by
Greek Giant
The Giants Are Still Leader-Less
Hot off the presses and a TWG exclusive: The Giants do not hire a Manager!
Here we are some three weeks since Gabe Kapler was shown the front door by his pal Farhan Zaidi and the Giants still do not have a new Manager. There are a few ways to read this but, in my mind, it’s not good. The most likely possibility is that Zaidi already has someone in mind, perhaps with a verbal agreement, but that someone is a member of one of the four teams still in the postseason (Arizona, Philly, Houston, and Texas). That’s what I think it is, anyway. if the new manager is not from one of the remaining clubs then the delay is border line, if not outright incompetence. The Giants need a Manager NOW! The Giants fanbase needs to know who will lead their team. The Giants players and future free agents need to know who will skipper the legendary franchise by the Bay. There is ZERO reason to wait this long unless the new guy comes from the Phillies, DBacks, Astros or Rangers.
“Leading Candidates”
There are numerous reports about “leading candidates” Whatever the hell that means. I have no idea how anyone can be a leading candidate unless you are hired. We’re not talking about an election where people are polled to death before the actual vote. Those leading candidates range from Jason Varitek, the dude pictured at the top of this post and the highly-regarded former Red Sox catcher to Mark Hallberg and Stephen Vogt. Alyssa Nakken was also interviewed. My guess, reading the tea leaves and the acknowledged interviews, that Zaidi, as predicted, is looking for a recent former player or at least a very young and inexperienced person over whom the Giants President of Baseball Operations can lord without question. It’s a terrible direction for the team and it is a big mistake to give Zaidi this much power over in-game and on field management. In other words, a guy who is a number cruncher just wants a yes man to do his bidding on the field. If this ends up being the case the Giants will fail again. But let’s reserve our judgement till the decision is made.
What I can tell you for sure is that there are zero reports of Zaidi interviewing someone like Mike Metheny, Buck Showalter, Mike Shildt, or Terry Francona, in other words, someone with real Major League managerial experience and someone who knows how to build a line up and someone who actually played the game, and OH! Someone who actually won something, except for….
Bob Melvin, Wherefore Art Thou?
Bob Melvin anyone? Then there is the news that on Sunday the San Diego Padres gave the Giants permission to interview Bob Melvin. I highly recommend Dennis Lin’s article on this story and why Melvin and the Padres are likely done. The permission to interview with another team in your own division is akin to letting your wife go on a first date with your next door neighbor and hoping they run off into the sunset so she can ask for a divorce. It’s horrible optics all-around and makes Padres GM A.J. Preller, who has already fired two Managers, both first-timers, he hired, look very bad. It turns out Preller and Melvin do not have a good relationship and that’s because Melvin, on many occasions, told Preller to take his Analytics and stick them where the San Diego sun don’t shine, according to multiple sources in San Diego. Whatever the case, it’s hard to see Melvin and Zaidi co-existing, even though Bob may be just the right guy for the Giants at this point in his career.
NLCS Game 6, ALCS Game 7
Tonight is one of the best nights of postseason baseball, perhaps the best. Game 6 of the NLCS between the Phillies and the DBacks takes place at 5:07 PM in Philly. I tip my hat to the Arizonans who are showing some fight and some spirit after they looked dead in the water following Game one and Game two losses. The American League Championship Series goes to a decisive seventh game tonight in Houston after the Rangers won last night. The road team has won every game in the series so far, an unbelievable stat honestly. That game begins at 7:03 Houston time. Even if you are not a fan of either team, it has become an exciting postseason, one reason why baseball is the greatest team sport!