Offseason 2024: On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

Nov 2, 2024 | Latest Post, Out of Left Field

by DrLefty

When I wrote last week’s Out of Left Field, I was hoping that it was the last one of the 2024 season. And it was. Thanks for nothing, Yankees. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more pathetic display of postseason baseball. (I don’t count the 1989 sweep of the Giants by the A’s because earthquake.)

Well, I got my wish. The horrible 2024 season and its even more gruesome postseason are gone forever. Onward! And this week, there actually was some Giants news! I’ll discuss it in order of significance.

 

Buster Posey Hires His GM

At his October 1 press conference, one of the first things new President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey said was that he would be searching for a new general manager, while the incumbent, Pete Putila, would be “reassigned.” I figured Posey would move quickly through the hiring process. Free agency begins in just a few days, the GM meetings are next week, and there are lots of other decisions to be made.

There’s an unwritten rule that baseball teams don’t announce major moves while the World Series is still happening, but that doesn’t mean that the team can’t make a decision–they just need to keep it quiet. So probably Posey’s choice, Zack Minasian, had already been hired and was at work in his new role before the news broke on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the World Series ended.

When I first read the news, I thought: meh. An inside hire from the Zaidi regime who worked in pro scouting?–Does that mean he was the one fishing around in other teams’ dumpsters? His brother is a GM?–But for the Angels, one of the most poorly run organizations in baseball. His godfather was Tommy Lasorda?–Gross.

 

But then I read the articles about Minasian’s background as well as Posey’s quotes about him. Before coming to the Giants to work for Zaidi in 2019, Minasian spent 14 years with the Brewers, working under successful GM/POBO types like Doug Melvin and David Stearns, and was involved in the acquisition of a number of big names via trades, including CC Sabathia, Zack Greinke, and Josh Hader.

Posey yesterday admitted that Minasian, despite being in house, was not on his original interview list, but he received recommendations from people he trusted. As Andrew Baggarly noted:

But as [Posey] gathered background information on other potential targets, speaking with senior advisers and department heads and respected former baseball officials, Zack Minasian’s name kept coming up. And even the greenest area scout will tell you: The ones you absolutely can’t afford to miss are the ones in your backyard.

(Translation: He talked to Brian Sabean!)

So what drew Posey to Minasian? He had other names on his list who brought the requisite background in scouting and in front offices. It sounds like personality and character stood out:

“In the background work on him, every person just spoke so highly of the character,” Posey said. “No. 1 for me in this role is finding somebody who obviously is very astute in their baseball knowledge, which Zack is, and having somebody that I can trust,…”

Posey added, “A lot of this is fostering relationships and gaining the trust of people and being willing to ask people to do some hard things and being able to hold people accountable and to a standard.”

At a press conference announcing the hire yesterday, both Posey and Minasian emphasized building the team around pitching, defense, and speed–a team that fits the ballpark. They both noted that the organization had still-recent success with that model, while also acknowledging that the game has changed since they last raised a trophy 10 years ago last week.

Of course, the proof is in what happens in the coming weeks/months/years, but I like the initial vibes. Posey is so thoughtful and mature in how he talks about things. He may not have a PhD from Cal, but he’s smart in ways that Zaidi never seemed to be.

One last note about the GM hire: For the reasons noted above, it made sense to me that Posey would move quickly, do all his interviews while the playoffs were in progress, and announce the decision as soon as the World Series ended. In the last couple of Giants Talk podcasts, Alex Pavlovic pretty strongly hinted that a hire had already been made and that the announcement would be the day after the World Series was over. But earlier this week, Baggarly wrote a piece suggesting that Posey was taking his time and wouldn’t have a new GM in place for awhile and certainly not by the GM meetings. So who’s the “insider” now?

 

Hitting Coach Justin Viele Departs for Texas

It also became official yesterday that Viele, who was hired by Gabe Kapler before the 2020 season, is leaving the Giants for a lateral move to the Texas Rangers, reuniting with another former Giants hitting coach (Donnie Ecker) and reporting to former manager Bruce Bochy. Viele still had a year to go on his contract and was welcome to stay, but clearly the Giants were also willing to let him go. Assistant hitting coach Pedro Guerrero, who joined the staff after Ecker left the Giants following the 2021 season, has interviewed for a position with the Miami Marlins. If he leaves, too, that would leave only the relatively inexperienced Pat Burrell (hired by Bob Melvin before the 2024 season) in the hitting coach position, so the Giants would likely be looking for at least two internal or external hires to fill out that staff.

One name raised by Baggarly was Damon Minor, who’s been serving as the hitting coach for AAA Sacramento.

 

Before the season ended, I read an article (again by Baggarly, I believe) in which Melvin spoke up in defense of his hitting coaches, despite the team’s offensive underperformance this year (and, let’s be honest, for several years). I trust Buster, and Buster, it seems, trusts Melvin, so if Melvin had wanted to retain all the coaches, I would have given him the benefit of the doubt. However, now that Viele and maybe Guerrero are on the way out, I will also say that sometimes change is good, especially when things are not working. Same comment about the previous news that 2024 pitching coach Bryan Price is going back into retirement.

 

Blake Snell Opts Out of His Contract

I have this as a less important piece of news because it was so inevitable. Snell had up to five days after the World Series ended to announce his opt-out, and the only thing that surprised me was that the news didn’t break until Friday. I figured it would be first thing Thursday morning.

 

I guess it’s still possible that the Giants will pursue Snell as a free agent, but both Pavlovic and Baggarly seem to think it’s unlikely, both because of Snell’s me-first behavior this year but primarily because he’s going to be expensive and on a long-term deal. The Giants should sign at least one free agent starting pitcher, but there are a lot of choices, and with a full or almost-full rotation already (assuming Robbie Ray does not opt out), they don’t necessarily have to shop at the highest end of the market.

Anyway, in all likelihood, buh-bye, Blake. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Good luck to your next team. If they’re actually counting on you to be a difference-maker, they’ll need all the luck they can get.

 

The Donnie Walton Nightmare is Over

 

As MLB Trade Rumors explains, Walton has been outrighted before (“multiple career outrights”), meaning he can elect free agency at this point.  Zaidi has been the only guy in MLB interested in Walton over the past couple of years, but now that he’s gone, I think it’s likely that Walton’s time in the Orange and Black is over.

Please let it be over.

 

Coming Up This Week

As I and others outlined this past week, over the next few days, various procedural steps will be taken:

  • teams have to add players on the 60-day injury list back to the 40-man roster
  • teams have to give qualifying offers to their free agents (if they choose to do so)
  • players and teams have to decide about their contract options.

Most of this doesn’t affect the Giants much. As to the roster, they’ll have to add back Keaton Winn, Tom Murphy, Wilmer Flores, and Jung Hoo Lee. However, they also have four free agents (Snell, Michael Conforto, Mark Canha, and Curt Casali), so their roster for now will stay at 36. They have no free agents in line for a qualifying offer–but other teams’ decisions about their players might affect the Giants’ free agency decisions. (For example: after his strong postseason performance, will Walker Buehler get a qualifying offer from the Dodgers?) Finally, we know about Snell’s option and we assume that Ray will stay put, so the only other option still pending would be that of Wilmer Flores, who in all likelihood will take his $3.5 mil player option for next year.

And, of course, the starting gun for free agency will be fired on…Monday? Tuesday? (I’m not exactly sure how “five days” is counted, but the World Series ended on Wednesday, October 30.) Anyway, it’s soon, but with Scott Boras representing most of the big names, we should expect a lot of instant signings. That hasn’t been a thing in MLB, anyway, unlike in the NBA or NFL.

There will be other interesting decisions coming up in November, but we’ll have time to get to those. For now, it was an important week for the Giants moving forward. In Buster We Trust. Lefty out.