Thoughts on the Willie Mac Award and Bob Melvin

Tonight is Willie Mac Award night.  While there are several candidates we can make a case for, I think one stands out as the obvious choice:  Logan Webb RHP.   Webb is not only the ace of the pitching staff, tireless workhorse and leader in WAR value, he is an obvious team leader in the clubhouse for several years now.  Of course, a naysayer could make the case that a team leader on an under-achieving team is a negative, but I don't think anyone is blaming Webb for the Giants underachieving.  

Other players who could be in the conversation include Heliot Ramos LF who despite his defensive struggles, kept his head up with a positive attitude and was the team's most consistent hitter on multiple lineup roles.  Robbie Ray LHP came back from several years of injuries and arm surgeries to grunt his way through 180 innings and was a solid #2 SP.  Willy Adames SS overcame early mega-contract jitters and solidified a problematic position while looking like he had fun out there all season.  Matt Chapman 3B remains the best defensive third baseman I have seen in a long time while maintaining a team leadership role.  If you are looking for unsung heroes and overachievers among non-stars, Dominic Smith 1B/DH brought a feel for situational hitting to a lineup that sorely needed some.  Christian Koss UT took a utility infield role, worked his butt off to continuously improve his game and did whatever was asked of him including closing out mop-up games on the mound.  

But to me, the obvious choice is Logan Webb.

A couple of comments this week seem to point to an change in the manager's office for next season.  First, Logan Webb expressed his frustrations after an unusually ugly loss on Tuesday coming right out and saying this team had the most talent of any he's been on and clearly should have performed better.  The other comments came from Zach Minasian GM who went on KNBR and talked about the postseason evaluation process while pointedly failing to say Melvin is under contract for next season and will be the Manager.  

Disappointing seasons are not always the manager's fault and this season is likely not all on Melvin.  For all the talent on the team, there were obvious holes and vulnerabilities and just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  That's on Buster Posey and Zach Minasian.  On the positive side, the primary task of a team manager is to keep 26 big, strong, talented guys from literally killing each other in the clubhouse and maintain a positive team spirit and attitude.  He's done that. The players seem to genuinely like him and have spoken up to defend him many times.  On the other hand, the second most important job of a MLB manager is managing the pitching and Melvin regularly makes head scratching decisions, most commonly leaving pitchers who are obviously out of gas or don't have their stuff in too long.  On top of that, this is not the first Bob Melvin managed team to underachieve.  Last year's Giants were disappointing and ended up costing Farhan Zaidi his job as POBO.  Before that, Melvin managed the Padres to an extremely disappointing finish in 2023.  I know our friends who are Padres fans were particularly incensed over his management of extra-inning games and not at all sorry to see him go.  

Putting all that together I think it's time to get a different voice in the Manager's office and I won't be surprised at all if it turns out Buster Posey feels the same way.