets. The Giants have a new president of baseball operations who might have everything to learn. But not that last part.

“I’ve gained a pretty good sense of what it means to fans to have great players and have great teams,” Posey said. “I think back on some of my earliest memories walking into a spring training clubhouse and seeing Willie Mays sitting at a table with Willie McCovey. Gaylord Perry, Juan Marichal, Joe Amalfitano. The next week it’s Will Clark, Jeff Kent, Barry Bonds.

“I don’t think I appreciated it as much when I was a younger player, but as time went on, I appreciated just what that meant, not only to the community, but to us as players, that there’s a standard and expectation for being a San Francisco Giant. It’s a privilege to go out there on the field and hold ourselves accountable to that standard. You can go to my era with (Matt) Cain and (Tim) Lincecum and (Madison) Bumgarner and (Brandon) Crawford and (Brandon) Belt and we could go on and on.

“Sure, all of those guys were great players. They were part of great teams, but what those guys ultimately meant to the San Francisco Giants fan base and the community was memories. And all of us that are lucky enough to be involved in baseball in whatever capacity, I think, understand that not only is it the greatest game in the world, but we’re in the memory making business. It’s ultimately entertainment. It’s an opportunity for grandparents, parents, to share memories with friends. It’s an opportunity for strangers sitting out in the bleachers to share a great memory that happens at the ballpark that they’ll … talk about for the rest of their life.

“With all of that all that in mind, I just can’t say how humbled I am to be in this role and again, be a part of the team that’s hopefully looking forward to making more memories.”

(Photo of Posey and Giants chairman Greg Johnson: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)