San Francisco Giants president Buster Posey has hired former teammates Nick Casali and Felipe López to join the team's baseball operations department, marking the first organizational expansion since Posey moved from the dugout to the executive suite in September. Both are former catchers. Both played alongside Posey. Both now report to general manager Zack Minasian.
Casali, 32, caught 54 games for the Giants across 2021 and 2022 before retiring. López, 34, spent parts of two seasons in San Francisco's system and retired after 2023. Neither hire required a public search. Posey called them directly. The moves formalize a pattern: first-time executives often recruit from their playing cohort, seeking fluency over résumé. Posey knows how they think in a clubhouse. He knows which scout they trust. He knows whether they return texts at midnight during a West Coast road trip.
The timing matters. Minasian took over as GM in October, replacing Pete Putila. The Giants finished 80-82 in 2024, third in the National League West, five games out of the final Wild Card slot. Ownership approved a front-office budget increase in November, according to two people familiar with the decision, part of a broader organizational refresh. Posey is not rebuilding the baseball operations staff wholesale—senior advisors remain in place—but he is adding voices he knows will align on evaluation philosophy. Casali and López both played in organizations that emphasize catcher development and defensive sequencing. The Giants ranked 23rd in defensive runs saved last season. Catching was part of that.
The hires also signal how Posey intends to operate. He is not bringing in outside consulting firms or hiring Ivy League analysts to run projections. He is building a kitchen cabinet of former players who understand the product on the field and can translate front-office decisions into language a coaching staff respects. That matters in negotiations. When a veteran player's agent calls to discuss playing time or a role change, having a former All-Star catcher on the other end of the line—backed by two former catchers who recently retired—creates a different conversation than a spreadsheet.
Casali's role will focus on player development and minor-league catching coordination. López will work on major-league advance scouting and game planning. Both positions were unfilled entering the offseason. The Giants did not replace two analysts who left for other organizations in August, freeing salary space. Posey's calculus: better to pay two former players who understand clubhouse dynamics than two junior analysts who may or may not survive their first road trip.
The broader context is ownership's patience. The Giants have not won a postseason series since 2021. They have not signed a marquee free agent to a deal longer than three years since signing Carlos Correa—briefly—in December 2022. Sponsors have noticed. Two people close to the organization said renewal conversations with legacy partners have included pointed questions about competitive timeline. Posey's hire was meant to reassure them: the franchise icon is now accountable for the roster. Adding two former teammates three months into the job suggests he is moving faster than the typical first-year executive.
What to watch: Posey's next hire will likely be an international scouting director, a role the Giants have operated without a permanent lead since July. The team also has two open coordinator positions in player development, expected to be filled by mid-February. Casali and López will be visible at spring training in Scottsdale, where their presence will signal to arbitration-eligible catchers and Triple-A depth pieces how the organization now evaluates the position.
The Giants open Cactus League play on February 22. By then, Posey will have been in the president's chair for five months. He has hired two former teammates, backed his new GM, and expanded the front office without hiring a single Ivy League graduate. Whether that approach wins 88 games or just moves the defensive ranking from 23rd to 18th will determine whether ownership approves the next round of additions.
The takeaway
Posey expands Giants baseball ops with two ex-catchers he played alongside, signaling a player-first front office over analytics hires.
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