Matt Chapman Extension Showed Buster Posey\'s Growing Role With Giants
When the San Francisco Giants signed Matt Chapman to a six-year, $151 million extension earlier this month, it was Buster Posey who worked on the negotiations. The Giants\' executive board had become frustrated by the lack of progress between Farhan Zaidi and agent Scott Boras, so Posey entered the process. Posey worked with Chapman directly and also offered a full no-trade provision, which was one of the sticking points when Zaidi led talks.
The Giants viewed re-signing Chapman as critical to the franchise and didn\'t trust Zaidi to secure the long-term deal. Zaidi signed Chapman to a three-year, $54 million deal with player opt-outs after each of the first two seasons in March.
Zaidi declined to comment on the specifics of negotiations but said it was not unusual for ownership to have a hand in talks.
“I viewed myself and ownership working in total sync,” Zaidi said. “This was a priority to get done. I’d expect them to be heavily involved in a deal of this magnitude and they were.”
Posey\'s involvement in the Chapman talks is the latest signal that he will play an active role moving forward. If Posey and Zaidi don\'t see eye to eye on the direction of the roster, the Giants are open to moving off the latter.