Saturday, October 5, 2019

The New Manager

Don't forget, the Giants are hiring a GM as well. That presents a chicken-and-egg problem, as FZ put it recently (from Andrew Baggarly on The Athletic):
Ordinarily, the general manager would be working hand in glove with the president of baseball operations in a managerial search. The GM is the primary quartermaster for day-to-day roster needs, so it’s imperative that they have a close and communicative relationship with the skipper.
Except the Giants are hiring a GM, too.
“You want to know how the GM is going to work with the manager, but you also want to know how the manager is going to work with the GM,” Zaidi said. "So it’s a little bit of a chicken and egg. But, you know, we will very much have that in mind that those two are going to have to have a close relationship, and we have to have confidence they’re going to be able to work together."
I suspect the lists for both jobs might have some overlap. A lot of the personal qualities are similar. Zaidi has said that managerial experience is not a prerequisite for the field job (Aaron Boone had no experience coaching at any level before the Yankees hired him), so the same might be true for the desk job.

So how do you replace Bochy? You can't. You can hire a new manager--not a replacement. Identify the things you want from a manager and find that person. Giants fans will have a hard time viewing the new guy in a new light--they'll want to subject him to a checklist of Bochy comparisons. Farhan can't do that. Obviously Boch possesses many of the personal qualities needed to succeed at the big league level, but Boch is Boch. I don't want an ersatz Boch. I want a new person with their own story.

I really think Buster Posey should be the Giants manager. I've no idea if he entertains the idea, but it seems like he has all the experience, skills, knowledge, and gravitas necessary. So the Giants should hire a guy for a few years (Bam-Bam?) until Buster quits playing and takes the reins.

But that probably won't happen. He'll go back to Georgia and run for Senator. In the real world the Giants will hire a guy no one has heard of. Don't be surprised if the guy they get is a surprise. I don't keep my nose that close to the industry buzz so I have no real insight. DrBGiantsfan, who blogs at When the Giants Come to Town, has a breakdown of names you might look at. He's always thorough and thoughtful.

Baggs made the point in another article that if you want to know what kind of guy the Giants will hire look no further than the one FZ helped hire in LA: Dave Roberts.

Managing in MLB is hard. There is a small pool of people with the skills and passion needed. Even guys with all the goods on their résumés fail at the task. FZ is known as a process-oriented person and likes to "trust the process" and go with the outcome it generates. Roberts, for example, was not considered a favorite going in, but he came out as the number-one guy.

I can live with that. I was happy when the Giants hired Farhan Zaidi and I think it will be fun and interesting to see how he goes about creating the next-gen manager and general manager for the franchise. I want to be open-minded and not have a preconceived notion of who these people "ought" or "ought-not" to be. Frankly, I don't know any of the people involved and can only get the same information all of us get who are not part of the business. So it makes no sense to form opinions based on other peoples' opinions.

A lot of other teams (Mets, Padres, Pirates, Cubs, Angels, Royals) are looking for a skipper, that could make the process take a while, and of course many people won't be available until after the post-season. The Winter Meetings are scheduled for December 8-12, so I'd like to think the Giants would have at least a GM at that point. We'll see!

--M.C.

11 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

FWIW

M.C. O'Connor said...

FZ on what he's looking for in a manager:

“Being a relationship builder, and somebody that has the demeanor and personality that people want to play for you and put the team above individual goals,” Zaidi said. “That's maybe the truest of leadership traits. It's obviously something I've had in mind, but I think Sunday (Boch's send-off) was a pretty compelling reminder and case for that, and how impactful that can be if you have that in your manager.”

M.C. O'Connor said...

I appreciate a guy who is self-critical, and can recognize that every decision doesn't work out. At the same time, you have to continue and go forward. FZ strikes me so far as pretty balanced:


But as president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi looks back, there's one that stands out from his first year. Asked about regrets earlier this week, Zaidi took a long pause and noted that he's constantly auditing every decision.

"The thing that I spend a lot of time thinking about is just going back to July 31 and the way the trade deadline unfolded," he said on this week's Giants Insider Podcast. "I feel like I alternate nights losing sleep about not potentially buying at the deadline and trying to improve our chances this year, or selling more at the deadline and setting ourselves up better for 2020 and going forward."

. . .

"On August 26, I was really happy we still had Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith on our team and felt like those guys gave us a chance," Zaidi said. "It didn't turn out the way we wanted and we didn't have the September we wanted, but I think we owed it to our fans and to Boch and to the players to keep those guys and give us a shot to continue what we had accomplished in July leading up to the deadline."

M.C. O'Connor said...

Mike Shildt never played pro ball (HS and NCAA only) but he had managed for a long time in the minors before being promoted. I wonder how many ML managers never played pro ball?

M.C. O'Connor said...

So far I hear three names who have interviewed or will interview with the Giants for the manager position. They are Mark Kotsay (an A's coach now), Pedro Grifol (a Royals coach now), and Gabe Kapler (just-fired Phillies manager). No word on GM names. I suspect those candidates will be unknown to most fans.

I have no opinion on the worthiness of those men for the job. I could surf the 'tubes and come up with a bunch of other peoples' opinions but I choose not to. FZ & The Muckety-mucks have to do that stuff, and I'm happy to leave it to them.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Giants pick up a utility man--Drew Robinson--and sign him to a minor-league deal. He's another FZ-kind of guy with intriguing minors power numbers, versatile defensively, and lefty bat. Brief ML experience, 100 G, with Texas and St. Louis, will be 28 in April.

Also the Phils want to interview Dusty Baker who works for the Giants. I understand he's been granted permission to talk to them. I say "go for it." Perfect match. Old school baseball guy for an old school baseball town. He'll be 71 next season so I mean it when I say "old" school.

I am trying to keep an open mind about the next Giants manager (Wotus is 58 and Bam Bam is 52) but I really hope it is one of the "younger" set out there. Of the three I mentioned (Grifol-Kapler-Kotsay) they are all under 50 (49-44-43). Call me an ageist but I think the job requires the energy of youth.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Rumor has it Will Venable may be managerial candidate.

M.C. O'Connor said...

At least we know it won't be Joe Maddon!

M.C. O'Connor said...

Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro is another name that's popped up.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Astros bench coach Joe Espada is rumored to be a candidate.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Did you know the Cardinals had a first base coach named Stubby Clapp? Is that not one of the great baseball names of all time??!!??

Stubby Clapp!


His birth name is Richard Keith Clapp and he is from Canada. I wonder what part of him is stubby?

I only mention him because he is interviewing for the Pirates manager job.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clappst01.shtml