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00:00really is important to us as an organization.
00:01And what are we going to hang our hat on at the end of the day?
00:05Oh, baby, that was yesterday, 10 a.m.
00:08at the introductory press conference for Buster Posey,
00:12your new baseball or new president of baseball operations.
00:15His son dies with Bob Melvin, the manager, Greg Johnson, one of the owners.
00:20And that's what Posey said.
00:22Our identity, what will our identity be now?
00:25He didn't say a lot yesterday.
00:26He didn't say a lot.
00:27And that spoke volumes.
00:29I have questions about the way they just kind of skated by Farhan Zaidi.
00:34To me, when I was listening, I wanted some more questions
00:37to Greg Johnson about Farhan Zaidi.
00:39But Posey takes the dice and on this first day on the job,
00:43I guess, second day on the job, as he said,
00:46it was ho-hum, which I would think from Buster Posey
00:48because he's never really said a lot.
00:50But just seeing him up there, you could feel the vibe.
00:53You could feel the breath of fresh air from everybody in a room,
00:56from Giants fans all over the city, from Giants fans all over the world.
01:00You have a new face as the president of baseball operations.
01:04Mr. Giant currently Buster Posey.
01:07What do you think, Shasky?
01:09So many things.
01:10It was very interesting how quickly they wanted to scrub and distance themselves
01:14from anything Farhan Zaidi related.
01:16It just felt like, hey, we don't want to talk about that.
01:20And nobody wanted to ask any questions about it.
01:22And I'm not saying that we don't talk about that picket the carcass,
01:26but I want to know, did we learn anything?
01:29Did we learn anything throughout the process?
01:30What was it that you didn't like?
01:32You know, Buster kept saying they used an analogy of like, I asked for the ball.
01:36You know, that's that's kind of what Greg Johnson was saying,
01:38is that Buster asked for the ball.
01:40And I guess I wanted to know from Buster or from Greg.
01:45What was it that made you ask for the ball?
01:48What were you seeing that you didn't like?
01:51Because he kept saying, like, my baseball and I agree with him.
01:53My baseball philosophies are very simple.
01:55Catch the ball, meaning play good defense and throw strikes,
01:59as in have good pitching. And I completely agree.
02:01I mean, that's that's tried and true.
02:04But what were those things like?
02:06What was it?
02:07And I'm sure platooning and openers and all the things that kind of frustrated
02:11the hell out of all of us Giants fans, it was part of it as well.
02:14But I felt like it was deeper than that.
02:16And the fact that they were so quick and I would, too, to pivot
02:20and not bring up the past, I was like, well, hold on a second.
02:23I know it's a day for Buster Posey, and I understand that.
02:26But can we also reflect on on what we just went through?
02:30And I just felt like we're we're just moving on.
02:32It goes to my point that the Giants are covered a bit differently
02:36than the 49ers and to go to state lawyers, because remember
02:39when John Jim Harbaugh got released by the 49ers?
02:44Jay York got peppered over and over and over about why they moved on from him.
02:51You know, Bob, when Bob Myers left, he set up.
02:54They had a press conference to announce that he was leaving.
02:56And he got pepper with questions on why he was leaving with Joe Lake
03:00of the owner to go to state lawyers sitting right next to him.
03:03And we had questions on why Bob was moving on.
03:06We had plenty of questions.
03:08So that goes to my point that the Giants are covered a bit differently.
03:11And I can't put my finger on why they're covered a bit differently.
03:16I just don't know.
03:16But Larry Bear was in the building.
03:18And so my point with six years, when you have a guy for six years
03:22running the show and you say a lot about this guy,
03:24whether he's the smartest guy in the room or whether or not
03:27you're going to bring him here, keep him here long term,
03:29or whether you like what he did, he's going to be here for a while.
03:32And we know Greg Johnson was on a podcast with TK in the middle of the season,
03:36the middle of the season,
03:37when he came off that road trip from New York and Pittsburgh and had a good run.
03:41The fact that was there like one or two questions about Farhad Zaidi
03:45now when it comes to Buster Posey, he may get some one on ones.
03:48And you may find out a little more about his philosophy
03:50and what he saw last season with the baseball team.
03:53But it's not Buster's nature to basically crush anybody.
03:57That's not it. That's not in his DNA.
03:59But on the flip side with Farhad, this is where Greg Johnson.
04:02I was a little disappointed.
04:04We're going to talk to the Shea Haykin today at 830 John Shea,
04:07because he pressed that board, that dais about Bob Melvin.
04:11And that was that was alarming right there.
04:13When I got out of Bob Melvin there, it's like, hey,
04:15we're not doing anything contractually yet.
04:17We're taking it day by day, which means you got to do your job, Bob.
04:21Or we'll be searching for somebody else.
04:22But the fact they skated so quickly off of Farhad Zaidi
04:26and didn't get pressed by that.
04:28And there was some big boys in that media room, some big boys, our Bay Area
04:31big boys and girls.
04:33It was a bit disappointing. I'm not going to lie to you.
04:35Well, on one level, I understand because like Buster's a very
04:39he's a charming guy.
04:40And a lot of people that were in that room have covered him a long time.
04:43So you want to like not endear yourself.
04:45But hey, congratulations.
04:47This is maybe the first time I've been face to face with you in four or five years.
04:50And I used to see you every day.
04:52Like, I do understand on some level that.
04:54But I don't know. It did.
04:56It felt very different. I would agree with that.
04:58Not only that, though, but Posey, you know, we can't let him skate by
05:02because he also said things about the city, said, you know, wives or
05:05well, I don't remember the exact quote.
05:07We basically said, you know, yeah, there is some concern
05:10about staying in the city, going shopping or whatnot.
05:13And how would that impact free agency?
05:15Basically doubling, doubling down on what Farhan Zaidi said.
05:19I, I would like to have a question about that.
05:21I hate Posey. What's your philosophy there?
05:23It was a little too kumbaya for me, which look, I'll speak for myself yesterday.
05:29I was a little kumbaya yesterday.
05:30I was shooting down and, you know, taking shots of people
05:33that I shouldn't even be that shouldn't even be on my radar.
05:36But I was I was feeling myself a little bit, you know, feeling myself
05:39that Farhan was God and now we got to face.
05:41But also on the flip side, there was a lot of questions
05:45that I wanted to ask.
05:46And look, people say, well, you could have gotten out or about to get off
05:48at 10 o'clock. I get off at 10 o'clock in the morning.
05:51I can't make the pressure.
05:52But there were some questions that were not asked that disappointed me yesterday.
05:55And I want to ask you about that. I really do.
05:58Yeah. You know, you're never going to like be wowed by Buster at a podium
06:02in terms of charisma and all that stuff like that.
06:05That's not necessarily who he is.
06:07But I don't think that that makes you a good or bad president of baseball.
06:11You know, personality is just, you know, it is what it is.
06:15Now, can you do treat people well? Do people like you?
06:17Can you can you get deals done?
06:18Are you able to bring two sides together that are far apart?
06:21You know, Brian Cashman can be very abrasive, very abrasive.
06:26I know that Brian Sabian in this market was very abrasive at times,
06:30but they also understand how to close deals and they understand
06:33how to get surround themselves with really strong people.
06:36I think the one thing that did stick out to me in the positive yesterday
06:39was clearly like John Lynch.
06:42And you're going to see a lot of comparisons.
06:44He admitted to not knowing everything, and he would have to surround himself
06:48with very strong people who have experience.
06:51And to me, that speaks of self-awareness,
06:54which is one of the greatest traits you can have in any walk of life
06:58is just being aware of what your strengths and your weaknesses are.
07:00And so it sounds like it feels like
07:04they're going to bring in someone at the GM spot who has scouting experience,
07:08which I like.
07:09It also feels like, boy, he referenced Brian Sabian a lot.
07:13Could be coming back.
07:14I think in some sort of advisory role, they are going to reach out to him
07:18if they haven't already.
07:19I just it feels like to me they're going to try to
07:24not bring the band back to you. That's not it.
07:26I just I think they're going to they're going to go to a well-respected,
07:29long time doing this type of people, bring them in to probably bring
07:33in a bunch of new people.
07:34Sounds like Pete Petula, who is the current GM, is being.
07:38Oh, he's gone. Reassigned.
07:39I don't know what that duty.
07:40Yeah, I don't know.
07:41He and A&A got through that quick.
07:43Yeah, he won't be returning as a GM of the Giants.
07:46That was done.
07:47Did anyone even talk to Pete Petula?
07:49I don't even know. Pete Petula, right?
07:51Is it? Am I saying it wrong?
07:52He wasn't even there.
07:53Yeah. What's his name?
07:54Love it. Pete.
07:56Pete Petula.
07:57Pete Petula. OK.
07:59He was with the Astros.
08:00And I saw him on the field a couple of times, like with Bryce Eldridge.
08:04He, you know, stood there and signed a jersey and, you know, gave him this jersey.
08:08And he got drafted.
08:09Petula, Petula, Petula, Petula, Pete Petula.
08:12Well, anyway, Greg Johnson, though, it did.
08:16It did feel like, you know, they had they had Bob Miller there.
08:19I didn't think honestly, I didn't think it was the time to have Bob Melvin out there.
08:22I understand why he's at the table.
08:24But to me, it's not necessarily about Bob Melvin.
08:27It's about the owner and the new president of Baseball Ops.
08:31I mean, who knows?
08:31Posey might have two, three, you know, Melvin might be his guy for the next decade,
08:35but it could also be something totally different.
08:38And I understand the questions that were very relevant about Bob Melvin's
08:42job status, contract status, all that.
08:44But I didn't really need to hear from him yesterday.
08:48Yeah, it was very, you know, John Shay.
08:50He pressed Posey and Greg Johnson on, you know.
08:54It was there were some inaccuracies with the contract details,
08:58and John Shay asked Greg Johnson, are you going to be more transparent
09:02moving forward when it comes to contract details?
09:04And to Greg's credit goes, you know.
09:07We don't have to be transparent about the details of contracts,
09:10but we did sign Buster Posey to a three year deal now shifted over to Bob Melvin
09:14because we all assume that Farhan and Bob Melvin were signed through 2026.
09:19And it wasn't the case.
09:20Shay cracked the code, say, well, oh, there's some opt outs here.
09:24And that's where the leaks kind of started with everything like that.
09:27So I don't know about Bob Melvin long term.
09:32I don't you know, they said all the right things yesterday.
09:36But an extension, I think Bob Melvin has to win next year.
09:40And I think if Bob Melvin and just my read on it, I have no clue.
09:44No sources, whatever on this situation.
09:47But it feels like the Giants have to make the playoffs next season
09:49in order for Bob Melvin to get that lucrative contract extension.
09:53So I don't know about that.
09:55I feel like one thing that is fair to say, it feels like
09:58they're giving him a complete pass for whatever happened this year.
10:02He's not going to be judged on what the season that just concluded.
10:06I don't think he's going to be judged one way or the other.
10:07I do believe next year he will be judged.
10:10I don't know if playoffs necessarily is the the standard.
10:14It may not be playoffs.
10:15It may it may be form.
10:16It may be how the team looks.
10:17There you go. You know, are they are they clicking?
10:19Are they playing clean, crisp baseballs?
10:21Buster Posey said yesterday, were you able to forget the ownership group?
10:25Were were you able to make a clear read on Bob Melvin this year?
10:32I wasn't, but.
10:35But but but as we watched the Padres win yesterday down at Petco Park
10:40and who Ludman, who's the guy we had on from the podcast, man,
10:43he was really, really good from down there in San Diego, Craig Alston,
10:45Craig Alston.
10:47And I asked him a question.
10:48I said, what happened with Bob Melvin and A.J. Preller?
10:52Why? Why does San Diego keep the GM
10:55and allow a team within the division to take their manager?
11:00The question never really got answered,
11:02but we all knew about the disconnect.
11:05Oh, A.J. Preller, Bob Melvin, don't get along.
11:07Bob Melvin doesn't get along.
11:08He's coming to the Giants, blah, blah, blah.
11:10Well, I'm watching San Diego go crazy down at Petco Park yesterday,
11:12beating the Braves.
11:13Tatis Jr. hits a home run.
11:15You know, they shut out the Braves.
11:17They feel good.
11:18A lot of people are picking them over the Dodgers.
11:20They're rolling.
11:21And they've been a lot of fun this year.
11:23And I heard the manager, the skipper, who was a shield for the Padres.
11:29He's credited to GM.
11:30I heard him went through one game.
11:31He goes, that's an A.J. Preller win.
11:34It was like, what?
11:35So I don't really know what happened with Bob and A.J. Preller.
11:39And I always had that question, like, what happened with Boatmell?
11:42And I'm not going to lie to you.
11:43I was a bit underwhelmed when Boatmell this season.
11:46Well, I do feel like just this is my feel.
11:50I feel like he was throwing Farhan under the bus at any opportunity he could,
11:54especially down the stretch.
11:55I don't know if I like that.
11:57No, I didn't like it either.
11:58But I I kind of hypothesized at the beginning of the year,
12:01you know, when you lose a GM battle and you're the one that has to go
12:04from a fully loaded roster, you learn from that war and you go,
12:08well, I'm not going to let that happen to me a second time.
12:10And I had hypothesized all year that Bob's going to angle
12:12to get Farhan as the fall guy here, because like any normal person
12:17would do that in a work setting after they've been railroaded
12:20for the prior failures at a different stop.
12:22So I don't know.
12:24Well, think about this.
12:25I think it was a very flawed roster.
12:27But here's what I would say, B.
12:29He didn't get the best out of Camilo Duval.
12:31He didn't get the best out of Wilmer Flores, Tyrell Strada.
12:34And there's a lot of guys that underperformed for a variety of reasons.
12:37And that's why I believe they're giving him a quote unquote pass
12:41for this last year.
12:42Hey, you inherited kind of a weird roster that had a lot of tension.
12:46And we're going to start judging you moving forward.
12:48I was as unimpressed as you were, though, if I'm being candid.
12:52Honestly, you think about the A's tenure and how A's fans
12:55felt about Bo Melman managing the bullpen, whether or not he had control of that.
13:00The opener that they had at Yankee Stadium with Liam Hendricks
13:03should lose to Tampa Bay at home in a wild card game.
13:06You give up a leadoff home run right away, right off the rep.
13:09You don't start Mike Fiers at Yankee Stadium.
13:11A lot going on with the A's.
13:13So he goes to San Diego.
13:14They do make an NLCS to his credit.
13:16But I remember in that NLCS, I think it was game four, pivotal game.
13:21And Bryce Harper is about to come up and Shawn Mania can't get anybody out
13:25that season. He couldn't get anybody out.
13:27And he goes to Shawn Mania in that game.
13:30And I think he just had Bryce Harper, I think, crushed one, crushed one.
13:34You remember that Spinodi crushed one.
13:35I'm thinking, why would Bo Mel go to Shawn Mania in that situation
13:38when he couldn't get anybody out all season long?
13:40So then you look at the Padres underachieving last season
13:44and everybody said, well, the chemistry with the club out.
13:46So maybe that was something with Soto, Tatis and Machado.
13:49But you're the manager.
13:50You've got all this talent.
13:52You've been in baseball for a long, long time.
13:54There's no way you should be underachieving with that roster.
13:58And they did.
13:58And everybody said, well, the GM's an idiot.
14:00They got to get rid of the GM.
14:03Well, the GM stayed and they're in the playoffs right now.
14:05Rolling. One of the best teams in baseball, rolling.
14:09And Bo Mel's here.
14:10We watched the roster and we saw how things developed and played out here.
14:13So I don't know about Bo Mel.
14:15So like I'm going to go off of what I saw this year.
14:17Forget Sandy for a minute. Forget San Diego.
14:20I think it's a fair point because it's part of your resume.
14:22I thought he had a subpar feel for the bullpen for about three months,
14:27four months.
14:28The lefty Rodgers wasn't used for weeks on end.
14:31He was making like 11 million dollars a year.
14:33And they kept going to Miller as their high leverage lefty.
14:36And he was very young.
14:37And I thought he was spotty at times, though.
14:40I'm sure the numbers are going to bear out that he was good.
14:42I thought he was spotty at times.
14:44Camilo Duval, something happened.
14:47Yeah, I would put up more than on Camilo.
14:49But the way Camilo was used, I think also got into his head.
14:54And I think that Bob Mel has to understand
14:56how people are motivated and how to connect with them.
14:58And that's part of the job. Right.
15:00And then I look at some of their other guys like Wilmer clearly got iced out,
15:04which is fine.
15:05I didn't think Wilmer should have been on this team, but he was iced out.
15:08And I could feel it from the Estradas and guys like that.
15:11Like I think it had an effect on those guys.
15:13Now, here's the good.
15:15Elliott Ramos clearly had a monster year and clearly Bob Melvin
15:20empowered that man to play.
15:21Now, it was because of injuries,
15:22but he kept putting him in the middle of that lineup, whether that's far on,
15:26you know, Posey's influence, Bob Melvin's influence.
15:28I think he gets credit for that.
15:30And then I think the Tyler Fitzgerald immersion is another thing that like
15:33I think he gets a lot of credit for.
15:35He stuck with Tyler Fitzgerald and the guy's bat was outstanding.
15:38I don't believe him to be a shortstop long term,
15:41but I thought he did a really good job with a couple of guys.
15:44Pat Bailey.
15:46I don't know. I don't know.
15:48I thought the handling of Pat Bailey, I thought he they didn't have many options,
15:51but I think that the guy needed to sit for a week or two.
15:54I would put him on the aisle.
15:55Matt Chapman swears by him.
15:56Matt Chapman swears by him. And that's fine.
15:59And Matt Chapman had a very good season.
16:01Very good year.
16:02So we're going to play some sound from the Buster Posey
16:04introductory press conference next segment here,
16:07because there's a lot to be said.
16:08Well, I'm going to ask some questions.
16:10Pardon me.
16:11We'll get to that with Greg Johnson, because he caught up with Greg Johnson,
16:15our very own Sam Loveman.
16:17He caught up with Greg Johnson one on one.
16:18And of course, Greg doesn't really say a lot.
16:21And, you know, he's no Joe Lacob.
16:24It's no Jay York.
16:26But you know what, man?
16:28It's all good. We'll see about Bomell.
16:30The roster does have to get better.
16:32He does. It does have to get better.
16:34But was there any like, honestly,
16:36when you look at the way the last two seasons played out for the Giants.
16:40What was the difference
16:42with the on field product between Gabe Kapler and Bob Melvin managing?
16:47I thought there were less situational pinch hit moments
16:51early in games where they would yank a guy.
16:54I mean, I'm going deep into it.
16:55But also, I thought you had more everyday players like Ramos being an everyday
16:59player, I think kind of stymied there.
17:01Let's go to Austin Slater in this moment.
17:04You know what moves? You know what I think it was?
17:05What was just a respecting?
17:08I don't know if it translated into more wins. What do you mean?
17:10But these players just seem to respect Bomell a lot more than Gabe Kapler.
17:13I think that's fair.
17:14The respect for it.
17:15Now that I think about it, the respect for Bob Melvin is there.
17:18Would you also grant me this?
17:20Whoever you think the greatest manager in baseball history is John McGraw,
17:23Bruce Bochy, Joe Torrey, LaRue said, like, pick who you want, OK?
17:27I don't know if any of those guys was getting this team to the playoffs.
17:30Probably not. Probably not.
17:31You need talent.
17:32And buzzer polls you mentioned that yesterday.
17:34He said it's about the player.
17:35Our identity is about the players on the field.
17:37I want to get into that because I think it's a stark contrast to the prior regime.
17:40All right. More coming up here.