Jeff Passan, ESPNSep 30, 2024, 01:33 PM ET
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Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”
The San Francisco Giants fired president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi on Monday and replaced him with Buster Posey, the three-time World Series-winning catcher and franchise icon who had taken on an increasingly large front office role in recent years.
Posey, a seven-time All-Star and National League MVP, retired after the 2021 season and in 2022 joined the Giants’ ownership group. Widely regarded for his baseball acumen, the 37-year-old Posey lacks the front office experience that typically accompanies those who ascend to top jobs.
Nevertheless, the Giants saw him as the right candidate to replace Zaidi, 47, who had taken over in San Francisco in 2019 and over the past three seasons oversaw mediocre results that led to his dismissal.
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“We are looking for someone who can define, direct and lead this franchise’s baseball philosophy and we feel that Buster is the perfect fit,” Giants chairman Greg Johnson said in a statement. “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.”
Posey’s involvement in the six-year, $151 million contract extension for Matt Chapman earlier this month signaled a shift in the Giants’ operations, though it was not clear that he would take over were Zaidi fired. San Francisco had backed Zaidi regularly, giving him a two-year contract extension last year and, over the winter, giving him the leeway to guarantee more than $400 million in free agent deals and push the team’s payroll past the luxury-tax threshold.
Despite excellent individual performances, the Giants faltered, finishing 80-82 after 81-81 and 79-83 performances in 2022 and 2023. The hiring of Melvin and the signing of Chapman, left-hander Blake Snell and outfielder JJung Hoo Lee did little to change a team that found itself buried in the best division in MLB, with the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks all clearly superior.
Zaidi’s tenure looked to be on the upswing in 2021, when the Giants went 107-55 and won the National League West — the only time in the past 12 seasons a team other than the Dodgers has taken the division crown. San Francisco lost to the Dodgers in the division series, Posey retired and the transition from the end of the era in which they won three World Series was official. Never did Zaidi come close to replicating it again.
“We appreciate Farhan’s commitment to the organization and his passion for making an impact in our community during his six years with the Giants,” Johnson said. “Ultimately, the results have not been what we had hoped, and while that responsibility is shared by all of us, we have decided that a change is necessary. While these decisions are not easy, we believe it is time for new leadership to elevate our team so we can consistently contend for championships. I wish Farhan and his family nothing but the best moving forward.”
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