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Giants To Name Zack Minasian General Manager

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The Giants are planning to name Zack Minasian their new general manager on Friday, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. He will work under new president of baseball operations Buster Posey.

Minasian, the brother of Angels GM Perry Minasian, has been the Giants’ vice president of professional scouting since 2022 and a member of the front office since 2019.

Prior to coming to the Giants, Minasian spent 14 years working with the Brewers. He held various titles in that time, mostly in the scouting realm, before getting plucked out of Milwaukee and landing in San Francisco.

The Giants are undergoing a significant front office overhaul. Posey was tapped to replace Farhan Zaidi last month. Amid reporting on that change, it was also noted that general manager Pete Putila would be given a new role and replaced with a new GM.

Various names were floated as candidates, including Athletics assistant GM Billy Owens, Giants assistant GM Jeremy Shelley, Astros special advisor De Jon Watson and others, but the Giants will promote from within by giving Minasian the gig.

Presumably, Posey and Minasian already have some familiarity with each other. Posey was on the field for the Giants as recently as 2021 and later moved into a new role, buying a minority ownership stake and getting a seat on the club’s board of directors.

Regardless of whatever pre-existing relationship they had, their future partnership figures to be important for the franchise. Most baseball decision makers come from a background in scouting or analytics and are already familiar with the day-to-day role of running a baseball club. But Posey’s path is fairly unusual so he might be leaning on his second-in-command a bit more than other front office leaders, at least until he learns the ropes.

Scott Sharp Withdraws Name From Giants’ GM Search

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As the Giants continue their search for a new GM to take over for Pete Putila and serve as Buster Posey’s second-in-command following his installation as president of baseball operations, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that one name under consideration has withdrawn himself from the mix for the job: Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp, who Rosenthal notes is removing himself from the pool of candidates due to family considerations.

Sharp, 51, currently serves as a senior vice president and assistant GM for Kansas City. The longtime Royals exec got his start in the club as a the club’s assistant director of player development in 2006 and since then has steadily climbed the organizational ladder, also serving as the director of minor league operations and director of player development in Kansas City before eventually becoming assistant GM in 2015. Prior to his time with the Royals, Sharp served as a scout for the Pirates, Dodgers, and Rangers organizations.

That strong background in player development is likely the reason the Giants had interest in Sharp for their GM role. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle noted this past week, Posey has made it clear that he’s looking for a candidate with an extensive scouting background for the GM role. That’s led the Giants to pursue plenty of candidates with resumes similar to the one Sharp brings to the table, including Athletics assistant GM Billy Owens, former Dodgers VP of amateur scouting Logan White, and former Nationals director of player development De Jon Watson.

Posey’s desire for a GM with a strong background in scouting is sensible given his own relative inexperience on the front office side of the baseball world; the 37-year-old is just three seasons removed from his playing career and since then has served on the club’s board of directors after purchasing a minority share in the club two years ago. While he’s had a hand in the club’s operations since then, working to recruit free agents and even taking on a significant role in the recent extension negotiations with third baseman Matt Chapman, it’s unclear how much of a hand Posey had in the day-to-day operations of the Giants prior to his ascent to the president of baseball operations gig. With that being said, Slusser indicates that experience in contract negotiations and arbitration hearings isn’t necessary for Posey’s GM given assistant GM Jeremy Shelley’s experience in that role.

Turning back to Sharp, it seems as though the longtime Royals exec may only be interested in making a change if he would be stepping into an opportunity to lead an organization. Rosenthal’s report suggests that Sharp has interest in leading baseball operations for an organization at some point in the future, though it’s unclear whether or not the fact that he would answer to Posey was a factor in his decision to withdraw his name from consideration for the Giants’ GM job. For the time being, however, it seems that Sharp is content to remain with the Royals on the heels of a surprising 86-win campaign that saw the club return to the postseason for the first time since their 2015 World Series championship.

Giants Promote J.P. Martinez To Pitching Coach

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October 18: San Francisco officially announced Martinez’s hiring as pitching coach on Friday afternoon.

October 15: The Giants are promoting J.P. Martinez to the role of pitching coach, as reported by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The news comes on the heels of the club’s previous pitching coach, Bryan Price, stepping down from his role with the club earlier today.

Martinez joined the Giants during the 2020-21 offseason as assistant pitching coach, replacing Erik Katz on the staff of then-manager Gabe Kapler. Prior to joining San Francisco, Martinez got his start in professional baseball when he was drafted in the ninth round of the 2004 draft by the Twins. Though he never cracked the major leagues, he spent four seasons pitching in the Twins organization and a fifth with the Orioles organization before retiring from his playing career in 2008. Martinez eventually returned to the Twins organization in 2015 as a pitching coach at the club’s Florida complex and spent six seasons with the club in various coaching roles through the minor leagues before departing for San Francisco.

Upon joining the Giants, Martinez worked under former pitching coach Andrew Bailey and former director of pitching Brian Bannister. Of that trio, only Martinez remained with the organization in 2024 following Kapler’s firing and the hiring of Bob Melvin as manager. Melvin brought in Price to act as the club’s primary pitching coach, but with Price now set to step down the Giants appear poised to promote Martinez in his place. The move offers some continuity to Giants hurlers after a season where the club’s pitching staff posted strong underlying metrics despite middling performance. While the club’s collective 4.10 ERA wasn’t especially impressive, Giants pitcher posted a 3.80 FIP and a 3.82 SIERA, both of which were top-seven figures in the majors this year.

Looking at individual performances, the Giants enjoyed solid performances from young pitchers such as Hayden Birdsong, Tristan Beck, Kyle Harrison, and Landen Roupp this year. Each of those pitchers figures to be asked to shoulder more significant workloads in 2025 thanks to the impending departure of Blake Snell. The loss of Snell, who dominated with a 1.23 ERA and 1.77 FIP in his final 14 starts with San Francisco, will leave the Giants more reliant on veterans Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks headed into 2025 despite questions regarding the durability of those hurlers in rotation roles.

Of course, it’s certainly possible that the Giants pursue pitching help to further bolster Martinez’s staff this winter, whether that comes in the form of a reunion with Snell or the acquisition of a lower-profile arm or two to help supplement the staff in his absence like Luis Severino or Andrew Heaney. For now, however, the club’s top priority appears to be completing their GM search and locking down a #2 in the front office to serve as a partner for newly-minted president of baseball operations Buster Posey.

Latest On Marlins’ Managerial Search

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There hasn’t been a lot of concrete information about the Marlins’ managerial search, but one formal candidate has now been identified, as Isaac Azout of Fish On First (X link) reports that Tigers bench coach George Lombard will interview about the position this week.

It is the second time in as many days that Lombard has been linked to a managerial opening, as the White Sox also reportedly have interest in speaking with the 49-year-old.  Since the Tigers’ surprising playoff run only just ended last Saturday, it makes sense that Lombard is only now becoming available for interviews.

Lombard has some distant past ties to the Miami organization, as he played in the Marlins’ farm system back in 2008 but didn’t see any time with the club at the MLB level.  His playing career ran from 1994-2009, and included 144 Major League games with four different teams from 1998-2006.  Lombard played in 13 games with the Rays in 2006, though this predated the time that Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix spent in the Tampa front office.

Lombard’s only managerial experience came in the form of two seasons (2011-12) in rookie ball, running the Red Sox Gulf Coast League affiliate.  Lombard spent six seasons overall working for Boston as a manager, coach, and coordinator in the minors, then briefly worked in a minor league coordinator role for the Braves in 2015 before the big leagues came calling.

After just a couple of months with Atlanta, Lombard was hired as the Dodgers’ first base coach, a role he held from 2016-20.  The first two of Lombard’s seasons in Los Angeles overlaps with Gabe Kapler’s stint as the Dodgers’ director of player development, which creates an interesting link to the Marlins since Kapler is now Miami’s assistant general manager.

Lombard won a World Series ring with L.A. in 2020 and was then hired by the Tigers as their bench coach during the 2020-21 offseason.  The responsibilities of a bench coach vary from team to team, but the Detroit News’ Chris McCosky writes that Lombard’s chief duties include offensive game-planning, as well as coaching baserunning and outfield play.

The bench coach hire came after the Tigers also interviewed Lombard for their own managerial vacancy at the time, which was filled by A.J. Hinch.  Lombard had previously been on the Pirates’ radar in their managerial search a year prior (before Derek Shelton was hired), and the Red Sox also reportedly had some interest in speaking with Lombard before Alex Cora was re-hired as manager in November 2020.

If hired as the Marlins’ next skipper, Lombard will be tasked with helping turn around a team in the midst of an extensive rebuild both on and off the field.  The Marlins made a wide range of firings after the season, letting go of not just Skip Schumaker’s coaching staff but also the team’s conditioning and training crew and the clubhouse attendant staff.  Presumably the new manager would have a lot of leeway in hand-picking people to fill these roles, with Bendix and Kapler obviously also having plenty of input.

Speaking of Kapler, Azout also notes that the Marlins have some interest in speaking with Giants assistant coach Alyssa Nakken about the managerial role.  Nakken has been working with San Francisco for over a decade, and her five-year stint on the coaching staff began after Kapler was hired as the Giants’ manager prior to the 2020 season.  Her role on the staff bears some similarity to Lombard’s skillset, as Nakken’s duties also included outfield instruction and baserunning.

Nakken became the first woman known to ever receive a proper interview for a Major League managerial position when she spoke to the Giants about their vacancy last October.  Obviously history would be made if the Marlins or any other team hired her to run their dugout, though Miami is particularly noteworthy since the organization was also the first to hire a woman (Kim Ng) as general manager.  The 34-year-old Nakken would also become the youngest current big league manager.

Apart from Lombard and Nakken, Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz and former Marlins bench coach Luis Urueta have also been mentioned as candidates under consideration as Miami’s next manager.  Former Marlins pitcher Anibal Sanchez has also reached out to the club about the position, but it isn’t known if the Marlins reciprocated that interest.

More On Giants’ General Manager Search

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Earlier this month, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote about three potential candidates for the Giants’ open general manager position: Athletics assistant GM Billy Owens, Giants assistant GM Jeremy Shelley, and former Giants GM Bobby Evans. However, she also noted that the search was just beginning and was likely to go well beyond those three initial names. Indeed, the list is already growing. On Tuesday, Slusser reported that the team “appears to have targeted” De Jon Watson, formerly the director of player development for the Nationals and currently a special adviser for the Astros. She also names Logan White, a long-time special advisor in the Padres front office and formerly a long-tenured executive with the Dodgers, as a candidate for the position and adds that Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp is also “on the Giants’ radar.”

Additionally, Slusser emphasized that Evans isn’t necessarily a candidate to reclaim his job as the Giants GM, a role he held for four seasons from 2015-18. It’s not yet clear what type of front office job the team is considering him for; it could be more of an advisory role than an official position. Similarly, she mentions that Evans’s predecessor, three-time World Series winner Brian Sabean, would be “welcomed back” to the club in an advisory capacity. It’s unclear, however, if Sabean has expressed any interest in leaving his current advisory position with the Yankees to return to the Bay Area.

Just as interesting as the growing list of potential front office hires are the notable names to whom the Giants have not yet reached out. Slusser reports that the team has not been in contact with former Twins GM Thad Levine or former Marlins GM Kim Ng. Despite president of baseball operations Buster Posey’s limited front office experience, the Giants aren’t necessarily interested in hiring a veteran GM to work alongside him. Instead, Posey suggests they could look to hire someone with a strong scouting background, and Slusser adds the GM will most likely take on more of a “public-facing” role while Posey oversees transactions and hirings.

There’s good reason to believe neither Levine nor Ng would have much interest in taking on that type of role. Ng turned down her side of a mutual option with the Marlins last offseason because she didn’t want to work as the second-in-command under a newly hired POBO. Levine’s reasons for leaving the Twins aren’t quite as clear, though it’s easy to imagine he’d like a chance to be a team’s chief baseball decision-maker after working under Derek Falvey for eight seasons. Without reading too much into a playful comparison, it might have been telling when Levine likened his role with the Twins to Mary Poppins “singing in the background.” Perhaps he’d like a chance to sing center stage, and it doesn’t seem like he’d get that opportunity in San Francisco.

Bryan Price Steps Down As Giants Pitching Coach

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Bryan Price is stepping down from his role as the Giants’ pitching coach, The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly reports.

From 2001-2013, Price worked as a pitching coach for the Mariners, Diamondbacks, and Reds. He took over as the Reds’ manager for the 2014 season and held that position until April 2018, when he was fired following a disastrous start to the season. He briefly returned to coaching after that, serving as the Phillies’ pitching coach for one year, before announcing his retirement from coaching following the 2020 season. However, he worked as a senior advisor to the Padres’ coaching staff from 2022 to ’23, and when long-time friend Bob Melvin moved from the Padres to the Giants, he convinced Price to come out of retirement and join him in the Bay Area.

The veteran coach explained to Baggarly that his return to the dugout was always meant to be a short-term arrangement. To that point, the Giants offered him a two-year contract last winter, but he requested a one-year deal. Price was born in San Francisco and couldn’t refuse the offer to coach for the team he grew up supporting.

It certainly wasn’t an easy season for Price, who had to deal with Blake Snell’s early-season injury woes, closer Camilo Doval’s unforeseen struggles, and Jordan Hicks’s difficult transition from reliever to starter to reliever again, among other problems. Still, the season wasn’t without its bright spots, most notably Ryan Walker’s breakout as a relief stud and Snell’s resurgence in the second half of. All things considered, the Giants’ pitching staff was slightly worse in 2024 than it was the year before – their ERA, FIP, and xFIP were all closer to league average – despite several notable additions in Snell, Hicks, and Robbie Ray. That’s not to say Price is to blame for all (or even most) of what went wrong, but it’s not as if Giants fans were begging him to stick around for another year.

It’s unclear if this is a proper and complete retirement for Price, or if he still plans to work in an advisory capacity with the Giants or another club. As for his replacement, Baggarly notes that Ryan Vogelsong, currently a roving minor-league instructor in the organization, is expected to have “an instrumental voice in the organizational pitching hierarchy.” That could mean helping to select Price’s replacement or filling the role himself. Baggarly also mentions that assistant pitching coach J.P. Martinez and bullpen coach Garvin Alston are expected to return in 2025; if the Giants are considering internal candidates, either of them could be up for the job. Finally, Baggarly names Javier López, who is currently working as a color commentator on the Giants’ broadcast team. While Baggarly does not necessarily suggest the 14-year MLB veteran is a candidate for the pitching coach position, he writes that López could one day “transition into a role” in the front office or on the coaching staff.

Offseason Outlook: San Francisco Giants

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A big shakeup is in process for the front office in San Francisco. The Farhan Zaidi era came to an end last month and now Giants legend Buster Posey will be calling the shots as president of baseball operations. Since Posey has so little experience in running baseball operations, it's hard to know exactly what to expect, but there are some signs that the club will move from a measured approach to a bolder focus on acquiring marquee players.

Guaranteed Contracts

Option Decisions

  • LHP Robbie Ray can opt out of final two years and $50MM remaining on contract
  • LHP Blake Snell can opt out of final one year and $30MM remaining on contract
  • IF Wilmer Flores has $3.5MM player option, Giants have $8.5MM club option if he declines

Total 2025 commitments (assuming Snell opts out while Ray and Flores stay): $110.75MM
Total future commitments (assuming Snell opts out while Ray and Flores stay) : $439.75MM

Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections via Matt Swartz)

Non-tender candidates: Yastrzemski, Doval

Free Agents

The Giants did some good things under Zaidi's watch but the club was mostly defined by mediocrity in his time. The club finished just below .500 in his first two seasons. They shot up to an amazing 107 wins in 2021 but were eliminated by the Dodgers in the playoffs and crashed back to earth after. They finished at .500 in 2022 and just below in the next two years, making the 2021 season look like a clear outlier.

On top of the on-field results, there were some unsatisfactory elements elsewhere. The club's offseasons often focused on the players they didn't acquire, as guys like Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa came close to becoming Giants but ultimately didn't. Also, the club struggled to graduate many of its top prospects, with guys like Joey Bart, Luis Matos and Marco Luciano struggling to establish themselves at the big league level.

There were some nice finds on the pitching market, but mostly on short-term deals that allowed the players to get their big money elsewhere. Both Carlos Rodón and Kevin Gausman were able to resurrect their careers as Giants, but both quickly returned to free agency and got their big deals from A.L. East clubs, Rodón with the Yankees and Gausman the Blue Jays. To a lesser extent, guys like Sean Manaea, Alex Wood and Anthony DeSclafani had some good results with the club but are no longer in San Francisco. The club recently snapped up Blake Snell when he lingered unsigned into early 2024, but he now seems destined to depart like the others.

Last month, it became apparent that the franchise was growing weary of this generally tempered approach. Third baseman Matt Chapman, who had also signed a short-term deal like Snell, was signed to a six-year extension to stay by the Bay. But it was quickly reported that Posey had taken a lead role in getting that deal done, talking with Chapman directly in order to work around Zaidi and Chapman's agent Scott Boras.

Many smelled smoke in that report and the fire was later confirmed, as Posey was then given Zaidi's job. Posey said that he views baseball as a "memory-making business" at his introductory press conference. "Sure, winning is great," Posey said, per Maria Guardado of MLB.com. "Ultimately, that's our goal, to be a playoff team every year and compete for a championship. But I think just the overall big picture of being a part of something that's bigger than yourself was really appealing."

Does this mean that the Giants are now going to take a more free-wheeling approach, with less concern about squeezing the value of every dollar at the margins of every transaction? Will the plan be just to get things done, even if that means being a bit more reckless and perhaps overpaying from time to time?

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Mark Melancon Joins San Diego State Coaching Staff

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San Diego State announced that longtime reliever Mark Melancon has joined the school’s baseball program as the pitching development coordinator.  Melancon hasn’t pitched since the 2022 season, so this new job implies that the 39-year-old has ended his playing career after 14 Major League seasons.

“It’s exciting to be part of a staff that has great experience and a clear vision on what needs to happen to be successful at the highest level.  I’m eager to help these players compete for a national championship and hopefully move on to the next level,” Melancon said.

Assuming that Melancon is indeed hanging up his glove, he’ll finish his career with 262 saves and an excellent 2.94 ERA, over 726 2/3 innings in the majors.  As opposed to most bullpen aces, Melancon didn’t bring heavy velocity or big strikeout numbers, instead relying on superb control and a knack for keeping the ball on the ground.  Melancon had a 55.3% groundball rate over his career, the seventh-highest grounder rate of any pitcher in baseball (minimum 700 innings) within the 2009-22 timeframe.

Selected by the Yankees in the ninth round of the 2006 draft, Melancon ended up pitching for nine different clubs at the MLB level after he made his debut in the Show in 2009.  The travels started early, as Melancon changed uniforms via three trades in as many years — from the Yankees to the Astros at the 2010 trade deadline, from Houston to Boston in December 2011, and then from Boston to Pittsburgh in December 2012.  Though Melancon had seemingly broken out with a nice 2011 season, the rebuilding Astros still dealt him, and he then struggled through a rough season with the Red Sox.

The move to Pittsburgh brought both some stability for Melancon, and set the stage for the best stretch of his career.  Melancon became a dominant set-up man and then closer over his three-plus seasons with the Pirates, delivering a sterling 1.80 ERA and 130 saves over 260 1/3 innings in a Bucs uniform.  The right-hander was named to three All-Star teams during this stretch, and finished eighth in NL Cy Young Award voting in 2015 after posting a league-best 51 saves.

Free agency loomed for Melancon after the 2016 season, however, and the Pirates weren’t going to pay top dollar for a star closer.  The result was yet another trade, as Melancon was dealt to the Nationals at the 2016 trade deadline, and he continued to pitch well for Washington throughout the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs.

The big free agent payday then came that winter when Melancon inked a four-year, $62MM deal with the Giants, which briefly stood as the biggest contract ever given to a relief pitcher.  While Melancon had a respectable 3.67 ERA over 115 1/3 innings with San Francisco, it wasn’t the kind of elite performance that was expected from the hefty contract, and injuries also hampered Melancon’s effectiveness.

As the Giants entered a partial rebuild and looked to cut payroll, Melancon was moved to the Braves at the 2019 trade deadline, and had an uptick in results (2.78 ERA in 22 2/3 IP) during the shortened 2020 season.  A one-year, $3MM deal with the Padres followed that offseason, and Melancon enjoyed one final All-Star campaign by posting a 2.23 ERA and 39 saves for San Diego.  This led to a two-year, $14MM contract with the Diamondbacks in December 2021, but Melancon struggled in 2022 and then missed all of 2023 due to a shoulder strain.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Melancon on a terrific playing career, and we wish him the best as he moves into the collegiate coaching ranks.

Latest On Giants’ General Manager Search

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The Giants are remaking their front office, looking to hire a new general manager and maybe other executives as well. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has reported some of the latest details today. Notably, the club has asked the Athletics to speak to assistant general manager Billy Owens. Other candidates include Jeremy Shelley, who is already with the Giants as an assistant GM, and old friend Bobby Evans. However, Slusser adds that the club is planning to do a thorough search that could take weeks, which perhaps suggests the list of possible candidates will include many people not specifically named here.

For most baseball clubs these days, the general manager is the second spot on the decision-making pyramid, with the title of president of baseball operations usually going to the top dog. That will be the case for the Giants but perhaps this GM job will be a bit more important than others around the league.

Buster Posey was just given the POBO title and will be the club’s chief decision maker, but he has come to the gig via an unusual path. Many presidents get their jobs after years working for clubs either in scouting or analytics, climbing the ladder over time. Posey was on the field as a player just three years ago, retiring after 2021. He later joined the club’s ownership group, purchasing a minority share in September of 2022, getting a seat on the board of directors.

It seems Posey was fairly active in that role. Back in January, Taylor Wirth of NBC Sports Bay Area relayed that Posey and righty Logan Webb were working together to recruit free agents to San Francisco. Last month, it was reported by Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic that Posey has taken a leading role in the Matt Chapman extension negotiations even though Farhan Zaidi was still the POBO at that time. Posey was given Zaidi’s job shortly thereafter and the club decided to reassign GM Pete Putila and give that title to someone else to assist Posey.

Despite Posey clearly taking a hands-on role as a partial owner, his unusual track record and quick ascent could mean that he might need a GM who has lots of experience with the day-to-day nitty-gritty of running a baseball team.

Evans certainly qualifies, as fans of the Giants are well aware. He was hired by the Giants in 1994 as a minor league administrative assistant and worked his way through various other titles, including director of minor league operations in 1998, director of player personnel in 2005, vice president of baseball operations in 2009 and general manager in 2015. The Giants had plenty of success in that time, winning titles in the even-numbered years from 2010 to 2014, but their results declined in the seasons to come and Evans was fired after the 2018 campaign as the club pivoted to Zaidi.

Since that time, Evans has emerged as a candidate for other front office jobs but hasn’t landed a gig. He interviewed for the Astros in 2020, though that GM job ultimately went to James Click. Evans also interviewed for the Angels’ GM position prior to 2021, a position that went to Perry Minasian. When the Astros surprisingly moved on from Click after winning the 2022 World Series, Evans got another interview but Dana Brown ultimately secured that spot. Per Slusser, Evans has been working for various nonprofit organizations since his time with the Giants.

Though he has been in the wilderness for a few years, perhaps Posey will bring him back to San Francisco. It’s unclear if he’s being considered for the GM spot or some other advisory role. Either way, he and Posey are presumably plenty familiar with each other from their overlapping time with the club, as Posey was drafted in 2008 and made it to the big leagues for the Giants by 2009. The fact that Evans is now a candidate to work with Posey again, though in different circumstances, suggests the two had a good relationship during that previous era.

It may be a similar situation with Shelley. Per his bio at MLB.com, he has been working with the Giants for over 30 years now, so his time with the club also overlaps with Posey’s time as a player but also as partial owner/board member. Shelley started as a baseball operations intern in 1994 before moving up to administrative assistant in the baseball operations department in 1996. He then became director of baseball operations in 2006, senior director of baseball operations/pro scouting in 2009 and vice president, pro scouting and player evaluation in 2013.

It would be a different situation with Owens, who has been working for the A’s for over 20 years now. Per an MLB.com profile by Bill Ladson published last year, Owens started with the A’s in 1999 as a minor league hitting instructor. He later became a scout and then a scouting coordinator. By 2010, he was named director of player personnel and he got the assistant GM title five years after.

This isn’t the first time his name has emerged for a job away from the A’s. Like Evans, he was a candidate for the Angels’ GM gig that went to Minasian in late 2020. That same offseason, he was considered for a GM role by the Mets, but Jared Porter got that spot at that time.

Giants Have Shown Past Interest In Willy Adames

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Willy Adames has long been mentioned in trade rumors, with the Dodgers one club known to have had past interest in the star shortstop.  It is fair to guess that any number of teams at least checked in with the Brewers about Adames’ availability, and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman (via X) writes that the Braves and Giants also had Adames as a “target” in the past.  As Adames is now set to become a free agent this winter, any of these teams could well be suitors again on the open market, though naturally a free agent pursuit and a trade pursuit can be very different endeavors.

Tyler Fitzgerald hit well in his rookie season but was a subpar defender as the Giants’ primary shortstop in 2024.  That said, Fitzgerald has played at six different positions during his two years in the big leagues, so it is easy to see San Francisco shift him to another spot on the diamond to accommodate Adames.  The Giants have long been eager to bring top-tier free agents to the roster, and with Matt Chapman already signed to a new contract, adding Adames would give the team arguably the league’s best left side of the infield.  Landing Adames (or another big name) would be an easy way for Buster Posey to make a splash in his first offseason as the Giants’ new president of baseball ops.

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