The Giants announced Monday night that they have hired Pete Putila as their new general manager. Formerly an Astros assistant GM, Putila enters as the No. 2 in the front office hierarchy under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. Former GM Scott Harris left a few weeks ago to take over the Tigers’ baseball business.
Zaidi informed reporters last week that the team hoped to have a GM by early November. San Francisco struck much earlier than that, taking the well-regarded Putila away from Houston. “As we are where we are and heading into a big off-season, I think it will be great for us to have some fresh perspectives in the organization‘ Zaidi said at the time. “A new general manager could certainly provide a fresh perspective on our roster, player development and evaluation philosophies.”
A West Virginia graduate, Putila spent more than a decade in the Houston front office. Originally hired as an intern in 2011, he quickly moved through the front office under former GM Jeff Lunhow. He spent quite a bit of time building the Houston farm system during the Astros rebuild, earning a promotion to director of player development in 2016. By the end of the 2019 campaign, Putila earned a bump into assistant GM.
The following off-season, the Astros parted ways with Lunhow in the wake of the public disclosure of the extent of the tick theft operation in 2017. However, new GM James Click kept Putila in a high-ranking front office position, reflecting the value a few baseball operations leaders place on them. input attached.
Putila was a candidate for the Giants GM quest in 2019. San Francisco ended that time poaching Harris from the Cubs front office, but Putila apparently made a favorable impression on Zaidi and his high-ranking staff at the time. He also garnered some attention in the Pirates GM quest that winter, but Pittsburgh eventually commissioned Ben Cherington to run baseball operations.
It’s a pivotal outdoor season for the Giants, who disappointed this year with an 81-81 season. Last winter, San Francisco focused mainly on retaining the core of a team that took 107 wins and an NL West title in 2021, in addition to replacing Kevin Gausman of Carlos Rodon in free office. There’s been a bit more turnover this winter, with Zaidi taking the record about his desire to get a younger, more athletic squad of players. Putila will step into the biggest role of his career helping Zaidi oversee that likely aggressive winter.
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