The San Francisco Giants had a massive front office shakeup on Monday, firing president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and naming former catcher Buster Posey as his successor.
The Giants made the move after a disappointing 2024 campaign that saw them finish with an 80-82 record and miss out on the postseason for the third consecutive season.
Zaidi was hired as the Giants’ president of baseball operations in 2018 after a stint as a general manager with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He found initial success in San Francisco, building a team that won a franchise-record 107 games in 2021.
The Giants struggled to replicate the 2021 performance in the following years, prompting Zaidi to go on a spending spree this past offseason. He hired three-time Manager of the Year winner Bob Melvin and signed ace Blake Snell and highly-touted outfielder Jung Hoo Lee in free agency. However, these moves didn’t give the desired results and ended up costing him the job.
Posey is one of Giant’s legends, winning three World Series with the franchise and being named NL MVP in 2012. He remained involved with the organization following his retirement in 2021 and has become a significant presence in the front office since then.
“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.”
