As the morning sun rose and cascaded its golden rays over a nearly entirely vacant Oracle Park on Tuesday morning, it brought with it a new era of Giants baseball. The first sunlight of October doesn’t bring playoff baseball like millions of Giants fans hoped it would at the beginning of a once promising 2024 campaign, but it does bring a refreshing change at the top.
A day after it was announced that franchise legend Buster Posey would replace often criticized President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi, a packed press conference was held at Oracle Park to welcome in what promises to be an era reminiscent of the most successful stretch in modern franchise history. Posey wasted no time making his vision for his beloved alma mater clear.
“The San Francisco Giants organization is all I’ve ever known. Over the years, as a player and in the role I was in the last few years, I gained a pretty good sense of what it means to fans to have great players and have great teams,” Posey said to open the press conference. “As time went on I appreciated what that meant not only to the community but to us as players. It’s a privilege to go out on the field and hold ourselves accountable to that standard.”
If Posey’s mission was to drive home the importance of winning tradition and what it means to him as a winning player, he did that emphatically early and often. He also engaged in his fair share of coach/GM speak, repeating points and strategically answering the tougher questions. As much as he leaned on intangibles and evoking nostalgia among fans and media alike, Posey also addressed pressing housekeeping issues that he will begin taking care of in the coming days.
Giants teams anchored by Posey operated at a high level, that was the standard from the top down. Great pitching, nearly flawless defense, and a knack for timely hitting were cornerstones of the Giants championship teams. Identity was a focal point Tuesday morning. Posey emphasized his vision for Giants baseball under his control. He’s expressed the sentiment before, but now he’s at the controls.
Following the press conference, Posey immediately put on the headset at the desk with Greg Papa and John Lund on The Sports Leader. He was a bit more candid, detailing what drove him to be attracted to such an arduous and often thankless role given his almost godlike standing among Giants fans.
“It was when we felt like it might be time for a change. It was something we mutually discussed. There had been some somewhat flippant comments, but once I started wrapping my head around it I became more excited with each day,” Posey said of his thought process. “When I started thinking about it, what baseball means to so many people especially in the Bay Area. What’s unique about our fans, and not every fanbase has this, we have generational fans… It’s exciting to think about having that type of impact on people.”
Posey also poked some fun regarding the controversial behind the scenes process of the Giants’ extension of Matt Chapman. John Lund asked him to clarify his role in the extension.
“If you want to know about the Matt Chapman deal you can just read all of Boras’s quotes. He’ll tell you exactly the way that it went,” Posey chuckled. “From our vantage point there was a negotiation that had taken place and it had stalled. I felt like it’s not going to hurt anything for me to reach out and share with him what I know and believe about the Giants organization. It was apparent that he wanted to be here.”
Whether or not Posey will be as successful as his predecessor remains to be seen, but his respect, connections, and vision is one that fans will instantly gravitate towards. Check out the full exclusive Buster Posey interview with Papa and Lund here: