Not only did the Giants announce the signing of Bob Melvin to a 3-year contract to manage the Giants, they extended President of Baseball Operations, Farhan Zaidi, through 2026 to give him the same security Melvin has. We discussed what Melvin brings to the team in yesterday's post so let's focus on FZ.
No matter your opinion of FZ and and his tenure so far, leaving him in a "lame-duck" state while giving Melvin a 3-year deal was not the right way to approach the situation. Essentially telling FZ he has to win in 2024 or be fired creates perverse incentives that could endanger the long term future of the team. They had to either fire him at the end of the season so a new POBO could hire a new manager or they needed to extend him.
I am OK with the extension. Although I think FZ is party responsible for the chaos at the end of last season, I think the farm system, and thus the longterm future of the team is headed in the right direction and am willing to give FZ more time to see if he can continue to build it up. Hopefully Melvin is respected enough to help attract better free agents to Oracle Park for a short term boost too.
I'm a little surprised not hearing too much complaints on FZ not making a big move at the trade deadline. The Giants were leading the wild card at one point, but it's past history. FZ extension is a good move. Melvin and FZ reportedly worked well together in the past with the A's . This keeps them together for 3 seasons. Front office stability looks good for potential free agents they want to sign.FZ said something interesting on KNBR that one young player who is under the radar now but he's optimistic about if he comes to camp in a positive frame of mind is Heliot Ramos . He regrets not be giving him a chance to see what he can do.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's flattering to think FZ might read When the Giants Come to Town, I sometimes get this disquieting feeling that he and ownership might spend a little too much time reading blogs and listening to podcasts and actually letting them influence decisions.
DeleteI mean, the time to give Heliot his shot was last season amidst all the injuries and poor play. If Heliot Ramos is a starting OF on Opening Day 2024, it will be due to another failed offseason.
DeleteWell, Tommy Pham would have been an inneresting trade deadline pickup. Yikes! Can you imagine him asking Joc to join the Pusoy pool?
Delete....I'm OK with FZ keeping his powder dry at the trade deadline. Several big acquisitions for other teams blew up in their faces, the Angels being the most glaring example.
DeleteI always have mixed feelings about Giants ownership and management. They have always valued stability and consistency, something that clearly worked in the Sabean years. And I appreciate them extending Zaidi in that vein.
DeleteHowever, I am just not convinced they truly want to win the World Series every year, let alone be an organization that rivals the Dodgers. I think they are content to just be contenders every year -- which I think is mediocrity. It's something that frustrates me to no end -- because the organization is 85% of the way there.
The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the economic engines of the world, and we should have a world class baseball team that represents that.
Sorry for my rant Doc.
- Fan
There are quite a few teams with payrolls a lot higher than the Giants who are not in the WS. The Rangers spent a lot and they made it. D'Backs built from within and are in with a lower payroll. My opinion is the postseason is a crapshoot and the aim is to get ticket to the dance.
DeleteTommy Pham would have made the clubhouse interesting, lol. I think Baseball POBOs should try to make trades to improve the team who are playoff contenders Giants were 58-49 on July 31 2.5 games in back of the Dodgers and stood pat.i liked Sabean since he always tried to improve the team at the deadline. Sometimes it didn't work Beltran for Wheeler. But he acquired Javier Lopez in 2010, Scutero and Pence in 2012, and Jake peavy in 2014. Maybe FZ had good reasons for standing pat, but don't think it made him look good. Maybe he didn't believe in the team making the playoffs. . Enough said,. I can't wait to see what Melvin's coaching staff will look like. Would be cool if Matt Williams comes back as a Giants coach Patrick Bailey will be lucky to have Bob Melvin teaching him about being a. MLB catcher.
DeleteNot saying it's you, LG, but I find in frustrating that there are still folks grinding their teeth over the Duvall and Wheeler trades even though many more of Brian Sabean's trades had net positive outcomes. I suspect many of those same people are the ones yelling about FZ failing to make a significant deadline trade.
DeleteTakes 2 to trade, FZ is not going to give up what he considers potential vital pieces that will lead to continued strength in the out years.
DeleteHe did trade for Bryant in 2021 to get them to the finish line, but one guy was not enough and the dodgers were just enough better to eke out the win
No, one guy was enough to get to 107 wins and win the division. Bryant made a difference. Postseason is a crapshoot.
DeleteI'm glad Farhan is sticking around for awhile. I really like the HS/college draft picks the last 4 years. I hope management let's Melvin manage the the team. Things are looking up.
ReplyDeleteWill the Giants be willing to ... exceed the CBT threshold for the first time since 2017?
ReplyDelete“I think it depends a lot on who we target,” Giants chairman Greg Johnson said Wednesday. “When you look at the luxury tax, one year you can go past that if you have to. I don’t think it’s something we want to do for a long period. I think 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.
“But 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 to somewhat break even, which is somewhat a challenge in this business. But I can tell you, from the ownership side, the goal is to win, and we’re doing everything we can.”
Doesn't sound like he is holding back
DeleteThen he was criticized for only wanting to go over the luxury tax for just a year.
DeleteGreg Johnson is a smart and wealthy individual. I have no problem with what he said except the breaking even part. He should know that the audience he's speaking to doesn't want to hear that from an owner.
DeleteWhy not appreciate an owner who tells the truth(recognizing that if he really wants to tell the truth he can open the books)?
DeleteI do genuinely believe that the team is breaking even from a P/L perspective -- and it seems that's what the ownership group cares about. However, I do just think that is kind of a weird way to run a team -- especially given that the Giants franchise valuation has skyrocketed.
DeleteI find this quite frustrating from an outsider perspective. Baseball ownership and MLB in general doesn't really have the growth mindset. Few owners maybe outside of Siedler and Cohen realize that you can grow your franchise and fanbase by taking losses in the short term for long term dividends in the future. The kids of today will become the season ticket holders of 10-20 years from now.
I do appreciate that the Giants ownership wants stability and consistency, but maybe I just have more of a Silicon Valley mindset. Greg Johnson ran Franklin Templeton Investments which by the nature of the business is supposed to be a stable asset manager and it seems like that is the way he is running the Giants.
- Fan
I have no problem with what Greg Johnson said. He said the goal of ownership is to have a winning team. That's good. Would have liked him to communicate better as to what is his vision for the Giants to become a world series contending team in the future. That's something that would connect with fans, players, future free agent pursuits. Fans don't want to hear about how how wealthy owners don't want to go over the luxury tax and somehow break even. Nothing wrong with that, but it's better not to say that, if they are trying to sell their product to their fan base
DeleteThis has been the philosophy of the Giants ownership consortium from the day Peter Magowan et al bought the team. Magowan openly stated it was their business model and never wavered from it. And I think we all have to say it has been a very successful model. I just don't get all the consternation over Greg Johnson's statement.
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