A day after the San Francisco Giants dismissed Farhan Zaidi as president of baseball operations and named Buster Posey as his replacement, Posey announced that Pete Putila will not remain general manager. Instead, Putila will have a new role within the organization. Zaidi named Putila general manager almost two years ago. But now under new leadership, the Giants decided to go in a new direction at the position. Posey, who has no previous front office experience, will lean heavily on those around while he navigates his new position.
Buster Posey wants to hire a GM ASAP: “I want a servant leader who can empower people. … Ideally someone with a scouting background would be important for me as well. Today’s game is so much about meshing what your eyes see and instincts are with what the data is telling you.”
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) October 1, 2024
Pete Putila Won’t Be GM Under Buster Posey
“We’re going to hire a GM,” Posey said at his introductory press conference Tuesday at Oracle Park. “That’s going to be one of the first tasks right out the gate. Pete’s been made aware that he’ll be moving off the GM role. We’ll work through what some other responsibilities might look like for him.”
Putila has kept a relatively low public profile but could help Posey in some ways. He got the general role after a long run with the Houston Astros. Putila began as an intern in 2011, moving up to director of player development and then assistant general manager before leaving for the Giants.
“It’s fair,” Posey said about his lack of experience. “Everybody is entitled to their opinion, and, again, I do think a strength of mine is that I’ll be all ears and listening and taking in information from people who have been doing this for a long time.”
Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic reported weeks ago that Posey took a leading role in negotiating Matt Chapman’s extension, and now the team has given Posey a three-year contract for his new role.
The Putila-Zaidi duo had a reputation for being unable to land notable free agents in previous offseasons. They made a pitch of around $360 million to Aaron Judge after the 2022 season, but Judge stayed with the New York Yankees. After Judge came the Carlos Correa debacle. Correa inked a 13-year, $350 million contract but the deal fell through due to a failed physical. On top of struggling land free agents, they had challenges building up their farm system, which ranks as one of the worst in baseball.
Main Photo: © Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
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