When I first heard the news I only caught the part about Farhan Zaidi being let go. I wasn't happy. I wasn't surprised, but I felt that continuity was important. And the FZ & Co. draft picks were finally coming of age and that, it seemed to me, would be a better criterion for judgment. But this is pro sports and results are what matters. And other than the 2021 NL West title this club has not produced the results during FZ's tenure.
Then I found out that they were naming franchise legend (and part owner) BUSTER POSEY to be the new President of Baseball Operations.
Now THAT is operating on an entirely new level! What's next, Brandon Crawford gets BoMel's job? Just kidding. Seriously, this is a big deal. All that talk about Buster wanting to spend more time with his family, yadda-yadda-yadda, and it turns out his competitive fires are still burning. He will get to spend more time with his family, sure. But he will be under enormous scrutiny. This is a high-profile gig, man. And the expectations will be off-the-charts. It's Buster Fucking Posey! Phenom. RoY. MVP. World Series Champion. It's quite a resume and it is all in orange-and-black.
Slick move by ownership. A+ rating for energizing the fanbase.
What say you, Giants fans?
--M.C.
p.s. this was so important I had to post even though I'm still "away from my desk"
16 comments:
Oh, and Pete Rose died. I guess it's "Charlie's Last Hustle" or something! Anyway, he was a great ballplayer. Maybe not the charming fellow otherwise. But certainly a fixture of the baseball I consumed as a youth.
Pete Rose
When someone famous dies, we usually have some kind of gut reaction. An initial thought. An immediate reaction. Etc. My first thought upon hearing of the passing of Pete Rose surprised me today. I simply thought, “damn, he died before he got into the hall of fame.” By all descriptions, Pete seemed to be…um, not a great person in many ways. But what a ball player! I will always know head first slides as ‘Peteys.’
I’m not arguing he should or shouldn’t be in the hall. Or that he was a nice guy. I guess I just always thought he would get in the hall of fame eventually. I guess he still could be inducted into the hall of fame someday. I wonder what the odds are? I can probably place a wager at FanDual, the Official Betting Partner of Major League Baseball.
Prez
I had much higher hopes for FZ. In Farhan we trust, yada, yada. I’m disappointed and surprised at what he failed to accomplish in SF, especially compared to what he did in LA. I’m not surprised to see him go. But my thinking was who could they get that is better?
I’m not sure the answer is a 37 year old with limited front office experience. I’m really unsure how active of a role Buster has take beside ‘stepping in’ to help with the Chapman deal.
I fear for Busters image. At some point fans will be unhappy with his decisions. At some point the giants will want to move on. At some point he may even be first thought of as front office Buster and not player Buster.
But for now, it’s a PR win that will bring back fans. And I suspect coming to SF for Buster will have more draw then coming to SF for Farhan. I hope this change helps the giants close those big signings that have been eluding the giants under FZ.
Buster needs to surround himself with quality people who can help him where he is less experienced. I’m excited to see where this goes and what the front office can make happen!
I agree with much of your sentiment. Buster will get a longer honeymoon period, but if the team fails to improve then his "fall from grace" will be much harder. It's not easy being a legend! I get the feeling he is just intensely competitive and can't stand watching the Giants be mediocre.
I was all-in on Kap and FZ but other than 2021 the team has struggled to stay near .500 and that's not good enough. I think both of those guys are really smart and good at talent evaluation and player development and all that stuff that teams need. (I'd love to have them both working for the club.) But sports is a PR business and you gotta have fans all pumped up. Baseball especially likes familiar faces--hence Bob Melvin. And baseball likes stars--hence Buster.
I have mixed feelings about this move. It is good PR at this time. We have to wonder if upper brass is convinced that Posey is also a very smart administrator, and his presence alone will help him attract more stars to the Giants. On the other hand, what experience does he have in upper management? That does not mean that he will not be good, or bad, or mediocre right out of the gate. I do think, that Zahdi and the giants taking the team half way against Zahdi's usual approach this year, really messed him up. The giants wanted to go away from his platoon techniques which worked well with mediocre players, and many things the giants did this year went against Zahdi's norms. But I think some moves he made were just so bad. The Murphy signing and getting rid of Bart, the number 2 or 3 pick overall in the draft, and getting essentially nothing for him. The guy plays a premium position and has known power. Also had a very good Spring. I think it would not have looked so bad if they got something in return, or if Murphy turned out to be good. I wonder how much Melvin was involved in that, as a former Major league catcher, I wonder if Posey was involved. But the onus comes down on Farhan. Also technically the trade of Cobb was probably a good move but apparently it really did not sit well with the team. My sources, (not sure how reliable) say it had a very negative effect on the clubhouse. Over time, his signing of formerly good, but recently injured players to opt out deals, seemed like a losing formula, at least after 2021. If a player does nicely, he is gone the next year, if he does poorly the giants are stuck with him, or he is trade bait. And then when someone like Manaea figures it out, the giants are not willing to re-sign him at an upped ante. I do not know how well they got along, but Melvin and Zahdi seemed like a mismatch. But as I spoke to people in management with the Marlins, and the Red sox. right after the Bart deal, they both characterized that deal as either mismanagement and even malpractice. ie; you just do not let go of such a high draft pick pedigree with power, and get nothing in return. Did he not know the actual value that he was letting go of? That was assuming that Bart was not going to have a decent year.
When the Yankees hired Aaron Boone as a manager he had NO experience. But he was a Boone, a 3rd-generation ballplayer, and had been on TV as an analyst. The Yankees knew that much of a manager's job is PR and Boone fit the bill.
Buster will not be alone. He's seems smart enough to know when he is ignorant and when he'll have to rely on another's expertise. Much of management is getting the best subordinates!
I think ownership needed a "win" and with Buster willing it was a no-brainer. He was his usual calm, thoughtful, humble self during the press conference. I think it is good news. Buster Posey!! I mean, the guy is a franchise legend. He can add to his already considerable legacy.
With FZ and Kap, the Giants embraced the weird and the New School. It worked for a bit but the fans never bought in. Now with Buster (and BoMel) they are moving back to normal and Old School. Let's hope they find a good balance. Buster is smart enough to live in both worlds and I think his people skills and mediagenic qualities are so good that his lack of experience won't matter too much.
I've been reading that there were several factors that prompted the Giants to move on. Posey had "intervened" in the Chapman negotiations, apparently to give Chapman a no-trade clause, which was not yet forthcoming from FZ. That was just the other day. The ownership was not reportedly happy with, not the Correa negotiations themselves, but how Brandon Crawford was not told he would be moving positions until Correa was (temporarily) signed. Most of this is from Baggarly on the Athletic or NBC SportsNet. Then there was some consternation about how Luciano has been up and down, but hardly played when he has been up, and also the Bart situation, signing Tom Murphy that necessitated Bart's trade and why Nick Ahmed was signed when Fitzgerald was ready. The Thairo Estrada situation, the trade of Cobb (although with the emergence of young pitching, that seems like a good thing in retrospect and allows Cobb to pitch, if he is healthy, in the playoffs).
Finally, according to Baggs, the Giants farm system is still ranked in the lower third of the major leagues.
I just read that Buster Posey has said that Pete Putila will not be the GM, but he will be reassigned within the organization (unless he quits, I guess). I think that the choice of Posey is less about "enthusing that fan base" although it certainly does that, than it is about directing the organization. He will hire a GM and any other positions and delegate to them. He will delegate and direct, not administrate. He will be the liaison between ownership and staff. He will direct on questions like, "should we offer Juan Soto more than $400 million?" and get ownership on the same page and make sure staff is as well. Finally, he will be the cultural ambassador for the Giants. He, Logan Webb and Matt Chapman will be the ones trying to convince free agents that the Giants are ready to win.
Sorry, the above was from me.
Posey said in the press conference that he wanted a GM with "a scouting background."
The Giants have a lot of well-heeled season ticket holders and a lot of corporate clients. They put a lot of pressure on ownership and the Posey pick will make them happy, too.
The only downside I see is if the team fails to improve, Buster's "fall from grace" will be painful as he is such a beloved figure. We've seen Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan get involved in team ownership/management to less-than-superstar results. It's not a given that a "winner" in one endeavor will necessarily succeed in another! (Although Bay Area Silicon Valley techbro/finance culture is imbued with this very notion, that is, successful businessmen are obviously geniuses and can do anything well they put their hand to.)
And yes, we should give Juan Soto whatever he wants.
I would be very surprised if Juan Soto signed with the giants. The short right field fence in Yankee Stadium and playing with Aaron Judge, seems like a nice incentive to stay in N.Y, and the Mets will probably drive up the contract offer. Who wouldn't want Soto, but my guess is that the betting odds for him to sign with the giants are very slim. Of odd ball interest, Heyward's line drive to second for the last out of the Detroit, Houston game yesterday, with Houston down 3-1, based loaded and 2 outs, had an eerily similar feel to McCovey's famous line out to Richardson. Of course if McCovey's liner was a few feet away, the giants would have taken the world series. In an alternate universe somewhere the giants did win that world series.
That's why we have to root against the Yankees. If the Judge-Soto pairing wins the World Series then he will get a billion dollars and stay in the Bronx. Otherwise I think he'll test the waters! Gotta give it a shot. A swing-and-a-miss is better than watching it go by.
Giants have swung and missed too many times. They should go after the best players that they have a real chance of signing. I think a swing and miss at Soto, will not go down well with the fans. History has shown that trying and not coming through is just as bad as not trying. If we have a real chance at some of the better players, and they serve an important upgrade, then, go ahead.
Rumors have it that the Giants are interested in Willy Adames. And/or Ha Seong Kim. Pete Alonso, yesterday's hero, is also a free agent.
We seem to have a top prospect for first base who could be ready in 2025 or 2026, So we may have the roster players now to serve for a while at first. Alonso will be expensive and I am sure he will want a deal for several years. I would love to see the giants go with Casey at short. I think he needs to play in the majors with good coaching. I see so much of Matt Williams in him. If we do get Adames, then Fitz becomes either an outfielder or a second baseman. Ha Seong Kim is interesting. A good player, a good fielder and a friend of Lee, but a not a major upgrade. We really do have a lot of young position players and pitchers, who are on the verge of being solid major leaguers. Not sure if we should go with Sabol as backup catcher, or get a real upgrade. Posey should be the right guy to fix Zahdi's screw up there. One real number one pitcher, and one really good hitter, surrounded by what the giants already have should be enough to carry them to the post season. Look at what Detroit did after the trade deadline. That could have been the giants.
With Melvin gone from the Padres, look at what they are doing this year, and they are doing it without Soto in the lineup.
They've been good for a few years now as they are very deep. They've also gone through a lot of managers! After Bochy it was Bud Black and when the new GM took over he went through Andy Green, Jayce Tingler, and Bob Melvin before getting Mike Shildt. (Shildt was fired by the Cardinals in 2021 despite a winning record.)
Padres made good on that Soto trade. Michael King has been excellent for them and they also got catcher Kyle Hagashioka (who has three post-season HR so far!).
It's tough to build a winner. It takes time. (AJ Preller has been there since 2014.) Looks like it's paying off in San Diego. The Padres have put enough talent together that they can trade a guy like Juan Soto!
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