Giants introduce Buster Posey as team's new president of baseball operations

The San Francisco Giants introduced their new top executive Tuesday morning as franchise legend Buster Posey took the reins as president of baseball operations.

The official press conference at Oracle Park came a day after the team fired Farhan Zaidi and announced Posey as his replacement. Zaidi held the position for six seasons -- only one of those with a winning record.

Posey spent his entire 12-year playing career with the Giants, winning 3 World Series titles. He joined the team's board of directors in 2022.

"What we have observed with Buster and in working with him over the last three years is that competitive fire he has to win, it didn't end when he took his jersey off. It's as strong today as ever," said Greg Johnson, chairman of the team's board of directors.

"The San Francisco Giants organization is all I've ever known, you know?" said Posey at his introductory press conference. "And I think over the years as a player and the role I was in the last few years, I gained a pretty good sense of of what it means to fans to have great players and have great teams

One of Posey's first orders of business will be hiring a new general manager, with Posey announcing at the press conference that Pete Putila would move to a new role within the organization.   

"We're going to hire a GM," Posey said. "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."  

Posey, who has no prior front-office experience, is expected to heavily lean on those around him as he navigates his new role.

"It's fair," Posey said of the criticism that he lacks 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. I do think it's important we bring in [someone] that's been versed in all aspects of front office."  

Posey additionally noted that the club will continue to rely on analytics after the team received some criticism for leaning too heavily on data analysis during Zaidi's time with the team.

"Analytics are here to stay," Posey said. "It would be a mistake not to use them."

Later Tuesday afternoon, the Giants posted a message from Posey to directly to the team's fans on social media to express his excitement for "what we will build together to bring championship baseball back to San Francisco."

In the full statement, which appears in the below tweet, Posey said he was "motivated by two factors -- our fans and our players." 

"I know firsthand what an incredibly loyal fanbase we have, and I want to do all I can to put in place the next great team for all of you to fall in love with," he added.  

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