SAN FRANCISCO — Buster Posey executed his first true shakeup as the Giants’ president of baseball operations — a decision that required him to cut ties with someone he considers a “buddy.”

The Giants announced a flurry of roster moves on Wednesday morning, the headliner being to designate first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment.

San Francisco also designated backup catcher Sam Huff for assignment and optioned infielder Christian Koss to Triple-A Sacramento. To fill their three roster spots, the team signed veteran first baseman Dominic Smith to a major-league contract and selected outfielder Daniel Johnson and catcher Andrew Knizner from Sacramento.“It’s time to go,” Posey told reporters on Wednesday afternoon before the Giants’ game against the Padres. “I think we all believe that we’re better than what we’ve been with the bats the last two-and-a-half, three weeks. It’s time to go.”

The roster moves come as the Giants are in the midst of one of their worst offensive stretches in recent memory.

San Francisco hasn’t scored more than four runs in a game since Wilmer Flores hit three homers against the Athletics on May 16, the team’s longest such streak since 1965. The Giants have scored 32 runs over their last 16 games (7-9 record), posting a collective .594 OPS and going 14-for-105 (.133) with runners in scoring position. The pitching staff, by contrast, has a 1.77 ERA over this same span.

Posey expressed faith in Wade when he spoke to beat reporters Tuesday before the Giants’ 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Padres, but acknowledged that the team is “trying to exhaust all options.” One of those options ended up being moving on from Wade. Following Tuesday night’s defeat, Posey personally delivered the news to his former teammate.

“It was a difficult decision,” Posey said. “One of the trickier things for me is there’s still guys on this team that I played with. I had a different relationship with him as a player than I do now, but I still consider LaMonte a buddy. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, but you got to get some offense going. Smith’s been swinging the bat well this last month and hopefully he can provide a spark. ... For LaMonte, my hope is he lands somewhere and gets going and continues his career.”

Wade, who played alongside Posey in 2021 when the Giants won a franchise-record 107 games, was far from the only Giant struggling at the plate during this stretch. That said, the 31-year-old first baseman been unproductive the entire season.

Over 50 games, Wade posted a .167/.275/.271 slash line with one home run. By WAR, he had been the Giants’ least valuable player. Wade’s struggles go back to last season. Since the second half of last season, Wade has hit .188/.297/.308 and been 26 percent worse than a league average hitter.

Wade, acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Twins in February 2021, earned the moniker “Late Night LaMonte” for his numerous late-game heroics that season. He hit .253 with 18 home runs and 56 RBIs in his first season as a Giant, winning the Willie Mac Award. Prior to this season, Wade had a career .767 OPS (115 OPS+) with the Giants.

“I think he came up as a guy who didn’t necessarily believe in his talent level, and then he grew into believing into it,” Posey said, “and believed that he could be that guy late in games that would get big hits. He provided many of those for us.”

Added Giants ace Logan Webb: “I believe in LaMonte. Hopefully he doesn’t do it to me or to our team, but he’s going to get back to his ways. Just excited for him to maybe get a new opportunity somewhere else, a fresh start. I think everybody in this clubhouse loved LaMonte. We’re obviously going to miss him.”

With Wade gone, Smith, 29, joins the Giants’ mix of first basemen alongside Casey Schmitt and Jerar Encarnacion, who will also play right field.

Smith, who is slated to hit fifth and start at first on Wednesday, posted a .782 OPS over 45 games with the New York Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate before opting out of his contract over the weekend. Smith has a career .717 OPS in the majors over eight major-league seasons, mostly with the New York Mets.

“I’m just here to try to do my job. That’s compete, control the strike zone, swing at good pitches and hit the ball hard,” Smith said. “If I consistently hit the ball hard, I’ll get the results that I want. That’s the name of the game.”

Smith, the 11th overall pick in the 2013 draft, has shown flashes of power — he hit double-digit home runs in four of the past six seasons — but has struggled with consistency.

“He’s a guy that has shown over the course of his career that puts together good at-bats,” Posey said. “He’s going to hit for some power. I know that’s not the key component of his game but hopeful he has quality at-bats. We’re a team that has to keep the line moving. We have to do the small things right. We have to hit behind runners at certain times and be able to execute the fundamentals of the game. We believe he’s a guy that can do that.”

Manager Bob Melvin noted that the additions of Smith, Johnson and Encarnacion (activated off the injured list on Monday) will allow him to get his regulars more rest, namely Flores and Mike Yastrzemski.

Melvin added that Yastrzemski, who wasn’t in Wednesday’s starting lineup, will get a couple days off, saying he feels “he’s been a little bit run down recently.” Over his last 16 games, Yastrzemski has a .118 batting average and .353 OPS. Johnson can play center, which will allow Jung Hoo Lee to get more days off as well.

“All in all, a little bit more versatility and flexibility,” Melvin said.

Johnson, 29, was born in Vallejo and attended Jesse Bethel High School before playing collegiately at New Mexico State. He has played 36 games over parts of three major-league seasons and had a .846 OPS with Triple-A Sacramento.

Knizner, 30, will become Patrick Bailey’s new backup catcher in place of Huff, who had a .598 OPS over 20 games, and is slated to catch Robbie Ray today. He has played six major-league seasons, five of them with the Cardinals, posting a career .596 OPS with -21 defensive runs saved. Knizner, who opened the season with the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate, was batting .367 (11-for-30) with six doubles and 10 RBIs in eight games since joining the River Cats two weeks ago.