Buster Posey had a confession to make.
Upon becoming the Giants’ new president of baseball operations, Posey’s first major task was picking a general manager to replace Pete Putila. Zack Minasian, who listened to Posey’s introductory news conference, thought he fit the description. Posey, in the end, did too. On Friday, the Giants officially named Minasian their newest general manager.
But when Posey began his search? His candidate pool didn’t include the man he ended up hiring.
“I’ll be honest,” Posey said. “I haven’t told Zack this. I didn’t go into this process thinking that Zack was honestly even a candidate. So, when I got word that he was somebody that I should look into, I was open-minded. But again, if I’m being honest, I probably didn’t see us sitting right here a month later when this process started.
“No offense, Zack.”
For the first-time general manager, no offense, likely, is taken.
“Buster had called and asked me about my interest level. I told him I’m a Giant first,” Minasian said. “I love this city. My wife and I moved here. We had a baby here. It means a lot to us. This organization has been great to me since the first day I walked in the doors.
“It was important to me to continue on with the Giants in whatever role Buster thought worked best, and obviously, I was elated when he asked me about interviewing for this. The rest is history. I feel very fortunate.”
Posey was still an active player when the Giants hired Minasian in 2019, and Posey praised Minasian’s ability to be available to players but not have an overbearing presence. Minasian may not have originally been on Posey’s radar, but Posey began considering Minasian after talking to people in the industry who he trusted.
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“I think number one for me in this role is finding somebody that, obviously, is very astute in their baseball knowledge, which Zack is,” Posey said, “but having somebody that I can trust, that we can all trust and share similar visions and goals for the San Francisco Giants. Zack very much checked all those boxes.”
Minasian, who served as the team’s vice president of professional scouting before the promotion, won’t have too much time to express gratitude for his new role.
Beginning on Monday, free agents are allowed to sign with new teams. The free-agent pool includes left-hander Blake Snell, who exercised his player option on Friday. The list of players on the open market also includes Juan Soto, the 26-year-old superstar set to receive a contract in excess of $500 million — if not $600 million. Posey said the team will look at “every possibility available to make our team as good as we can,” whether it’s through free agency, the trade market or minor-league free agency.
“When you think about roster construction, to me, it’s similar to the way I looked at being a baseball player,” Posey said. “As a baseball player, you want to be as complete as you possibly can on both sides of the ball. I think that’s ultimately how we want to create a roster, with strong pitching and strong defense and the ability to score some runs in different ways.”
Added Minasian: “I think it’s a huge advantage that we have this blueprint from not too long ago on what works in this ballpark. Buster talked about it: we’re going to pitch, we’re going to play good defense and we’re going to find ways to score runs.”
Minasian has not previously held a general manager role, but the 41-year-old plans to draw on his experiences with the Milwaukee Brewers, where he worked for 14 seasons in a variety of different roles.
In Milwaukee, Minasian worked alongside Doug Melvin, who spent more than a decade as the team’s general manager. Melvin, considered a mentor by Minasian, had the final say on trades, but Minasian recalls being “side by side” during trade conversations — conversations that helped yield such stars as CC Sabathia, Zack Greinke and Josh Hader, among others.
Minasian also has the unique advantage of having a sibling who’s currently doing the same job.
Perry Minasian, Zack’s brother, has served as the Angels’ general manager since 2020. With Zack’s promotion in San Francisco, they become the first siblings to simultaneously serve as general managers.
Most of the brothers’ conversations are about their kids — Zack noted that Major League Baseball has strict rules regarding what they can talk to each other about — but Zack has had the opportunity to watch how his brother manages the stressors of the role.
“It’s a little bit of on-the-job training without having to do the job,” Minasian said. “I’ve been fortunate to watch that from afar, but for the most part, I kind of let him do his thing professionally and he’ll let me do mine.”
As far as the dynamic between Minasian and Posey, Posey said he anticipates a “shared responsibility” when it comes to dealing with the day-to-day matters of running the ballclub — including dealing with media.
“I’m in this to try to be a part of putting a great team on the field, and that involves being present and being in rooms with people and having conversations,” Posey said. “That’s the way I intend to operate.”