Buster Posey did not wait around for a season postmortem to make his decision, which he obviously made several days or weeks ago. He's making a change in the manager's office. I gave my thoughts on Bob Melvin's tenure as Giants Manager last week so you know this comes as no surprise. The tea leaves became more ominous yesterday as Melvin stated that he had no assurances he would be back next season and expected to speak with upper management today. His tone and body language telegraphed that he did not expect today's conversation to go well and it didn't.
Having already written my thoughts on why I thought Melvin's time as Manager was up, let's turn our attention to who will replace him. As I have said before, I have little insight into who would make a good MLB field manager. I wasn't happy when Bruce Bochy replaced Felipe Alou which shows you how much I know. Speaking of Bruce Bochy, his contract with the Rangers is up, but he is coming off two consecutive disappointing seasons himself. To me, bringing him back is trying to bring back a time and place that will never happen again and it diminishes the youthful energy and optimism Buster Posey brings to the organization. Time to bring in a new perspective.
It's my understanding a MLB field manager has 3 major responsiblities: 1. Maintain a positive, united attitude in the clubhouse. 2. Manage the the pitching. 3. Hold players accountable and provide effective feedback. By all accounts Melvin was very good at #1. He didn't make anyone forget Bruce Bochy in his pitching management. If he provided effective feedback to the players, it was not evident to us fans.
I hope Buster will carefully consider the qualities he needs in the next manager and make sure he does his due diligence in finding that person. Ideally it should be someone who understands advanced baseball metrics and how to apply them to in-game management while at the same time being more aware of how to effectively communicate and get buy-in from the players so they know they are not being managed by a computer.
Some names I have seen proposed: Bochy, of course. Former Giants back up catcher, Nick Hundley. Guardians coach Craig Albernaz. Mark DeRosa. Former Marlins Manager Skip Schumacher. Giants coach Mark Hallberg. Again, I don't have an opinion which of these names or any others might be the best for the job. That's why Buster is getting paid the big bucks.
I generally am a fan of the way Gabe Kapler did his field management. I do think playing the numbers over the course of a long season can add up to a win or two. The problem is that Gabe seems to have failed at providing feedback, #3 on your list.
ReplyDeleteI would hope that a the Giants don't go for a hard nosed old school grit type manager.
Also on the side Doc I would check out the latest Fangraphs interview with Kyle Harrison and David Laurila. He over the years has taken a lot of cheep shots at the Giants, but I do think there was an illuminating quote from Harrison saying that the Giants didn't do much to tinker with him.
- Fan
This is going to be a critical offseason where Posey can start with a clean slate on who he wants to be manager. I personally would like to see Nick Hundley become the next manager. I recall that he had a lot of good things to say about the organization during his two years as the backup catcher and enjoyed his time in SF. As a well regarded former teammate, I think he and Posey can get on the same page with how the team should be managed.
ReplyDeleteAlso looking forward to your future posts about the offseason. There are a lot of question marks regarding the lack of surefire starting pitching depth behind Webb and Ray. Birdsong, Roupp, Whisenhunt, Seymour, McDonald, Beck, Black, Teng.. Names are aplenty. But from this list, who's expected to be part of the big league rotation piece and who's simply just AAAA depth? Sames goes for position players. What does the future hold for Matos, McCray, Fitz, Gilbert, Luciano, etc..? Who's expected to play a significant role on the big league roster, and who isn't? Lot of questions that we hope to have answers to..
Here are some names, not necessarily in any order:
ReplyDelete1) Max Venable
2) Nick Hundley
3) Randy Winn
4) Curt Casually
I will have to do more digging to see who else should be on a short list and for reasoning for the best pick.
Doc
ReplyDeleteI really want someone who not only can get a better handle on the pitching staff but teach fundamentals as well. The base running mistakes and fileding issues drive me crazy. There is no reason why an athlete like Ramos cannot a much better fielder. It seems to me that the Giants have as a resource the greatest left fielder of all time in Barry Bonds. Why not have Bonds work with Ramos. It could only help. Aand again thanks for all your insights and the amount of work you put into this amazing blog.
Your loyal fan
Ed
I have no opinion if this was the right move, I'm surprised Buster went this route. I'm concerned that this is the 3rd time in 3 years they fired someone in a key leadership position, which makes me think while the manager is taking the fall, there seems to be organization failure going on that Bustet needs to look at. It gives the organization a bad look. Hope Buster gets this hire right since they can't keep doing this every 2 years.
ReplyDeleteI did not have major problems with MELVIN but would love to see a younger coach more in tune with the players of today. But look what Melvin had to work with!....Utter total mediocrity...Finnish .500 with the squad Buster and GMZM provided (but i do like the DEVER trade) is about as good as you could have hope for. The real onus is on Buster and GMZM to provided better players across the board (OF, 2B, C, SP, RP). That is more important. You do that, then maybe a younger manager (I could see Hallberg or Legend in His Own Mind DeRosa) will have more success..
ReplyDeleteSteveVA
Will Venable, not Max. Curt Casually was an auto-spell error, but kind of funny. Guys on KNBR thought that it is telling that Nick Hundley came to the Willie Mac Award ceremony as he currently works for the Texas Rangers. Hundley did win a Willie Mac Award, but a bit odd to come away from his job in Texas.
ReplyDeleteBoch was let go today by the Rangers. Fwiw. What about Decker? Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI don't think either Boch or Buster really want Boch back with the Giants. There is no upside in it for Boch and Buster needs to establish his own identity as leader of the organization.
DeleteSteve Decker? Is he even involved in baseball anymore?
DeleteSaw an interesting out of the box candidate Baggs linked to the Giants managerial opening : Tony Vitello Tennessee Volunteers head baseball coach. Baggs reported that Posey and Vitello were in Colorado during the recent Rockes Giants series and MAY have already talked. Vittelo is a Longshot but I'm not dismissing him entirely because he is a top college baseball coach and I don't want to dismiss a report from a reliable reporter like Baggs.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a swing-for-the-fences choice and we know Buster likes to swing for the fences. One thing I like about Vitello is he has formal management education and training in addition to his playing and coaching experience. Kind of reminds me of Tony LaRussa in that regard. I've always thought it was a little crazy that the path to field managing was a MLB playing career often without any formal education in how to lead and manage a team of people. The risk is whether Vitello's training and experience translate from college to MLB.
DeleteBaldelli is an interesting name. He was a hot manager before this year.
ReplyDeleteMy impression of Baldelli is he is basically another Kapler type manager.
DeleteIn the end, we're all measuring by the flags that fly forever.
DeleteThat being said, Kapler was the winningest Giants manager in the last 45 years.
Yeah, but most of all that Kapler winning was in one freakish season where absolutely everything went right.
DeleteI remembered couple of seasons ago Ron Wotus applied for the manager's job. He was part of the Bochy coaching team.
ReplyDeleteRon Wotus has interviewed for several managerial openings and clearly would like the opportunity. For some reason he's never landed a gig. It's a tough circle to break into.
DeleteMy Top 3 Candidates are Schumacker, Hundley, and Albernaz. No nostalgia hires, we need a manager who will use analytics but, not to the degree of Kapler. We need a teacher manager that will put Schmitt and Eldridge in a place to succeed in MLB.
ReplyDeleteI would add Kai Correa. He knows analytics as well as anyone and unlike Kap, the players seemed to like him.
DeleteNow not an absolute > I would want a guy that has some high level playing experience!
ReplyDeleteRichard in Winnipeg
High achieving players tend to not make the best managers although there are always exceptions to every rule.
DeleteThis is a good survey from Baltimore, also in the Manager hunt. Correa is mentioned there. There are a LOT of openings this Fall:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thebanner.com/sports/orioles-mlb/the-orioles-want-to-hire-a-manager-asap-heres-who-they-could-target-TWIZ5TK5LVELPNIVRPB2GQCREI/