The Giants six Ab Mcdonald Jersey -year, $151MM extension for third baseman marked a departure from the organizations reluctance to commit to players on long-term deals under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, though perhaps theres an explanation for that. that Giants ownership was frustrated by the lack of progre s in talks between Zaidi and Chapmans agent, Scott Boras, and intervened. Franchise icon , who bought a minority stake in the team in 2022 and is one of six members on the board of directors, took a lead role in the talks and negotiated the framework of the deal with Chapman himself, according to Baggarly. Readers are highly encouraged to check out the piece in full, as it contains a slew of details on the unusual nature of the Chapman negotiations. Posey personally taking on such a prominent role in a franchise-altering negotiation is a potentially damning indictment on Zaidis status within the organization. The sixth-year president of baseball operations signed an extension just last year, but what was originally reported as a three-year contract has since been covering the 2024-25 seasons and containing whats effectively a club option for the 2026 season. Its not clear that the pair of reports, which surfaced within a week of one another, is evidence that Zaidi is on the proverbial hot seat. At the same time, it seems fair to infer particularly in light of the revelation regarding his contract that hes not on quite as steady ground as it may have seemed even a few weeks ago. Giants ownership has publicly backed Zaidi whenever given the opportunity, but Poseys prominent role in Chapmans extension only raises questions of potential di satisfaction. The Giants wont be reaching the postseason this year, and theyre tracking toward what would be a fifth losing season in six under Zaidis tenure. While the end result is the same regardle s of whos negotiating the contract, the journey to that agreement is notable. Maybe this was just a one-off where the board felt Posey, as a former player, could appeal directly to a player hes gotten to know over the course of the current season. If things have reached the point where ownership has genuinely lost faith in Zaidis vision and/or his ability to close deals, that would be a far more alarming development and likely the portent for a change of note in the front office. Its worth noting, of course, that the Giants have signed plenty of free agents under Zaidis watch ( ). The majority have been short-term pacts, however. The Giants let succe sfully rehabilitated pitchers like and walk rather than pay market price for either pitcher. (The latter decision seems wise; the former is regrettable.) They pursued in free agency but reportedly stopped just $20MM or so short of Harpers eventual contract with the Phillies. A pursuit of ultimately only served to drive up the price for the Yankees, who kept their homegrown star. A ma sive 13-year deal with was scuttled when the Giants raised concerns about Correas physical. Center fielder (six years, $113MM) is the only free agent the Giants have signed for more than four years or more than s $62MM guarantee. The aversion to long-term deals has certainly kept the Giants payroll outlook clean, but the results on the lower-cost free agent deals made have frequently failed to pan out. and both signed three-year deals and were both dumped in salary-driven trades before the second season of said contracts commenced. was released two years into a three-year contract. The Giants dumped the final season of s three-year deal on the Mariners along with Haniger. The second season of s two-year deal was sent to the As in a salary dump deal. has been a roughly league-average bat over the life of his two-year, $36MM deal. Smaller-scale two-year deals for (dumped along with Soler) and have backfired. Zaidi undoubtedly built plenty of goodwill with home-run signings of Gausman, , and (the first time) DeSclafani. Low-cost pickups of , , , , and (among others) have also been unmitigated succe ses. But many of those early succe s stories have since moved on, while others have seen their effectivene s fade. And the recent low-cost acquisitions havent had the same level of impact on the organization, while the farm has seen several top prospects stall out. All of that is vital context when trying to ascertain what the Chapman report signals for Zaidi and his future with the organization. Zaidi himself downplayed the scenario to Baggarly, suggesting he and ownership worked in sync and telling Baggarly that ownership involvement is to be expected on a contract of this magnitude. Thats true, broadly speaking, though ownership circumventing both the front office and the player agent to hammer out a deal is not typical busine s. Given the Giants likely interest in keeping Snell another Boras client the manner in which the Chapman deal came together is all the more intriguing. The Boras Corporation also represents a significant number of free agents this offseason: , , , , , , , and are among the most notable Boras clients that could be on the market this winter (as can be seen ). Nate Clurman Jersey