The offseason is here, and new Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey appears to have checked off his first box.
The Giants are expected to hire Zack Minasian as the team’s new general manager, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The Giants have not yet confirmed the move.
Minasian joined the Giants in 2019 as the director of pro scouting following 14 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. In 2022, Minasian was promoted to San Francisco’s vice president of pro scouting.
Minasian is the brother of Angels general manager Perry Minasian and he grew up around the game as his father, Zack Sr. was a clubhouse attendant for the Texas Rangers. Another brother, Calvin, is the clubhouse coordinator for the Washington Nationals.
Posey said in his opening remarks as the new team president that he would target a general manager with a background in scouting, and Minasian has that.
There is plenty of work ahead in the coming weeks for the Giants’ next general manager: MLB’s general manager meetings are set for next week in San Antonio, a month before the league’s winter meetings in Dallas.
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MLB’s free agency period opened Thursday, one day after the Dodgers clinched the World Series with a Game 5 win over the Yankees. Teams can begin signing new players at 2 p.m. Pacific Time Monday.
Pete Putila, the Giants’ previous GM hired to the job in 2022, is expected to remain in the organization under a different role, Posey said at his introduction.
Minasian’s baseball ties include being “baptized in” Dodger blue, he told this news organization during his first spring training with the Giants. His godfather is former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who called him “Benedict Arnold” when he moved to San Francisco from the Brewers.
Upon arriving, he stressed the importance of in-person scouting as some teams had devalued the practice, relying more on analytics.
“With as much data that’s available to front offices, there are some front offices that just feel more comfortable relying on the data and a scout rather than just the scout, which to each their own,” Minasian told this news organization. “I kind of look at this as a buffet. I want to be able to pick and choose what information I feel is most important.”
Minasian was one of Farhan Zaidi’s first hires when he became the Giants’ president of baseball ops in 2019. Now he’s Posey’s first big hire after taking over for Zaidi.
This is a developing story and will be updated.