SF Giants hire Astros executive Pete Putila as their next general manager
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The SF Giants have hired their new general manager, poaching Pete Putila away from the Houston Astros front office, where he served as an assistant general manager. Putila replaced Scott Harris, who recently left his post to become the president of baseball operations with the Detroit Tigers.
Putila started his career with the Astros in 2011 as a baseball operations intern. He quickly rose through the ranks. Prior to becoming their assistant general manager in 2020, he spent several years as the director of player development, an area the Giants have called out as an area of opportunity for the organization.
However, there's reason to be concerned about Putila's background. Baseball fans have not forgotten the Astros 2017 World Series run, which will be most remembered for Houston's sign-stealing scandal that resulted in suspensions for the Astros manager and general manager.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi responded to questions about Putila's potential involvement with the sign-stealing with assurances that it was thoroughly investigated during the interview process. In fact, MLB never questioned Putila during their investigation because he was so far removed.
During Luhnow's tenure, the Astros also traded for relief pitcher Roberto Osuna, who was in the middle of serving a 75 game suspension for violating the league's domestic violence policy. Then, former assistant general manager Brandon Taubman was fired after an outburst at a woman reporter where he yelled, "Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f--king glad we got Osuna!"
While Putila overlapped with both of those events, he was only the team's director of player development. Granted, he was less than two years away from being promoted to assistant general manager and likely had input on the Osuna deal and knew Taubman. Executives disagree all the time, and Putila could have been opposed to the trade, but his association with Houston's controversial front office will stick with him.
So, the 81-win Giants have to get back to the drawing board this offseason, and developing the players currently in their farm system while also making significant acquisitions is imperative. According to Zaidi, those around the Astros credited Putila's "ability to cut through the noise and identify things that are critical in player evaluation and player development."
The Astros, who've won 100+ games in four of their last five seasons, have shown that they've been able to put together all the pieces it takes to build a winning ball club - Putila was a huge piece of that. When asked who Putila felt was a shining example of the Astros development strategy, he couldn't point to one.
"Our starting rotation is a testament to that," he said. "And starting shortstop, starting center fielder, third baseman, second baseman. I mean, the list goes on. Some of the most proud player development stories are those who were passed over in the draft, late-round signs, low-dollar signs and international. And we were able to work with those players."
Though the SF Giants have many pieces of the roster at the ready going into 2023, there are certainly pieces of the puzzle missing, and Pete Putila will try to help. When asked about what next year's roster is missing? "That’s something I’m very excited to jump in on with Farhan over the next couple weeks," he said. We'll see what he does.
