{"id":493652,"date":"2025-12-05T20:01:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T00:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/javier-lopez-and-curt-casali-return-to-the-giants-to-join-the-management-team-led-by-buster-posey\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T20:01:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T00:01:56","slug":"javier-lopez-and-curt-casali-return-to-the-giants-to-join-the-management-team-led-by-buster-posey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/sports\/baseball\/javier-lopez-and-curt-casali-return-to-the-giants-to-join-the-management-team-led-by-buster-posey\/","title":{"rendered":"Javier L\u00f3pez and Curt Casali return to the Giants to join the management team led by Buster Posey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/h1>\n\n\nSAN FRANCISCO.<\/strong> The Giants announced this Friday the return of two old acquaintances of the organization: Javier L\u00f3pez<\/strong> and Curt Casali<\/strong>, who will join the baseball operations team as advisors<\/strong>, reinforcing the working group led by the president of baseball operations, Buster Posey<\/strong>.\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be interested in: <\/strong>Dominican ex-baseball player David Ortiz wins the 2025 Humanitarian Award from the OAS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\nThe move also included the promotion of “Paul Bien”, who for the last four seasons served as vice president of baseball analytics and will now hold the position of “assistant general manager”.\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Two Former Players Return Home<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Curt Casali<\/strong>, 37 years old, was a catcher in the Major Leagues for 11 seasons, including two stints with the Giants (2021-2022, 2024). In 2021 he was Posey’s backup during the historic 107-win season and played 41 games in 2022 before being traded to the Mariners.<\/p>\n\n\nJavier L\u00f3pez<\/strong>, 48, is an emblematic figure in San Francisco. The left-handed reliever was part of the celebrated \u201cCore Four<\/strong>\u201d of the bullpen that contributed to the World Series championships of 2010, 2012, and 2014<\/strong>. A member of the organization’s Wall of Fame<\/strong> since 2024, L\u00f3pez has worked as a television analyst for NBC Sports Bay Area since his retirement in 2016, a job he hopes to continue while taking on his new role in the front office.\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A circle of increasingly solid advisors<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\nWith the additions of L\u00f3pez and Casali, the Giants further strengthen the team of advisors who report directly to Posey. That group includes well-known names linked to the recent history of the franchise:\n\n\n
    \n
  • Bruce Bochy<\/strong> and Dusty Baker<\/strong>, former champion managers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Bobby Evans<\/strong>, former general manager.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • John Barr<\/strong>, veteran scout.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Ron Wotus<\/strong>, former bench coach.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Jeff Berry<\/strong>, Posey’s former agent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    Analysis: Edwin D\u00edaz remains the most dominant closer in the market<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\nIn parallel, Puerto Rican Edwin D\u00edaz<\/strong> continues to draw attention as the best reliever available in free agency heading into 2026. Although he only uses two pitches \u2014 fastball and slider \u2014 both have become equally lethal weapons.\n\nAfter recovering from a torn hamstring that sidelined him in 2023, D\u00edaz has managed to balance his repertoire, achieving a +12 run value<\/strong> with both his fastball and slider since 2024, according to Statcast. That balance places him among the six MLB relievers whose two main pitches generate equal positive impact in preventing runs.\n\nThe right-handed closer has recorded an ERA of 2.48<\/strong>, with 13.7 strikeouts per nine innings<\/strong>, minimizing damage against both pitches:<\/p>\n\n\n

    Key Comparison (Statcast)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    2020-2022<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Slider: average against .132, SLG .155, 53% missed swings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Fastball: average .241, SLG .388.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      2024-2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Slider: .182 \/ .304, 42% missed swings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Fastball: .160 \/ .249.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Although his fastball has slightly lost velocity \u2014from 98.6 mph to 97.3 mph\u2014 D\u00edaz has compensated by adjusting his location, elevating it 60%<\/strong> of the time to maximize its effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\nThat combination of adjustments, command, and consistency once again profiles him as one of the most sought-after relievers of the winter.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        : SAN FRANCISCO. The Giants announced this Friday the return of two old acquaintances of the organization: Javier L\u00f3pez and Curt Casali, who will join the baseball operations team as advisors, reinforcing the working group led by the president of baseball operations, Buster Posey. You may be interested in: Dominican ex-baseball player David Ortiz wins […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":972,"featured_media":493653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[35481],"tags":[611,40231,40813,40853,40230],"class_list":["post-493652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-deultimominuto","tag-dominican-republic","tag-major-leagues","tag-thetruthnewspaper","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-24q8","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/images.jpeg","dum_api":{"author_name":"Yamell Rossi","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-7a176880-76f8-4b0c-9527-4e34feef45e4-96x96.jpg","categories_name":["Baseball"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/images.jpeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/972"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}