LAS VEGAS — As Buster Posey settled into a corner of a conference room at The Cosmopolitan on Tuesday afternoon, a large crowd gathered a few feet away for Paul DePodesta, who was named Colorado Rockies president of baseball operations last week after a decade in the NFL. It was a reminder that for all the heavy lifting ahead for Posey and the Giants, there are other organizations with bigger holes to fill.
Unlike DePodesta, Posey at least has his manager. Most of the rest is still up in the air, though.
At the annual General Managers meetings, Posey said the front office and new manager Tony Vitello are closing in on finalizing contracts with several coaches, but announcements were not imminent Tuesday afternoon. There are some, however, who know they will be back.
Assistant hitting coach Oscar Bernard, quality control coach Taira Uematsu and bullpen catcher Eliezer Zambrano all have been informed they’ll be back, Posey said. There will be new leadership atop the hitting and pitching groups, and possibly new base coaches. Matt Williams was told early in the offseason that he wouldn’t return, and the status of first base coach Mark Hallberg is to be determined.
“He’s one of those that we’d love to have back, but he has been kind of a popular guy with some other teams, as well,” Posey said of his former Florida State teammate. “We’re working through that.”
Catching coach Alex Burg is in a similar spot, balancing external interest with the Giants’ offer. Posey also said that Ron Wotus will be back in a similar role to the last few seasons, working with the front office, big leaguers and visiting minor league affiliates. Hitting coach Pat Burrell will remain with the organization but will not be on Vitello’s staff, and assistant hitting coach Damon Minor also has been let go.
While it’s not yet official, Vitello’s first addition was former San Diego Padres manager Jayce Tingler. It would seem like an obvious fit to make Tingler the bench coach or associate manager, but Posey said the front office isn’t ready to announce his exact role.
The Giants are believed to be closer to hiring a hitting coach than a pitching coach. J.P. Martinez, the incumbent on the pitching side, had hoped to remain, but he ended up taking a job as the bullpen coach for the Atlanta Braves. Bullpen coach Garvin Alston also hoped to return, but he was let go, too.
“With nothing being a guarantee [in San Francisco] for J.P., I think he took the bird in hand,” Posey said. “We were still going through the process with him. We hadn’t told him that he was not going to be returning. I’m a J.P. fan and had a good talk with him when he took the [Braves] job. I told him I think he’s going to be successful and maybe we’ll see him down the road.”
While Ryan Vogelsong has been rumored as a potential replacement for Martinez, he is not in the mix, per sources. Another former Posey teammate does have an increased role, though. Former Giants reliever Javier Lopez has been added to the front office in an advisory role.
There are a lot of holes to fill, and all of Vitello’s picks will get a bit of extra scrutiny given the manager’s lack of MLB experience. But Posey said the group is trying to avoid feeling rushed. There’s plenty of offseason left and the interviews will continue this week, with Posey and Vitello leading the way. General manager Zack Minasian, assistant GM Jeremy Shelley and VP of analytics Paul Bien also have been part of the process.
Posey let Bob Melvin handle his own staff, but has been much more involved in helping Vitello fill out his first big league coaching staff. He said the process has been “a collaboration.”
“I think you’re going to be most productive in that way,” he said. “I don’t think it would be fair for me to come in and say I’m going to choose every single person. That’s just not the way I think is best, or vice versa, for [Vitello] to operate that way, as well.”
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