The Giants announced that they were hiring a new manager this week. Bob Melvin was officially named the 19th manager in San Francisco Giants history, and the 39th overall going back to the New York days. After donning the orange and black, again, he sat down and faced the media along with Giants chairman Greg Johnson and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi.
I went through the transcript of the presser and pulled a few lines that stood out to me from the three. Overall, I came away willing to believe Melvin could end up being a good hire, provided that Zaidi provides him with the on field personnel to succeed. Whether that happens lies in the hands of Johnson, whose own comments in this presser left much to be desired.
“I can't think of any other person in baseball with the level of integrity and respect and achievements that Bob's had in his career. Well, maybe there's one, but he's a little bit busy these days.” Greg Johnson
Wow, what a way to start by reminding everyone that Bruce Bochy is in the World Series right now with the Rangers and not managing the Giants like we all would like. There is no reason for Johnson to make any sort of veiled reference towards Bochy, or any other manager for that matter. This day is about Bob Melvin, and before he has even said a word, Johnson has cast a Bruce Bochy sized shadow over the entire affair. Mix this with the chuckle from the media in attendance and the awkward smile Melvin put on, this was about as bad a way to start an introductory press conference that did not have Jim Tomsula in attendance.
“I grew up around here as everybody knows. Absolute crazy Bay Area sports fan. Whether it was the 49ers and the Raiders, there was the Giants and the A's, the warriors, I was into it all.” Bob Melvin
Melvin makes it clear he is one us as a Bay Area local. Farhan Zaidi has said in the past that the Giants like to target free agent baseball players who grew up in Northern California under the belief that those players are more likely to want to play here. With Melvin, another local, on board, and Zaidi’s past mentions that he wanted the next Giants manager to be an effective recruiter (more on that later), it would appear that locally sourced baseball players will continue to be on the Giants offseason shopping list.
“We've agreed in principle for a deal for Farhan through [20]26. And we'll announce that shortly.” Johnson
Greg Johnson announces that they will announce an extension for Farhan by announcing that there is an extension for Farhan. Don’t worry about trying to follow that. The important takeaway is that Farhan Zaidi has been extended for another two years past this upcoming 2024 season.
While most Giants fans will find this outlandish at first, it makes sense. With a new manager on board for three years, the Giants have to project stability at the top. A manager on a three-year deal and a president of baseball operations on a lame duck deal does not project the most stable situation for free agents, local ones or otherwise.
“I’ve been around Bob, seeing how he runs a clubhouse, seen how he runs a team and, I would put his leadership and management skills up against anybody in the game.” Farhan Zaidi
One of the faults that did in the Giants most recent manager, Gabe Kapler, was a laid-back, hands-off style of coaching that called for the players to essentially police themselves. The idea that Kapler ever lost the clubhouse was brushed aside because he apparently never had it in the first place. This is no doubt Farhan alerting fans that the days of hands-off managing are done for the Giants. At least one would hope.
“Some things transpired last year and a difficult year for the team with high expectations. I think there was a narrative at the end that probably wasn't going to go away with me being on my last year of my contract.” Melvin
Melvin was asked why the Giants job was more attractive than the job in San Diego with far more talent. From what I have heard, clubhouse chemistry was a major problem for the Padres. We have already seen Manny Machado clash with Fernando Tatis Jr. a few years ago, and it is fair to wonder if there is still tension there. If the clubhouse situation really got so untenable, and with Tatis Jr. and Machado locked under contract until the end of time and for all of the money, it is understandable why Melvin might flee to San Francisco, where Pusoy is the biggest problem in the clubhouse and much easier to fix.
“If anybody asks me a question about somebody who's under contract, or they're going to be with us, my answer is always going to be yes. Until they're not… there was some noise around both at the time that we just wanted to eliminate during a season.” Johnson
Greg Johnson said earlier this year that both Farhan and Gabe Kapler would be back next year, which amounted to the dreaded vote of confidence that you never like to see happen with your favorite team. If Johnsons goal was to quite the speculation, he failed. In fact, the announcement back then that both Zaidi and Gabe Kapler would be back only seemed to heighten fan angst towards the Giants. It all came to head when Zaidi did not commit to Kapler coming back next year in a radio interview before the final weekend of the season, and was fired the next day to, in part, prevent him from having to answer any questions about his future with the team.
“[The Giants] were tough team matchup with because they created a lot of problems as far as in game moves.” Melvin
The Padres were 21-11 against the Giants while Melvin was their manager.
“But [Roger Craig] really made me watch the game a different way than I was used to watching the game.” Melvin
Melvin played under the late, great Giants manager Roger Craig, and was asked what he took away from playing with him. One of the best parts of having Melvin on board is his baseball pedigree, and having some of that Humm Baby spirit is exactly what the Giants need right now.
“It depends a lot on who we target. And when you look at luxury tax in a one-year number, you could go past that if you had to. I don't think it's something we want to do for a long period.” Johnson
This presser had some very nice moments in it. Melvin had most of them. Zaidi had one or two possibly. Johnson had none of them, and it was because of lines like this. The Giants are a major market team that is refusing to commit to major spending to avoid the luxury tax.
“If you look at the teams that have jumped up in free agency, they didn't really have great years this year, with the spending, so I'm not sure there's a direct correlation there.” Johnson
The old “money doesn’t buy wins” argument. Johnson is right though. The Mets, Yankees and Padres had the three highest payrolls this past season and played a combined zero playoff games. The next four teams on the list: Rangers, Phillies, Dodgers and Astros. Go back to 2022 however, and the top 5 teams in payroll, Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Phillies and Padres, all made the playoffs.
In the last three years, 6, 7 and 7 of the top 10 payrolls in baseball made the playoffs. Spending makes some sense.
“We plan on being active and if we have to go through that we will go through that. But we also represent a group that hopefully, our goal is somewhat breakeven, which is somewhat a challenge in this business. But everybody I can tell you from the ownership side, the goal is to win. And that's what we are doing everything we can” Johnson
The line that should enrage Giants fans. No one wants to hear their teams owner talk about breaking even, and they especially do not want THAT goal being brought up before the goal of winning is brought up. Warriors chairman Peter Gruber said it best, “when you’re in the business of moving people emotionally and giving them something to feel good about, you have an opportunity.” The Giants ownership seems reluctant to grasp that reality.
“Coming from Oakland, without analytics, we wouldn't have had the success that we did there. So, there's always a balance to everything and Farhan and I have talked that about that for years.” Melvin
Kapler was hired in part because he shared Zaidi’s passion for analytical baseball. But at times the two of them were too reliant on analytics to guide decision making. Part of that could be attributed to Kaplers lack of real-world managing experience. Melvin has managed for a lot longer, and still harkens back to the old school baseball days before the Moneyball Era, which is to say that Melvin could be the manager able to blend both new and old age principles to his day to day managing in the same way Bochy and Dusty Baker have with their own analytic heavy franchises.
“Whatever I can do to help with that, hopefully, respect around the league, my time in baseball adds to that. So, if I can help in any fashion, that'd be great.” Melvin
As mentioned above, Zaidi wanted a manager who could help recruit free agents. It appears Melvin at least seems willing to give that a shot, even if it was not the most reassuring answer that he would.
“Phil Garner was the guy that I was his bench coach, it was the first time I was at the big-league level as a coach. So, most of my chops were cut with him and philosophies and so forth.” Melvin
When asked about who influenced his managing style the most, Melvin mention Garner, for whom he was the bench coach for in Milwaukee and Detroit in 1999 and 2000 respectively. Garner was nicknamed “Scrap-iron” for his gritty playing style. Again, this is the kind of old school influence the Giants need badly right now that was missing these last few years.
“There's no compensation with the hire.” Zaidi
“I had a lot of conversations with [Padres general manager] AJ [Preller]. When this one came up it’s probably the only one I would have listened to. But he was good enough to tell me about it and asked my thoughts on it. And we had some conversations and so yes, answer is yes. Talk to me.” Melvin
So, the Padres just, let their manager walk to their division rival. No red flags there at all.
“I finally got to speak to Buster Posey, by the way, I have never spoken to Buster Posey in all these years. And you know what, that's a good thing. Because he was about winning, and about playing and about competing, not being somebody's friend. And so when we spoke the other day, it was it was a great experience, because all of a sudden, I felt like I knew him.” Melvin
Bob Melvin used to play catcher. Buster Posey used to play catcher. Bruce Bochy was a catcher. Catchers and the Giants go well together. And this also tells me that Buster is on board with this hire, and that is a good thing, and I will not mention that he sat in the front row of Gabe Kaplers introductory press conference as a show of support for that move as well.
“One thing that Bob brings to the table as much as anybody that we possibly could have wound up with, and that's why we're so thrilled, is just the credibility and the trust that he builds. He has my complete trust in how he manages the day to day. I've seen it. And I have a complete belief and faith in his ability to do that.” Zaidi
Is this Zaidi’s way of saying he trusts Melvin enough to let him manage the game unobstructed by the front office? It would go a long with building credibility with the fanbase if that is indeed the case.
“Players want to be out there for nine innings, pitchers want to stay in games, position players want to stay in games and having somebody who has a great feel of that, who will have the trust of the players, that even when there is a move being made, that they might not like in the moment they understand this is a guy who's been around the block and has had a lot of success.” Melvin
Bob Melvin was known for getting a lot out of a little in Oakland. He did it by deploying platoons. He was known for being very good at platooning players. He might be better than Kapler at platooning players. You do not care however, because all you heard was “the Giants are going to keep platooning players,” and immediately saw red afterwards.
I still believe the Giants got better by hiring Bob Melcin to be the next manager of the team. Next on the list is building out the coaching staff, which is rumored to include Matt Williams, Ryan Vogelsong and Pat Burrell among others. It will also be imperative that Farhan Zaidi do what he never really did for Gabe Kapler, which is provide him with a roster that has more talent than the roster did the last two years. And it is on Greg Johnson and the Giants ownership group to be willing to finance these endeavors as well.
The Giants may be in a better place now than they were a month ago, but the current leadership that has overseen the last two dismal years is still in place, and that is not going to offer much inspiration.