Thoughts On Farhan Zaidi and Buster Posey

 Hey team!  I am back and what a breaking story I missed!  I go back a long way in Giants history.  There have been some momentous changes in the front office but this one may be the biggest watershed moment of them all.  Tom Haller, Al Rosen, Brian Sabean, FZ himself.  All were major changes but this is the first time a future Hall of Fame Giants player, one who spent his entire career with the team took to reins of the team and in quite dramatic fashion.  Turns out Baggs had it right and Buster's involvement in the Matt Chapman negotiations was an ominous sign for FZ's future with the team.  While that and other flags made Farhan's firing less than unexpected, the announcement that Buster would be the new POBO came as an almost complete shock.

I already reviewed the pros and cons of FZ's career with the Giants so won't rehash that.  IMO, if you look at the youth of the current roster and the state of the farm system is the organization is better positioned for the future than when FZ took over, but maybe only marginally so and the last 6 years have been a litany of frustrations that apparently extended to ownership who finally had enough.  FZ's 6 year tenure was an experiment on what would happen if an analytics oriented POBO was given free reign to institute and control that approach through every level of the organization.  The results were less than compelling.

So what does Buster Posey bring to the table?  He clearly has a keen baseball mind and the adoration of the fanbase.  When Buster Posey speaks, people listen.  While I am sure he understands analytics and will make use of them he will almost certainly also bring the perspective of a recent player who had to absorb that data and put it into action on the field.  He has a unique perspective on how the analytical approach is perceived by players, what works and what doesn't from their perspective.  It's interesting that his first move as POBO was a rather emphatic reassignment of GM Pete Putila who himself came from another analytics oriented program.  Buster also pointedly emphasized that he will promote prospects like Bryce Eldridge when he thinks they are ready and will not let team needs dictate that timing which could be a shot at Putila's approach as his area of expertise was player development and the rather frantic promotion of prospects started after his arrival.  

It will be interesting to see who Buster brings in to assist him but all indications are he will bring a much more traditional approach to roster building and the types of players he thinks will help the team become the perennial postseason powerhouse it should be.

I am sure we all wish him the greatest success.