Here's how Posey is handling front-office transition

This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado's Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SAN ANTONIO -- As a player, Buster Posey made his living calling pitches behind the plate for the Giants. The calls haven’t ceased now that he’s adjusting to life as the club’s new president of baseball operations.

Asked to describe the most challenging part of his transition into the front office, Posey gestured toward his cell phone.

“Having to be on this more than I’m used to,” Posey said earlier this week at the General Managers Meetings. “I’m a pretty Point A to Point B person, but I’m probably not the best at juggling seven or eight messages and emails and phone calls and then trying to gather them together. But [assistant GM] Jeremy [Shelley’s] been great at helping with that. I think as I go along, probably some of my blind spots will become more apparent. I’d say, for the most part, some mornings, it’s phone calls pretty much when you get up, and then it’s conversations, then more phone calls. But it’s also kind of fun, too. We’ll see in a year if it’s fun or not.”

The GM Meetings offered a bit of a reprieve from the surging screen time, as Posey and his new lieutenant Zack Minasian were able to meet face to face with agents and executives across the league at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa. Posey, 37, was the only baseball operations chief to debut at the GM Meetings this year, though the three-time World Series champion required no introduction given his likely Hall of Fame credentials.

“It feels like I’m watching him play,” Minasian said when asked how Posey was navigating his new role. “Very much under control, calm, cool and collected. You can kind of feel that competitive fire within. He hides it pretty well, but you know it’s there. … He just carries so much credibility in the game. It’s nice to see some of these people who have been extremely successful in the same industry but in a completely different line of work show him the respect that he deserves.”

Posey said he’s been able to lean on several trusted advisors for guidance throughout his first month on the job, including Shelley, his former agent Jeff Berry and former Giants GM Bobby Evans. He understands he’ll be subject to new levels of scrutiny as he attempts to reshape a Giants roster that has missed the playoffs in eight of the last 10 seasons, though his playing days taught him not to avoid taking a big swing for fear of striking out.

“I know we’ll be very diligent in our decision-making,” Posey said. “Something I kind of tried to inject with the group is for us not to be hamstrung from that potential fear of failure and knowing that, hey, sometimes, we’re going to have to risk a media member saying this was a bad decision or a bad move. But if we feel convicted in it, you have to be OK with it.”

Posey offered a glimpse at his negotiating prowess by helping to get third baseman Matt Chapman’s six-year, $151 million extension over the finish line in September, but there are still plenty of other items left for him to tackle this offseason. He’ll need to finish building out his front office, finalize manager Bob Melvin’s coaching staff and add several impact players to the roster, including a new shortstop.

The phone isn’t expected to stop ringing any time soon, but Posey’s peers expect him to keep making the right calls for the Giants.

“He’s going to do great because he’s a Hall of Fame person,” Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said. “That, to me, is what these jobs are about, connecting with people and getting the best out of the people around you. Creating a culture, standards, vision -- I think Buster will be tremendous at that.”

“It’s just really special to be able to know Buster as well as I’ve gotten to know him and then also to see him want to take on this challenge,” said Scott Harris, who served as the Giants’ GM from 2020-22 before leaving to become the president of baseball operations for the Tigers. “It’s really impressive. The guy’s resume stacks up against anyone in the game. For him to want to jump into this because he cares so much about the Giants and restoring their standing in the league, I’m just really impressed by his willingness and interest in taking on the challenge for a guy who doesn’t need to do that.”