The Giants introduced Monday that they’ve fired president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. Franchise icon Buster Posey will function the crew’s new president of baseball operations, the crew introduced. Posey is considered one of six on the Giants’ board of administrators and can now oversee the roster’s building as properly. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported that Zaidi, who was below contract by way of the 2025 season (with a 2026 choice), was being dismissed.
“We admire Farhan’s dedication to the group and his ardour for making an affect in our group throughout six years with the Giants,” chairman Greg Johnson stated in assertion inside right now’s press launch. “Finally, the outcomes haven’t been what we had hoped, and whereas that accountability is shared by all of us, we have now determined {that a} change is critical. Whereas these selections will not be simple, we imagine it’s time for brand spanking new management to raise our crew so we are able to constantly contend for championships. I want Farhan and his household nothing however the most effective shifting ahead.
“As we glance forward, I’m excited to share that Buster Posey will now tackle a higher function as the brand new President of Baseball Operations. We’re searching for somebody who can outline, direct and lead this franchise’s baseball philosophy and we really feel that Buster is the proper match. Buster has the demeanor, intelligence and drive to do that job, and we’re assured that he and [manager] Bob Melvin will work collectively to carry profitable baseball to San Francisco.”
The writing has in some ways been on the wall for Zaidi for a while now. The 2024 season was seen as a pivotal one for the Giants, who unsuccessfully pursued Shohei Ohtani over the offseason and as a substitute wound up signing Matt Chapman, Blake Snell, Jung Hoo Lee, Jorge Soler and Jordan Hicks as they appeared to get again on observe after consecutive shedding seasons. The Giants received 107 video games below Zaidi in 2021 however haven’t had a profitable season below his watch in any other case. The dearth of constant outcomes prompted many to wonder if Zaidi might survive one other sub-.500 season.
Essentially the most telltale portent for change, nonetheless, got here late this summer season, when the Giants introduced a six-year, $151MM contract extension for the aforementioned Chapman. Signing the star third baseman on the heels of a down season proved to be a house run swing for Zaidi & Co., as Chapman rebounded with among the finest seasons of his profession. Nevertheless, The Athletic reported not lengthy after the extension was accomplished that Posey had stepped in to run level on negotiations after possession had change into “annoyed” with the shortage of early progress in talks.
The Giants had loads of particular person participant acquisition successes below Zaidi’s watch. San Francisco grew to become a vacation spot for pitchers seeking to flip their careers round, as veterans like Kevin Gausman, Carlos Rodon, Anthony DeSclafani, Drew Smyly, Drew Pomeranz and Derek Holland all loved enormous seasons at Oracle Park earlier than cashing in on extra profitable offers. Gausman’s resurgence, particularly, proved to be a significant win for the Giants. He thrived on a one-year deal through the Covid-shortened 2020 season, accepted a qualifying provide that winter, and was dominant in a full season in ’21.
That record of successes can also be emblematic of one other hallmark of Zaidi’s tenure, nonetheless: an aversion to long-term spending. The Giants opted to let Gausman stroll in free company quite than commit long-term. His five-year, $110MM take care of the Blue Jays has been a discount for Toronto to this point. Equally, the Giants let Carlos Rodon depart after his personal super season in orange and black, though the early returns on his six-year take care of the Yankees might need the Giants feeling higher about that call than the Gausman one. The Giants did pay as much as maintain DeSclafani, who returned on a three-year, $36MM contract after a terrific 2021 season, however that contract nearly instantly went south.
On the position-player facet of issues, the Giants have struggled to draw hitters to their spacious park and to develop key contributors. Zaidi’s early tenure included some unmitigated successes when it comes to discount bin buying. He acquired Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade Jr., Donovan Solano, Thairo Estrada and Darin Ruf for subsequent to nothing. All grew to become very important regulars or function gamers for a number of years. However the Giants had been additionally unable to land massive fish like Aaron Decide and Bryce Harper, whereas the tried 13-year take care of Carlos Correa was scuttled by medical considerations.
The Giants have recurrently pivoted to Plan B or Plan C after lacking on big-name free brokers — as they did final yr following Ohtani’s deal in L.A. — and have a a lot spottier observe document on these offers. Soler, Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto all fell properly shy of being the middle-of-the-order presences the Giants hoped. It’s too early to inform how the aforementioned six-year deal for Lee will play out after his season ended early as a result of shoulder surgical procedure, however the sheer magnitude of that $113MM contract was a shock to some within the business.
The missteps weren’t all restricted to the crew’s pursuit of massive bats. San Francisco has additionally had its share of misses on smaller-scale free agent investments; Tommy La Stella, Luke Jackson, Ross Stripling and Tom Murphy have all fallen shy of expectations. La Stella was launched earlier than the ultimate season of his three-year deal. Jackson and Stripling had been shipped out in salary-dump offers. Murphy’s signing — which helped push Joey Bart out of city and over to Pittsburgh, the place he loved a breakout yr — has been a flop to this point and will make him a wage dump candidate himself this winter.
Posey will now be tasked with engineering a turnaround on the stadium he known as dwelling for everything of his 12-year enjoying profession. His instantaneous ascension to president of baseball operations is much extra shocking than Zaidi’s departure. Posey joined the Giants’ board of administrators barely two years in the past, when he bought a minority stake within the crew. On the time, it gave the impression to be little greater than a ceremonial transfer from a beloved participant. Posey even said on the time of the announcement that he was not taking up any kind of entrance workplace function and that he was viewing his new function as “one other alternative for me to be taught extra in regards to the recreation, extra in regards to the enterprise and actually commit my time to a corporation in a metropolis that I’ve grown to like.”
What occurs from right here stays to be seen, after all. Johnson’s assertion didn’t point out that common supervisor Pete Putila is in any hazard of being dismissed, although even when he stays on board, he’d be second on the crew’s baseball operations hierarchy, behind Posey. Longtime assistant common supervisor Jeremy Shelley stays with the membership as properly. Nonetheless, right now’s press launch did embrace a reference to conducting searches for any “open positions.” Nearly any change on the prime of a baseball operations division is finally accompanied by some personnel modifications down the ladder, so it stays doable there are nonetheless some alterations to the tapestry of the Giants’ entrance workplace which have but to come back to mild.
Extra to come back.
