Who Will Be the Next San Francisco Giants Manager?

Who Will Be the Next San Francisco Giants Manager?

All right. Uh, Eric, uh, let me ask you this. We’ll start the discussion about the Giants. Were you surprised that Melvin was let go on Monday and say it this way. Shaina Rubin did an article this afternoon and Barry, I don’t know if you got to see it or Rick if you saw it. I saw Yeah. online saying Melvin didn’t understand. They really didn’t explain to him why he’s not back and sort of blamed a lot of the moves that they made that sort of fell into Melvin’s lap and he had to deal with it. So, let’s talk Giants a little bit, Eric. Oh, wow. You know, I am not surprised. I think they could have gone either or. I think it was a 5050. They may have brought him back. They may not have. And I think it’s just the way that the club finished at the end of the season. And and more to that, it seemed like anytime the Giants got where there was a little bit of pressure, they kind of fell by the wayside. When there were when they played with no pressure, it seemed like they excelled. And and is that because of of uh of Bob Melvin? I don’t know. Look, managers throughout the season are gonna have some faux paws, right? And is it fair? I don’t know. But the way that the team finished at the end, it just didn’t seem like uh he was probably going to come back. Uh now to to the point that you were kind of alluding to Buster Posey traded away two relievers that could have possibly have helped the Giants down the stretch, right, with with getting rid of or trading away Dvali and and Taylor Rogers. So there was something at play there. But at the same token, you know, it’s what are you going to do? You can’t you can’t get rid of players and you unfortunately managers are fall guys to a certain extent. So it didn’t surprise me that uh that Bob Melvin was let go. Yeah. Rick, did it surprise you at all? You know, I was I was 5050 with it. Like Eric, I didn’t it it didn’t surprise me. But on the other hand, I wasn’t I like Melvin. I I think he he he communicated well. I think I think his strategy his game day strategy was good. I don’t think he made any bonehead moves. The team lacked some fundamentals though in the middle of the year that were kind of inexcusable. I would have benched Ramos when he didn’t know the infield. I don’t know how anybody doesn’t know the infield play rule. He’s played for probably 10 years right when he’s a kid. Uh that was unacceptable. But you know, I liked him. I I thought Melvin was okay. There’s something wrong though, as I mentioned about San Diego. He didn’t have any success down there. He was 500 here. That’s not what bo what the boi that’s not what posie is looking for. So um it it shows you where he I guess is this he doesn’t think he’s got a 10-year window here. He he needs to get this done now and see what they can do. They should have made the playoffs. He thinks he got de for that purpose. Unfortunately for the Giants, they ended up with too many of the same players. Barry, you know Melvin quite well. What was your take on what we’re talking about? Yeah, to your point, uh, I mean, I I go back with Mel to when he was backup catcher with the Giants. So, I mean, I I’ve watched his entire career trajectory and I covered him in Arizona, I covered him in Oakland, covered him in San Diego. This is my take on it. As much as I love him as a person, I feel like he lost the scope of being able to manage the modern game. he was controlled by Billy Bean and Dave Forest for so long in in in Oakland that he was not able to make his own decisions in rapid fire to basically run the team. And then when he went to San Diego, he clashed with Prowler. He clashed with Machado and Tatis. And by the time they made the playoffs and went to the NLDCS the first year and then the next year they’d all make the playoffs and you know they were ready to just like when the Giants came and asked permission to talk to him they said sure go ahead. Kind of like what the Padres’s did with Bochi back in the day. It’s like yeah under contract for one year go you know if you can get an offer somewhere else take it. And that’s what happened with Bo. And I think and I think the the situation was, you know, really same in San Francisco. He was a mediocre manager at this point with no touch anymore for for the modern game. And I think he clashed with with Zach and management and people like that. And I know for a fact that he did because I was read text messages that he g he sent to people uh who I’m close to saying that he did not have control of what he was doing with the team. And I think you get to a point where Tito when I did a story on him about a month ago, couple of weeks ago, and I asked him about control of the team and he said he has control of the lineups, he goes, “I’m too old not to.” And I think these guys in their 60s and close to 70s, they’ve been around so long. They they are not good in the game where you need a manager to be a middle manager between your baseball ops and your players in the media and that’s all. You don’t need a personality and you don’t need somebody as a manager who wants to be autonomous and independent. And I think that’s why Mel was gone in San Diego and that’s why he’s gone here. and uh he’s going to have to go. I think he’s done. You know, he’s outmoded and he’s not going to get another job. And uh the Giants, I don’t know what they’re going to do, but don’t be surprised if if they go back to not obviously Gabe Kappler, but a Gabe Kappler type. Oh, no. Who can they can grow with over a long period of time. Oh, yeah. Well, you know, let me give you my two cents this thing, Rick. Rick almost jumped out of the screen when you said Gab, but um I I think that Barry is right on the level here. Um I think they want someone who can get along with them. And in a way, I understand why he’s making the uh the comparison to Kappler. They want a guy who can sit down with Zack and sit down with Randy Win and sit down with Posey who’s one of their contemporaries who they can trust and and work whatever Posie says his work ethic has to be if they want more defense and to drill the players more and everybody takes batting practice and whatever Posey wants to do. This person is going to be on board and they can talk to him about doing it. where like Barry says, if you go to Melvin with these kind of things, he’s going to be repelled a little bit and it’s not going to be as smooth. So with that in mind, I’m not surprised Melvin’s gone. I thought it was 60 40 roughly 7030 that he would be gone. Uh I’m not surprised, but the guy who’s coming in is going to be one of their guys. and whether it’s Craig Alberaz from Cleveland, um if if they feel that’s a guy they can deal with, Nick Hunley, who I think my personal choice is Nick Hunley because he’s got enough charisma, enough personality to walk into being a manager in San Francisco. Uh this is one of the top markets, let’s face it. you come in to be the manager here, you better have a lot of confidence as a human being because if things don’t go right right away, you know, the fans, everyone else, you know, you’re under scrutiny. So, um, I think the issue for Melvin was not being close enough in the group and I think they want somebody in the group now. So, I’ll throw that to you guys, Eric. How do you feel about that? Yeah, that’s a great point that you’re talking about there, Marty. um they are gonna want to get someone in here. But I tell you, it’s going to be an indictment on Buster Posey if if it’s a guy and it doesn’t work out. You know, this is probably gonna be one of his most important decisions as he’s gonna have to make as a POBO. This is going to be his guy. It’s not it’s not a leftover. This this is someone he’s going to have to choose and it’s going to be in a distance. You know, it’s funny how you mentioned that of how you you you mentioned it’s going to have to be one of their guys. Well, FP uh was on the KBR the other day and I don’t know if you happen to hear it and I called in and I talked to him about it. His idea was having Buster Posey become the manager and then go find a Pobo somewhere else. I mean, right, if that’s the if he wants the work ethic because he’s he talked about that in the in his uh in his presser talking about someone who is uh uh crazy about work, right? Obsessive about work. Hey, may maybe Buster Posey uh floats in there now. Do I think that’s gonna happen? No. But I think it’s a fantastic idea. It seems like he’s got the pulse on the team. You know, he knows exactly what he wants. But I’m sorry, Eric. It’s not a good idea. They hired Buster Posey as president of baseball operations. He’s got a three-year contract. He’s got to turn this thing around very quickly, right? And he’s a part owner of the team. He’s not going to be down in the dugout running the team. So, I mean, There they go and they get a and get a guy for it. You know, you inherited Malden. He wasn’t your guy. The the crazy thing about all this is why in the middle of the season did they pick up his option and okay, so they did and it protected Mel and good for him. He’s getting paid next year to sit around and do nothing. And maybe, you know, the Diamondbacks who like recycling people, maybe they bring him back in an advisory role because that’s where he was before they he to he took the Oakland job many years ago. So, you know, he he will s surface somewhere. Maybe not on the field, maybe as a as a coach, you know, because if he wants to stay in uniform, but, you know, right now, I agree with you. this is going to be a major decision for him and where they where and I’m talking about him posy when they move forward and if if they make a bad decision on this manager then where do they go because now they’ve lost all this time and as you know and Marty you’ve covered it as long as I have practically you know it’s like you every time you bring in a new general manager it starts all over again every time you bring in a manager and new coaches, it starts all over again. So, it’s a reset button. You’ve reset the executives last year. Now, you’re resetting the baseball downstairs this year, and you only have one more year to go under Buster’s contract to get this headed in the right direction. Yeah. Well, great point. Great. I agree with your last point, Barry. But look, I’m I’m bewildered here. I thought that when Posie took over in in March that he was asked a question about who was going to run the game and who was going to dictate the line manager and and it was it he said Melvin was going to dictate the lineup. He wasn’t going to interfere with that. All right. I hope you’re not saying that you want to go back to farand that far of the front office. I’m not saying I want to do anything. I’m just telling you that I’m just telling you that more the point. Do you want do you want the front office to tell the manager when to take somebody out of the lineup, when to put them in, when to put a relief? That’s where baseball is right now. They the up man baseball ops, they script the game. The best managers in the game that are left, guys like like Doc Roberts in LA, they basically fall in line with what baseball ops wants them to do. And if they it it took 10 years for them to allow Roberts to start to deviate, which he did very well and it helped win the World Series last year when their starting pitching fell apart and he really had to manipulate the B. Well, look at look at the team he has. I mean, forget about managing that team. Look at the team he has, the talent he has. I I think that’s a crazy idea to go back to where the front office that’s what got Madden out of the game. Remember when Madden went crazy when he was being told what to do? I think that the game fired and the Kappler philosophy is not the way to go in my opinion. I surprised. Yeah, I don’t think they want to go Kappler uh on this franchise and and you know control it to that extent. But I do think they want a guy that they can sit and talk with and it’s not going to be someone they can’t trust. They have to trust the person and they they’ll and Barry’s right. Look, analytics. It’s funny when you picked a manager years ago, the general manager picked a guy that he could drink with, and that’s the guy he picked as a manager. Now, you picked a manager who you can talk analytics with, and it’s just a question of how much you want to control it. And I think Posie’s smart enough to let the manager do the managing. I don’t think it would be a capitalist situation, but it will be somebody who they can talk to. I feel very strongly about that. He’s not going to bring somebody in and and all of a sudden uh you know hit hit June and say, “Holy I can’t talk to this guy.” Well, well, do do you do you think Melvin was a renegade manager that it was was he was the front office? I just don’t buy that. I think as a human maybe as a personalitywise he he as Barry explained Melvin after all the years maybe he’s was not as pliable or as open to discussing all this stuff as if you bring in Craig Alurn as believe me he’s going to talk to you bring in Nick Hunley he’s going to talk to you and I think that’s what you’re looking at let’s get some of the comments this is this is let me just interject here this is Nothing new with Mel. Basically, he did not get along with Josh Burns in Arizona and ar and he would not listen to Josh Burns and Josh Burns went over his head to Kendrick and got him fired. This is this is historic with Melvin. This isn’t because he’s getting older. He just doesn’t like to give up the reigns to to the people who are above him. Yes, I did say a bad word, didn’t I? I think I did. Okay. Aren’t you okay? You’re on it. Come on. You’re on the internet. You can say whatever you want to say. Right. There you go. It’s Eddie KS24. Yes, I did. You’re right. All right. Uh, go back to Scott Warick for a second. How about this? This Barry this and Rick and Eric get this one. Yadier Molina or Mark D. Roza? These are the hot names. Rick, what do you think about that? I like D. Rosa a lot. I like him a lot. Got a great personality. He’s got good baseball knowledge, good experience. He’s the players manager. I think I think Didn’t he Didn’t he manage in the World Baseball Classic? Yes. Yeah. Um I think he was successful. At least that was the reporting. I like his whole, you know, just his demeanor and the way he uh the way he discussed stuff. He makes a lot of sense. I like I liked him as a player even though I got hurt with the Giants. I like somebody like D. Roa Barry, what do you how do you feel about both of them? Well, you know, Yachti, I think he at some point, look, he’s a catcher. Catchers by and large make great managers because they know how to run a game. They know how to run a pitching staff. They know how to they hit, you know, they have a full scope of the game that an infielder, an outfielder, a pitcher certainly doesn’t have. So, Yachti, I think somewhere at at some time is going to make a great manager. But I I differ with you, Rick, on D. Roza. You know, he did co he did do the World Baseball Classic. He’s doing the World Baseball Classic, the US team again this year. Talk about a guy that they had there just because he was a mouthpiece and good on camera, but he was going to just follow the dictates of what their people were telling him to do. That was D. Roza. And I thought he could not. he had no clue how to how to use a pitching staff or a bullpen. And essentially, it’s even tougher in the World Baseball Classic because you have all these uh stipulations that are given to you by the each individual club about what day they can pitch, how much they can pitch. It’s spring training. They have to stay on their spring training uh regime. And you know, there are nights when you want to throw a perfect guy into the game and he’s not available because his team doesn’t want him to pitch and that’s all dictated to D. Roza before the game and he has to follow that. There’s nothing else he can do about it. So, I was not impressed with D. Roza and as a major league manager, you know, forget about it. I like the personality. Uh, but Jerry Emanuel really ran that team, right, Barry? Yes. Yeah. All right. Uh Gary Mintz, New York Giants preservation side. The professor, uh the Ron Wus, uh a winner still young enough and a great mind. You know, with all due respect, and I love Wo, why not? Yes. I don’t know if he wants to do it. That would probably be the thing. Oh, yeah. You know, he wants to do it. Come on. Well, he’s been out of the dugout for a few years now and he is part of the inner circle with Posie. How about it? Come on. bring my number choice. See, I love it. Love it. Good traditional giant choice. Yes, I hear. Well, I hear him every Sunday with you, Marty. And then he’s on NBC. He breaks down the game. I mean, he the communication skills that he has is incredible. And look, he right, he worked under uh Dusty Baker, Felipe Aloo, Dust or Bruce Bochi. He’s he’s got the the instruction to go out there and be a manager. I I think honestly it’s like you said, Marty, I think it’s up to him and whether or not he wants to do it. Well, he’s a connector connecting the Bonds era with the championship era with the current era for long term with the Giants. Or how about Dusty Pack for that matter? I mean, he’s 75 and he’s just been away from managing a year or two. He just won the World Series with Houston a couple years ago. I mean, you got him sitting right there. What’s wrong with him? I think I think be better at this point. I think I think better choice. I like Wus the best. All right. What about what about going this college route they’re talking about? No, no, no. It’s gonna happen in baseball. You know that it’s going to happen. Remember Bobby Winkles when they did that with him, Barry? Yeah. How did that work? Not not well. Not well. Even Pat Bury who came from what ASU and Notre Dame turned into a terrific manager, but he’s perfect in the situation he’s in with a low payroll young team with a lot of rookies who, you know, he can work with. He’s perfect for that situation. You don’t have like put Pat Murphy in with the Giants. I like Jim, right? Eric Jim Base. Yeah. Our good friend. I see. Yeah, he’s great. He’s great. Uh I’m sorry. I I declined to accept the job. I I will not run. I’m sorry. Yeah, with with with the with the call. Look, the raw stuff, it might work in college. I I just don’t see that working in 162 games at the MLB level. This is this is going to be interesting. I think we sort of all agree uh the type of person it’s going to be. I think Barry tends a little bit more to the veteran uh side of it and I go to the dynamic a little bit of a personality and also someone that they can work with and that’s where I think Nick Hun I saw Nick Hunley last week and you know he was here for the Willie Mack award and boy he was bubbling and I just want to say that uh you know it was wonderful you know to see him and he gave me a big hello and you know it felt very comfortable talking to him. So, who knows?

Marty Lurie & Friends discuss the potential candidates that could be next San Francisco Giants manager. Giants fans, do agree/disagree? Is there someone else that you feel would be a good fit to lead the Giants in 2026 and beyond?

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