SF Giants 2024-2025 Offseason: Posey Hires His GM, Within the Organization

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, "The San Francisco Giants are expected to announce Friday that Zack Minasian is their new GM". So far, not much has changed in the Buster Posey era. The Giants decide to go with an inside hire opposed to potential outside candidates. In the organization, Minasian served as the Director and VP of Pro Scouting since 2019. The Minasian family is deeply rooted in baseball with its members scattered all over Major League Baseball. Hopefully the Giants will continue to make cost-effective moves to find the diamonds in the rough around the professional ranks.

Minasian has been instrumental in many signings and trades that have garnered the Giants solid under the radar players. Since 2019 when he was brought in, the Giants have been arguably the best team at finding players that outperform their contracts. This class is

headlined by players like Mike Yastrzemski, Kevin Gausman, and LaMonte Wade Jr. All of whom were previously having a tough time with their original teams. My favorite of these players was Mike Yastrzemski. Yas became an everyday MLB outfielder posting a career 112 wRC+ while being a top percentile defender. He had never been given an opportunity in the big leagues until the Giants signed him. In 2019, Kevin Gausman had a 5.72 ERA with Atlanta and Cincinnati. And then the Giants scooped him up... With San Francisco he earned his first All-Star appearance while finishing 6th in Cy Young voting. Seemingly, Farhan did not want to give Gausman a longer term deal so the Bluejays signed him where he led the AL in strikeouts with 237 in 2023. It is my hope that Buster Posey will not flail at long term deals for future impact players. Let's start with Blake Snell and Juan Soto.

We aren't sure who were the Giants interviewed, but they passed on rumored candidates such as Amiel Sawdaye (Arizona), Eve Rosenbaum (Baltimore), and Carlos Rodriguez (Tampa Bay). All of whom have more GM experience than Minasian. Billy Owens from Oakland seemed to be the front-runner coming into today, but the Giants need to stay as far away as possible from anything associated with the Athletics. Posey said in his introductory press conference that he wanted someone with a scouting background which Minasian has in spades. San Francisco already has more than enough solid role players, Minasian will need to be able to acquire top-end talent. It doesn't take a great scout to know Juan Soto is very good, but can Posey and Minasian find a way to lure him to San Francisco?

Minasian grew up in a big league clubhouse with his dad, Zack Sr., being a clubbie for the Texas Rangers. His brother Calvin, followed dad's footsteps and is a clubhouse coordinator for the Nationals. Zach's other brother Perry is the current GM for the Los Angeles Angels which makes the Minasian brothers the first brother duo to hold GM positions for opposing MLB organizations.

Posey checked the first major box of the offseason by hiring his new GM. They're going to have to get right to work now that the World Series is over. They can start negotiating with the team's free agents which means they will get first crack at speaking with Blake Snell's representation. He's most likely going to opt-out of his current contract but their is no reason they can't agree to pay him what he deserves before the other teams can try to lure him away. This new look front office gets an immediate test, and I am hopeful we can start to turn this thing around with Posey's new player-centric leadership.

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