It reeks of desperation when the Giants hire Buster Posey to lead baseball operations

Yes, Farhan Zaidi had to go.

And of course, Buster Posey is a San Francisco Giants legend.

But what the Giants did on Monday smacks of desperation.

Yes, hiring Posey to replace Zaidi as the team's top baseball decision-maker is a great piece of public relations — everyone loves Buster — but we're not doing PR here.

PR doesn't win games. Looking good is not a baseball strategy.

Sorry, I'm here to ruin the parade.

Luckily, Posey and Giants fans have memories of three better saves to fall back on.

Because once that positivity wears off – once the initial whiff of this fan-pleasing move wears off, this is the kind of play a floundering company makes as a last-ditch effort to stabilize its stock price.

In this world it's called a dead cat bounce.

They don't last long.

To be clear, Posey could very well succeed in this new job. The Giants didn't hire you or me to lead their baseball roster – Posey's qualifications, while not a perfect fit for his new role, include a Hall of Fame playing career and an impeccable reputation in the sport. If anyone can make this bold, perhaps even reckless transition a success, it is him.

But yesterday Posey was on the Giants board. Today, he is not only in charge of the Giants' 26-man roster, but also the 40-man roster and nearly 200 players across the organization. He sets the tone for a massive scouting department ahead of a critical offseason and a Rule 5 draft in just a few weeks.

I know Posey is smart. The same goes for Zaidi. The latter also had two of the best training courses in the sport before taking over the Giants. We saw how that worked.

So can a man whose entire front office expertise revolves around getting Matt Chapman's contract extension done – quite simply – be considered an improvement over the previous head of baseball operations?

Make me skeptical.

I'll give Posey this: he's got guts. He's willing to put his unassailable reputation on the line for this franchise; this fan base. He must have known that he was heading towards a dangerous scenario, but he volunteered anyway. What a guy.

But did Posey volunteer because no one else did?

A buttoned-up organization would have announced Posey and his No. 2 pick on Monday.

Instead, the Giants have advertised the vacancies surrounding the new director of baseball operations. It was as if one of the most consequential statements of team boss Greg Johnson's tenure had been a LinkedIn post.

“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 successful baseball back to San Francisco,” Johnson said.

“We are also fully committed to complying with the Selig Rule and ensuring diversity in hiring for all of our open positions.”

Who wants to work for Buster? Behavior and drive win games, right?

Posey should be a figurehead, at least to start with. He should be given the chance to grow into the top job.

But that's not the situation he finds himself in. No, the Giants threw him in the pool without a float.

Sink or swim.

Posey inherits what may be the worst situation in baseball — not too dissimilar to what Zaidi inherited in 2018: A farm system at the bottom of the scale, only a handful of viable everyday players, a team that ( (for various reasons , outside of Posey's influence) can't attract top free agent talent, an ownership group that won't commit to a rebuild under any circumstances, and a fan base that will rightly accept only the best.

I can’t blame Giants fans for loving this move. They love Buster. For her, he can do no wrong. He has an undeniable divine quality.

Giants fans can only hope that everything works out – that Posey can handle any challenge thrown his way like a Gold Glove catcher.

But hope is not a great strategy either.

I have read and heard many compare this hire to the 49ers' hiring of John Lynch.

Love Buster as much as you want. Believe anything you want. But get the facts straight:

Sure, Lynch didn't have any serious front office experience and he's doing great, right?

(We can discuss this second point another time.)

This Posey situation couldn't be more different.

Lynch and Posey are both smart and affable. They are great people who can sit at a podium and talk about the team. But Lynch came to the Bay as the figurehead general manager, with Kyle Shanahan having full power over the staff. In fact, Shanahan was the one who hired Lynch.

Additionally, Lynch added quality people to his front office and made some rock-solid hires in his first few weeks on the job – the first being Adam Peters.

Lynch built his staff and grew into the role. Shanahan recognized this and, over the years, ceded more and more power to Lynch and his associates.

Posey comes in with a vengeance and no infrastructure whatsoever.

In fact, he needs to continue to develop in all directions because I bet there will soon be a lot of openings in the Giants' baseball department.

While fans may be reassured that the prodigal son is returning to hopefully save the team, what kind of message does it send to the staff that Zaidi has overseen over the past six seasons?

Hey, your boss is out and we're replacing him with someone who has less practical experience in this area than you.

Numerous CVs will be sent out in the coming days.

The fact that this will be a problem for Posey shows exactly why this attitude is so problematic. If a DBO is only as good as its employees, then why would Posey need Zaidi's employees?

Ultimately, Zaidi couldn't stay in his role.

Pardon the foray into politics, but it's all terribly reminiscent of the time when Donald Trump reviewed the vice presidential pick in 2016. His son Donald Trump Jr. reportedly told potential vice presidents they would be “in charge of domestic and foreign policy.”

In short, the job of the actual president.

As for Trump? He would “make America great again.”

I certainly like and trust Posey more than Trump — maybe you see her in the same light, that's neither here nor there — but the former catcher needs someone in charge of the Giants' “domestic and foreign policy.”

And here are the Giants, actively looking for this person.

But what self-respecting person in baseball would accept the job as Posey's consigliere/head of the team's baseball operations?

Unless Johnson wants to write a massive, market-determining check, the Giants won't be acquiring someone capable, worthy and fully qualified to handle all of the day-to-day duties of a DPO without that title.

Many have suggested Kim Ng take on this role. She is indeed the best front office prospect for free agents. But she is a free agent and works for the MLB because this time last year the Marlins wanted to hire someone above her in that organization. She stepped back. She's a No. 1, so she's not taking on a No. 2 role here, here or anywhere. Nor should she.

No, it seems the best thing the Giants can do in this strange, almost unprecedented situation is to grab someone on the rise.

Further recruitment was based solely on potential.

Hopefully the Giants organization can develop front office talent better than baseball talent.

Originally published: September 30, 2024 at 1:34 p.m

On September 30, 2024 By John Fenwick

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It reeks of desperation when the Giants hire Buster Posey to lead baseball operations

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