Jim Bowden on the Giants Firing Bob Melvin & Buster Posey’s Next Move

Jim Bowden on the Giants Firing Bob Melvin & Buster Posey’s Next Move

Let’s start with Bob Melvin being fired by Buster Posey. Do you think it was the right move and what do you think’s next for the Giants? Yeah, I think it was the right move. I mean, look, you know, Bob Melvin basically had the Giants as a 500 team last year, 500 team again this year. Buster Posey in the off season, went out and signed Willie Adamos, gave him the big money. And ended up hitting the 30 homers. Giants got off to a good start. Buster went out there and got Raphael Bevers in June uh to continue to try to improve the offense here and the team kind of sputtered and at the end of the day I think Buster sitting up there looking at his team saying if the Reds made the playoffs we could have made the playoffs. Um and so I think there’s that aspect of it. Although look, Bob Melvin’s had a great career. He was executive of the year in both leagues. Did a great job with the athletics um when he was there. So um look, I understand his his long career. I’m not taking anything away from him. But here’s the most important part of that firing, right? When you head a baseball operations, you want to have a manager in that seat that you get along with, that you respect, that is on the same page with you, and you like to have your guy in there if it works out. Now, sometimes you inherit a manager and it works and it’s fine and you can go on and win. That happens quite a bit as well. But I think if you’re Buster Posey, you want your guy in there. I I think that’s the case. And so, you know, I think for him, he’s got a couple of options. number one, he could see if Bruce Bochi wants to come back a lot of rumors around San Francisco that that’s a possibility, but he is 70 years old. So, does Buster want to do that and and just try to go for it in the next couple of years. Um, or the other idea is Buster ends up hiring a younger manager that can be the long-term solution with him. Uh, building a team together, which is probably the right decision at this point, just because I think the Dodgers and Padres’s their window of winning is going to continue the next couple years. And I think the Giants are a few years away of being where they want to get to. Uh but the firing I think was kind of expected, at least from my perspective. Did Bo Mel do bad enough? Had Buster been the one hiring him and let’s say this was his second year of a three-year contract and Buster had brought him in. Did he do bad enough with this roster, the way it was constructed, to deserve to be fired? I get it what you’re saying. You bring in your own guy. He wasn’t your guy. Yeah. No, I I don’t think so. So, I mean, I think this team was around a 500 team, I think, is what you’re trying to get at, but I think there’s more to it than that. You know, uh, when you’re sitting in the seat, it’s not just about wins and losses, right? It’s about, you know, are you getting the most out of the players that you have? Are you developing the guys you need to develop? And then the other thing is, you know, when you’re sitting up there in the box, unfortunately for a manager, GMs are absolutely watching every single pitch, every single decision that a manager makes, uh, firstguing everything that they do. it’s difficult to sit in that seat. Um, so I think it’s sometimes it’s more important than that. And the other thing is different manager styles work with different teams. You know, I don’t spend enough time in the Giants clubhouse to really get the vibe if Bob was the right guy for that particular team. But, you know, there are some teams that need a different voice to to reach the potential you want them to be at. And I’m not saying that was just the reason here, but I I think if you’re running baseball ops, make sure you have the guy in that seat that you want in that seat because at the end of the day, you’re both going to win or you’re both going to fail together. And if you’re not on the same page, if you’re not watching and seeing the game and watching the development the same way, it can be frustrating and difficult. So, um, look, a lot of times managers get fired mostly because of the players. I think we all get that. To answer your question clearly, was this about a 500 team? Yes. Do I think another manager would have won more games? Um, maybe two or three at the most, but that’s about it. Two or three gets you in the playoffs, but that’s not going to be my next question. My next question is, you look at a guy like Buster Posey, he was a superstar from the jump. Can he, and this is just your opinion, work with somebody, a younger manager, like you said, to build this up who’s not a superstar? Because if that’s the case, you almost have to go to a somebody who’s managed before. You almost have to go to somebody who’s got that pedigree of winning at other places. And then you come in and the expectation of winning is on Buster Posey putting that down to his manager who then puts it down to the players. Yeah, Eric, great points all the way across the board. And so, you know, I would say for Buster it would probably be just because of in his inexperience in the front office. Do I think it would be beneficial to bring in a manager that has won before? I mean, I would say yes only because with my young experience when I had the job, I needed to go get someone that had won. I hired Dave Johnson who had won 90 games five different times. Uh he came in and together we finished in first place two years in a row and made it to the LCS. Um I go back and I look at that hire. That was huge. Uh not just for the Reds, but it was huge for me personally at the time. Do I think it would benefit Buster to bring in Bruce Bochi, who he knows, who he won three world championships with? Um, yeah. For the short term, I think it would be great. At the same time, I think I trust that Buster Posey knows this game so well, has learned it so well that if he wanted to bring in an inexperienced manager that had a significant background in the in the game that he believed in, I think that can work, too. AJ, let’s talk steaks. Omaha stakes to be precise. Big, big discounts we’ll tell you about coming up in just a sec on the website. But also, every steak is perfectly aged to maximize tenderness and hand cut by Master Butchers in America’s Heartland. It’s been around since 1917. They know what they’re doing. Absolutely. They know what they’re doing. It’s They come prepackaged, perfect sizes, portion size. You can get any kind of cut you want, any kind of meat you want, and it all comes out delicious. You can freeze it. You can thaw it right away. There’s hamburgers. There’s steaks. There’s chicken. There’s pork chops. There’s everything you could ever want. And it comes out delicious every time. Save big with Omaha Stakes. Visit omomasakakes.com for 50% off sitewide and an extra 20% off select favorites during their early Black Friday sale. And for an extra $35 off, use promo code foul at checkout. Terms apply. Seite for details. That’s 50% off at omahastak.com. Promo code FO at checkout. Terms apply. Seas site for details. Is there another move that should be made somewhere else? This is the first one. We see Don Kelly get extended, which is the most Pirates move of all time and get the guy we know. We don’t need to go outside the organization. And listen, Don Kelly did a great job while he was there for the second half. And yes, they improved, but is there another organization that needs to make a move out there that you can see besides the Giants? Tory Lavell had some interesting comments the other day about what he does. is I’m not saying he should be the one to let go, but it’s just a different way managers are chosen now. So, is there a team out there you think that could make a move and say, “Hey, this team could help this move could help us be a better team next year.” I think the Baltimore Orioles could make a change and I think it could be significant. I think they’ve done things a certain way and I think uh for Mike Elias to hire a GM under him and to get a a the right manager to run that organization, I think is huge. someone that isn’t inbred in that organization that isn’t in love with their own players, I think would be helpful. So, I would say the Orioles. You know, I don’t know what Brian Snitkar is going to do in Atlanta, but I think we’re all kind of see watching and seeing if he’s going to retire. Same thing with Bruce Bochi in Texas. And I think if he does retire or does go back to San Francisco, I think Skip Shoeacher will end up taking that position. Um, but I would say those were the the biggest teams that I’m kind of watching right now. All the playoff teams just pop champagne, so they got a bunch of crap in their locker that smells like champagne. Is there any manager that smells like champagne that goes into the GM’s office and gets fired? Of the pe of the managers that are there right now, if something goes haywire and wrong here, is there anybody in your mind that could be fired? Uh, I don’t think so. Not Not this particular year. I don’t think there’s anyone out there. And we don’t have George M. Steinbrun are getting mad anymore. So, yeah, I don’t think so. I think the media uh in the big markets will ask for their managers to be fired if they don’t win, if they don’t win the World Series, and that’s just normal. But I personally don’t believe that any of the playoff teams uh that start tomorrow. I don’t think any of those managers will end up losing their jobs. JB, I listen to your front office show, as you know, on Sirius every week, and you had John Misok on, and he’s stepping down. He’s had a great run with the Cardinals. check the track record. I mean, he’s done a lot with that team for a long period of time. I know it wasn’t as good lately. He bloom takes over. The part that I thought stood out to me was that he mentioned he’s going to take a little time and then we’ll see what happens. I thought that he was semi-retiring, but from the conversation, it sounds like he’s open to stepping into another front office role, whether it be next year or in the future. Did you get that inclination or know any info about that? Oh, yeah, Scott. I mean, look, I think this was pre-planned because the Cardinals were going to move on and I think the Dwit family was very respectful because of what you just talked about. John Mosak won a world championship in 2011. He he finished with a winning record in 13 or 14 years. I mean, he he had some success and I think the Dit family wanted to respect him and instead of firing, they allowed him to go out on his own terms and this was the last year and so they did it in a respectful way. You know, we’re going to transfer it to Hine Bloom. he’s going to take over, he’ll walk away. But at no time did Mo, and I talked to him in spring training with his designer socks and his vest that he always wears. Uh it was very clear to me that, you know, he was planning to take a little time off, maybe travel, be with the kids, and then try to get right back into it. So I although he wasn’t fired, I think it was clear that ownership wanted to move on. And look, I would say something because look, Mo did a great job in his career there. Mike Rizzo did a good job in Washington, but there is without a doubt something significantly different in baseball. And Mo said it in that interview, if you heard it, Scott, where he said, “We used to get information in a year that we now get in a day to make decisions on all aspects of the of of baseball.” And that is true. And what we’re finding is there are a lot of very successful GMs that have won world championships like Mike Rizzo and John Mo that don’t stay up with 2025. They’re not ready for 2026 or 27 and they’re getting beat. And I think that’s the most important thing going forward is look, you could do this job at age 80 if you wanted to or 70 as Bruce Bochi is doing. You can do the job at any age, but you have to stay up with what’s tomorrow and not live with what was yesterday because this game is totally different and how you how you make decisions. So for Mo, yeah, it was probably time like for Mike Rizzo, it was probably time. You know, you look at how their organizations have been the last five to seven years. Time for a change and that’s

Former MLB GM and insider Jim Bowden joins Foul Territory to react to Bob Melvin being fired by Buster Posey and what’s next for the San Francisco Giants. Bowden explains why Posey may want his own manager, whether Bruce Bochy could return, and why a younger long-term hire might make more sense. We also hit on other teams that could make big moves this offseason, from the Orioles to the Cardinals, and what the future looks like for longtime execs like John Mozeliak.

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