A new item pops up on Buster Posey’s offseason to-do list.
As the San Francisco Giants began wrapping up a disappointing 2024 campaign, calls for changes to the coaching staff and front office intensified. It didn’t take long for some of those calls to be answered — less than 24 hours after the season ended, the Giants fired president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, and replaced him with franchise icon Buster Posey.
But questions remained as to whether there would be a shakeup on Bob Melvin’s coaching staff, with both the hitting and pitching instructors coming under heat after a mediocre year. We still don’t know how much change there will be, but we do know there will be some change, even if it’s at least a little voluntary. On Tuesday morning, The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly broke the news that pitching coach Bryan Price is resigning after just one year at the position.
It’s not exactly shocking news. This time last year, Price — the former manager of the Cincinnati Reds — was happily retired, having stepped away from a coaching role with the Philadelphia Phillies when the pandemic began, and only returning to baseball in an advisory role to Melvin with the San Diego Padres. But was coaxed out of retirement with the opportunity to not only coach alongside his good friend, but for his childhood team — Price was born in San Francisco, attended Tamalpais High School, and played his collegiate baseball at Cal. Most coaches who are coaxed out of retirement don’t stay unretired for long, and Price never suggested he would be an exception to the rule. And that certainly seems to be the driving factor in his decision.
Price spoke with Baggarly (I strongly recommend reading his full article), with the 62 year old explaining that, “The chance was too great to pass up, but I also knew going in that it would be for the short term, a year or two,” while calling the opportunity “a brass ring I had to grab and I’m really glad I did.”
The Giants finished just 19th in the Majors with a team ERA of 4.10, though they were sixth with an FIP of 3.80 — not exactly the type of split you expect for a team that plays half its games at Oracle Park. While it was, on the whole, a disappointing pitching season, Price — and everyone — surely expected that the Giants would get more than 150.2 combined innings from Blake Snell, Robbie Ray, Alex Cobb, and Tristan Beck. And it’s certainly worth noting that, as injuries improved, so did the staff: after the All-Star break, the team’s ERA of 3.63 ranked 10th in the Majors, while their FIP of 3.62 was third-best, trailing only the Padres and Atlanta Braves. Even more importantly, Price surely played a role in helping develop youngsters like Kyle Harrison, Hayden Birdsong, Erik Miller, and Randy Rodríguez, and hopefully we’ll see the fruits of that labor for years to come.
And now, the Giants offseason to-do list just got a little bit bigger for Posey, who still needs to hire a GM. Buckle up, fans — it’s going to be an interesting next few months.