The San Francisco Giants have fired president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and replaced him with franchise legend Buster Posey, the team announced Monday. Also, general manager Pete Putila will be "moving off" that role but could remain in the organization in a different position, Posey announced at his introductory press conference Tuesday.
Zaidi was hired by the Giants on Nov. 6, 2018. Of his six seasons at the helm, the Giants only posted a winning record once. It was a franchise-record 107-win season in 2021, but still, that was the outlier. Otherwise the Giants were pretty stagnant, having won 81, 79 and 80 games in the three ensuing seasons. Their only postseason appearance during his tenure ended with a 3-2 NLDS loss to the Dodgers.
While Zaidi's record put him on the hot seat, it was perhaps what he didn't do that was the biggest sign. The Giants' extension of All-Star third baseman Matt Chapman was repotedly negotiated by Posey, not Zaidi. And sure enough, they are moving onto Posey, officially, as the man running the show in San Francisco.
The official announcement from the Giants:
We have made the decision to part ways with Farhan Zaidi. 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. 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.
As we look ahead, I'm excited to share that Buster Posey will now take on a greater role as the new President of Baseball Operations. 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. Buster has the demeanor, intelligence and drive to do this job, and we are confident that he and Bob Melvin will work together to bring back winning baseball to San Francisco.
During Tuesday's introductory press conference, Posey said the club will not do a 180 and cut back on analytics -- "Analytics are here to stay. It would be a mistake not to use them," he said (via the San Francisco Chronicle) -- after the Giants were occasionally criticized for being too analytical during the Zaidi era.
Posey, 37, spent his entire 12-year big-league career with the Giants after being selected by the ballclub fifth overall in the 2008 draft. He won Rookie of the Year, the 2012 MVP, three World Series and was a seven-time All-Star.
Posey retired from his playing career after the 2021 season. He was an All-Star and hit .304 with a 140 OPS+ at age 34, but he still decided that he was done playing.
In late September 2022, Posey joined the Giants' ownership group and started serving as part of the board of directors, growing steadily in influence since. Now he's the top decision-maker.