Buster Posey

Giants announce Putila won't be GM under Posey, will have new role

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The Giants made a change to the second-most important position in their front office.

Just one day after the team fired Farhan Zaidi as president of baseball operations and named Buster Posey as his replacement, Posey announced Pete Putila will not remain general manager and instead will have a new role within the organization.

"We're going to hire a GM," Posey said at his introductory press conference Tuesday at Oracle Park. "That's going to be one of the first tasks right out the gate. Pete's been made aware that he'll be moving off the GM role. We'll work through what some other responsibilities might look like for him."

Putila was named GM under Zaidi almost two years ago and has kept a relatively low public profile. But now under new leadership, the Giants decided to go in a new direction at the position while making it clear that Putila still could remain in a different capacity.

Posey, who has no prior front-office experience, is expected to heavily lean on those around him as he navigates his new role.

"It's fair," Posey said of the criticism that he lacks experience. "Everybody is entitled to their opinion, and again, I do think a strength of mine is that I'll be all ears and listening and taking in information from people who have been doing this for a long time.

"I do think it's important we bring in [someone] that's been versed in all aspects of front office."

Who might that be? Giants chairman Greg Johnson mentioned assistant GM Jeremy Shelley as someone who could be a candidate.

"I will add that we have a very deep and experienced front office with people like Jeremy Shelley that could take on the job, so I think there is a nice compliment," Johnson said.

Posey reiterated that naming a new GM will be one of his first orders of business as he rounds out his front office before his first offseason as president of baseball operations.

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