Crucial DECISION Made: Giants HIRE Pitching Coach | Framber Valdez PERFECT Pitching Style Fit

Crucial DECISION Made: Giants HIRE Pitching Coach | Framber Valdez PERFECT Pitching Style Fit

The Giants make a crucial hiring decision and they decide to go with another first timer. Are they doing this the right way? Let’s talk about it. It’s all coming up on Locked on Giants. You are Locked on Giants, your daily San Francisco Giants podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. What’s up y’all? I’m Alan Styles and welcome to Locked On Giants, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. On the show, we provide daily episodes Monday through Friday talking about the San Francisco Giants in a way that combines passion, analytics with the eye test, and a little bit of fun. I’m from the Bay Area, but I live in Sacramento now, and I host a show at Sacktown Sports 11:40, the Allen South Show, 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., as well as MCing Sacramento Rivercats games. All in all, I’m lucky enough to cover a team I’ve been a fan of all my life. Today we are discussing the Giants hiring their pitching coach, the fact that they chose not to protect anyone from the rule five draft and of course it’s the offseason. So we have more rumors. This time Framber Valdez rumors. Do we think that he’s a good fit and where the Giants could go in the pitching rotation conversation. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the app today. So, this has been a pretty eventful 24 hours, if you will, from when we dropped the last episode. The Giants are able to find their guy, somebody that again has familiarity with Tony Vitello. And this is I had to basically go through a couple different writeups to get all the information on uh the new pitching coach Justin message and I believe that is how it’s pronounced when I looked it up when he was with the Pirates. That’s how they pronounced it. So it is Justin Message. That’s what we are going with for now. So let’s start here with Robert Murray. So Robert Murray of Fanid, he I believe initially broke the news. So, let’s start with what he had to say. The San Francisco Giants are hiring Justin Message as their new pitching coach. Sources familiar with the situation tell fans cited. Message joins the Giants after one season with the Milwaukee Brewers where he served as the pitching coach in AAA for the Nashville Sounds. Message was also with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2011, joining the organization as a minor league coach before eventually being promoted to minor league pitching coordinator in 2017. In 2018, Message was named the Pirates assistant coach and then was eventually named the team’s bullpen coach in 2020. He stayed in that role through 2024, but was let go shortly after the season ended in 2020. Then Pirates manager Derek Shelton told the Pittsburgh Gazette, “I kind of look at Message and Oscar as we have two pitching coaches. I think Justin Message is going to be a pitching coach. He has unbelievable knowledge. His ability to communicate and develop relationships is outstanding. Now, Message is tasked with working with a Giant staff that features veterans Logan Webb and Robbie Ray, as well as emerging young arms like Landon RP and Hayden Bird song. The Giants will be active in the pitching market this off season with the team’s priority being to add arms to the rotation and bullpen. And this is what Buster had to say just in general. What we believe is the recipe to success is great pitching, great defense. We know we need to be better there. And as he’s been saying, I do think that when that’s your formula, it can eliminate some of those tough stretches. Not eliminate them, but help you get out of them a little bit quicker. We’re most definitely open to trying to add some arms that we think are going to help us on the starting side and on the bullpen side. So, that is what, and he goes on to say stuff that we already know because we follow the Giants. That is what Robert Murray had to say. uh in his article. Then we have MLB trade rumors and MLB trade rumors gives more of a background if you will. After a brief playing career, Message got his coaching start in the college ranks. Seven years spent between University of Texas Paname and Arkansas State University from 04 to 2010. Message headed to the pros. He became a minor league pitching coach for Pittsburgh in 2011. message moved through multiple levels of the minors before taking over as a minor league pitching coordinator in 2017 which we had mentioned before. So they give more of a background on him. Then we get to NBC Sports Bay Area. Now, the NBC Sports Bay Area breakdown, this gives a little bit more of a an insight to what happened with JP Martinez, and it’s kind of open-ended. So, they say Buster’s quote was, “With nothing being a guarantee in San Francisco for JP, I think he took the bird in the hand.” Giants president of baseball operations, Buster Pos, told reporters last week at the general manager meetings in Las Vegas. We were still going through the process with him. We hadn’t told him that he was not going to be returning. I’m a JP fan and had a good talk with him and when he took the Braves job, I told him I think he’s going to be successful and maybe we’ll see him down the road. So, let’s be clear here. Buster is basically trying to make it sound like JP had a chance of returning, but let’s be honest. If you already had a job and you know that the other the other coach that you were associated with talking about the head coach is no longer there. I think JP knew that he was probably done because you don’t take a bullpen job if you think you’re going to remain the pigeon coach. So Buster is kind of playing the game there and making it seem like JP had an opportunity. I would assume that if you gave JP Chude serum, he would probably say, “Yeah, I knew I wasn’t returning and I knew that probably wasn’t going to be that wasn’t going to be a place where I could continue to be the pitching coach.” So, that is kind of the the start of the the breakdown as far as why JP Martinez is no longer here. All right. So they then go on to break down and this is more so what everybody is is saying message will join firsttime MLB manager Vitello as a firsttime big league pitching coach himself the 45year-old joined the Pittsburgh Pirates organization as uh a minor league coach in 2011 before being promoted to the minor league pitching coordinator like we talked about. So I think what is not necessarily being buried, I wouldn’t say being buried, but I I think one thing that is not being pushed forward maybe as much as it should be getting pushed forward is that this guy also has not been a pitching coach before. So now you have a a firsttime manager and a firsttime pitching coach. All right. And the other part, the other part that they say in the NBC Sports Bay Area article is that he did get let go, right? In 2024, he got let go from the Pirates. He was there for a while. This guy was there for what, 13 years? 13 years. So, I don’t know if there should be, and I’m not saying give him pass, not give him pass, but he was let go. He was there for a long time. And maybe they just felt like, you know, the Pirates stink, so maybe they just felt besides Paul Skins, but maybe they just felt like, hey, we need to go in a different direction. But that kind of isn’t being talked about. Oh, he’s with the, you know, he was with the Brewers last, but this guy, he was with the minor leagues, and people do speak glowingly about him. But this is another risk. I would say this is another risk. Obviously, not as big of a risk as Tony Vitello, but I’m a little bit surprised that they that they went in this direction for a pitching coach because, you know, you got your hidden coach handled, your bench coach with Jayce Tingler. These things are coming together. But I would say off the top of my head, I thought that, you know, Dusty Baker and Bruce Bushie, they’re not going to be in the dugout with them. So, off the top of my head, I did think that there maybe would be a little bit more experience coming in with Tony Vitello, but I I guess we’ll wait and see. I’m still on board. Don’t worry. I’m still on the Vitello train. Said he’s going to the Dominican during the off season to, you know, learn more about the culture because that’s something that he didn’t have to do at Tennessee. So, I do believe in him, but we’re hearing the relationship thing again with Justin Message. Okay, cool. These guys are great with relationships and and I I will say this when it comes to uh the Brewers, right, and that crazy bullpen and closing situation that they have. A lot of people associate Justin message with that because of the work that he did. So, I did want to bring that up as well. I’m not trying to downplay him. It’s just we we don’t we don’t know. He hasn’t been a pitching coach at the major league level before. So, we’ll see. uh these guys are going to keep swinging and they are trying to do things their way and we’ll see how it works out for them. On the other side, we will see how it works out for some of these players as the rule five draft approaches. We talked yesterday about one player in particular, the Giants decided not to protect any of them. We will see how that works out for them. More Lockdown Giants coming up. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of a game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. I have to tell y’all about my favorite jeans, my Doers. Seriously, they’ve changed my life. Right now, I’m wearing the Performance Denim Slim Straight, and I cannot get over how comfortable these jeans are. I’ve been reaching for my Doers for everything. Running errands, grabbing dinner with friends, even heading to the ballpark because they look great and feel even better. Here’s the thing. Derer jeans have five times the stretch of traditional denim, so you can actually move in them. They’re also antibacterial, which means they stay fresh longer, wear more, wash less, and they’re made with Coolmax technology that helps regulate body temperature and wick moisture, so you stay cool and comfortable as the day changes. Honestly, they feel as stretchy as my favorite joggers, but look like I’m dressed to go out on the town. Der is all about combining jeans wear classic style with athletic level comfort and performance. the best of both worlds. They actually pioneered the original performance denim, blending technical innovation with everyday clothing that looks sharp and feels incredible. Simply put, Derer makes the world’s most comfortable pants without sacrificing style. Once you try them, they’ll be your go-to pair. Trust me. And if you’re in San Francisco, check out Der store at 567 Hay Street. Pick up a pair for yourself or grab one as an amazing holiday gift. Mention my promo code locked on SF in store to get 15% off your first order or shop online at shopdoer.com lockedonsf for that same 15% off. That’s shopd.com/lockedonsf. Your new favorite jeans are waiting. So yesterday we talked about the fact that the Giants could protect uh some players, okay, that haven’t made it to the roster yet, but are still obviously prospects in the organization and didn’t want them to get swooped up by other teams. Well, the Giants decided we ain’t protecting anybody. We are not protecting nobody. So that is what happened yesterday. And some people were a bit surprised, but as we break down uh all of this, maybe you won’t feel as uh surprised as we explain it all. There is a a fairly good chance that they don’t get swooped up, which is funny because it’s a good and a bad thing really. That means that, you know, there not a lot of teams that are terribly interested in the talent, which means, hey, you get to come back to the to the Giants, but at the same time, you know, it means that you haven’t really developed the way the Giants would have hoped that you developed. So, it’s kind of a double-edged sword there. This is from Andrew Baggerly. The Giants didn’t shield any eligible players from the rule five draft by adding them to the 40man prior to the reserve list. deadline. The Giants are at 40, but had several DFA candidates. The bigger issue, former first rounders like Will Bednar, Reggie Crawford, and Hunter Bishop haven’t panned. So, Reggie Crawford to me, we’ve talked about him before, just a ton of injuries. It’s kind of a a sad situation. He’s not done, but obviously when you are uh when you are put in a position like this, you got to figure it out at some point. And his body has to figure it out. It’s not him. Will Bettar is somebody that I saw the most conversation happening about yesterday as far as the Giants not protecting him. Obviously, he was another top pick, firstrounder that has shown flashes, but just hasn’t been able to get over that hump. Opportunities for teams that don’t already have their 40man roster uh to pick up players. So, I’m just to to give you a little bit more insight to the rule five draft. If you were signed at or before 18, you need to make a roster within five years. If you were signed at 19 or older, you need to be signed protected within four seasons. So once you come up, that means you’ve been in the system for five years. If you were signed at 18 and you haven’t made the roster yet, or if you were 19, you’ve been in the system for four seasons and you haven’t made the roster yet. And time flies, man, because it does not seem like that for some of the names that the Giants have brought up. If they don’t get drafted, they get to go back to their original team. But they would find themselves in the same situation for the next rule five draft. But once again, it’s kind of a reminder that it didn’t work out, especially if you were a first round pick and especially if you came out of college. Because if you came out of college, you were supposed to take less time. That’s typically how it goes. So, because they didn’t protect anyone, that means that the Giants didn’t have to DFA anyone, which does translate to some sort of value or meaning that they believe that the players that they decided not to DFA do have a level of value. A name that I have heard being thrown around as far as a possible smallish potatoes trade, which is crazy to say it like that when I give you the name that it is. It’s Marco Luciano. So Marco Luciano is somebody if they wanted to protect Will Bednar for example, they could have DFA Marco Luciano along with others like Gerard and Carnosion along with others to protect Will Bednar, but they decided to keep Marco Luciano at least for now. And I think the the conversation uh that is being thrown around is hey we could protect or we could keep Marco Luciano because somebody out there maybe not us but somebody out there might find some value in him and we can do another low-level trade like they’ve talked about before like they’ve already done uh this season with Mason Black who they did DFA but then had an opportunity to bring him in for a different pitcher or for another Yeah. For a different pitcher for another pitcher. So that was kind of the breakdown of the rule five draft. By the way, the rule five draft is December 10th and it will take place during the meeting the winter meetings. So that’s when we will know what ends up happening with some of these guys and whether or not the Giants will be saying goodbye to some of these first rounders. Here’s where I’m at with the with the rule five drafting. I know a lot of people are upset and a lot of people are looking back at look how bad things were. Those are the operative words here to me. Look how bad they were. Right? There’s a new regime. The past regime, the past couple regimes, they stunk at evaluating talent. They did. Buster, he’s only been here what, a year? So, the guys that he’s been associated with, they’re just now getting started. We’ve talked about them before. We have more draft picks to get to from this past draft, but some of the names that we’ve already highlighted. Let’s see what happens with them. Let’s see what happens with them. Talking about the guys that got drafted before Buster was associated at this point. It is what it is. You can’t cry over spilled milk and you move forward. A lot of teams have hits. A lot of teams have misses. Do do you wish that the the team had more hits? Yes. But we can’t go back in time now, right? those guys. It didn’t work out. I mean, Hunter Bishop is 27 years old, okay? And he wasn’t even fully starting. When I was out there in Sacramento, he wasn’t even starting every day because you find yourself in a weird position where you’re the the Rivercats and you have guys that are 22, 23, 24 years old and you’re going to start a 27y old Hunter Bishop over them, right? You’re you’re not going to do that. So, he’s going to move forward. He’s going to have opportunities other places, whether it be in the minors, whether it be overseas, whatever the case is. But it is what it is now. So, let’s move forward. Let’s see what happens with this new regime. And hopefully they can hit on some guys. I don’t I don’t need to spend a ton of time on the guys that didn’t work out because Buster wasn’t here. I mean, think about it in your in your normal job, right? If somebody takes over a mess, how much time are you going to spend complaining about the previous mess when there is a new CEO in the CEO had nothing to do with this mess? The CEO is trying to fix the mess. So, you can complain about it, but it doesn’t change anything. It’s time to look forward. And as they look forward, will they look to a guy in Framber Valdez who is a flamethrowing 32year-old starting pitcher, but had some weird situations happen throughout this season. Can the Giants look past that and pay him the money that he wants, or should they look in a different direction? One more segment with you. Don’t move. More Locked on Giants coming up. Thank you for making Locked on Giants our first listen of the day. and thank you for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network. So, Framber Valdez, I mean, he is slated to make a ton of money and it’s for good reason. I mean, the dude can throw the baseball and the Giants need somebody like him. It it wouldn’t surprise me uh or it doesn’t surprise me that the Giants have been connected to him. I don’t know if they’ll actually go in his direction for a couple different reasons. This is from Finan of MLB.com. Uh he says, “Stan Francisco has prioritized pitching this off season and after missing the playoffs for a fourth straight year, adding a frontline starter to slot in between Logan Webb and Robbie Ray would make sense. Willie Adamus and Matt Chapman would provide solid defense behind Valdez, whose 59.4% 4% ground ball rate, ranked in the 97th percentile of the league in 2025. And this is from The Athletic. Valdez has pitched in plenty of big games and has a track record of performing in the postseason. He’s an elite ground ball pitcher who pitches deep into games. He did struggle down the stretch this season, allowing four or more runs in four of his final five starts and was the subject of some controversy. Even with that end to his season, he’s still the best starting pitcher in this year’s class. The contract prediction uh is something else though, man. Six years for 90 million. The Athletic does name the Giants as one of the best team fits for Valdez. Six years, 190 million. That is obviously what the Giants are telling us they don’t want to spend, but as we keep saying, I’m calling their bluff on some of this stuff. That’s 31 million a year. That’s 31 million a year. That’s a lot of cheese. That’s a lot of cash. But you know, it’s not so much the cash for me. It ain’t my money. What happened in that controversy? If you don’t recall, Valdez was on the mound. Okay. Something happened with the catcher where the catcher thought that he called a a curveball or a fast ball and now there’s pitchcom. there was some type of confusion or Valdez didn’t like what he called because somebody had just got a hit home run. And long story short, Valdez smoked the catcher with a fast ball and a lot of people were not sure if he did it on purpose or not. And obviously, you know, the catcher goes out there, the catcher doesn’t know what’s going on. After the game, Valdez, of course, claimed that it was just a miscommunication. A lot of people weren’t b buying it. I’m going to be honest with you, I wasn’t really buying it. And here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter who was or wasn’t buying it besides one person, and that person is Buster Posey. And if anybody out there doesn’t recall what position Buster Posey played, let me remind you, he was a catcher. And I would probably say that is one of the most frowned upon things if Buster believes him or doesn’t believe him, I should say, one of the most disrespectful, frowned upon Bush league things you can do in the game of baseball. And the feeling from what I saw, what I heard was that nobody was buying what Valdez was trying to say, that there was true miscommunication. Just the way he did it. Go back and fire up that clip. Just the way he did it, it looked like he did it on purpose. And obviously, I don’t know that, but that’s what it looked like to me. So, on top of the 31 million at 32 years old, so 6 years. So now you’re digging into his 38-year-old season at 31 million a year. I just don’t see the Giants doing it. Now I do think the Giants might spend money on a pitcher, right? And I’ve said before they have to spend money if they’re going to keep continuing to tell their fans that they’re all in and they’re going to compete with the Dodgers. Now, they didn’t say they’re going to spend like the Dodgers and I don’t think anybody’s going to spend like the Dodgers. So, I do think they’re going to spend money, more money than they’re giving off. But to spend this type of money, if you are the Giants, you better be a thousand% sure that this guy fits exactly what you’re trying to do from a team culture perspective as well as on the field. I think both are just as important, especially when you have a firsttime manager. So, you’re bringing in a first-time manager to deal with something like this. And I know Tony Vital is a people person, but that’s a lot of stuff to manage there. And I’m not sure how that would work. I don’t see it happening. I really don’t. I understand the Giants need pitching. I understand that the ground ball rate would be superb, especially somewhere like Oracle Park. This is a perfect place for Framber Valdez in theory on paper. But how much time have we spent this season talking about connections and talking about vibes? If he pulled something like that during the season, I I just don’t know if you’re the Giants if you can take a gamble. And using the word gamble on somebody you’re about to spend $31 million on for the next six seasons, to me, that’s just not great business. It’s not great business to me. I don’t I don’t know what approach they take. Maybe they surprise me. And if they sign him, there is no doubt in my mind that he would on paper work for the Giants and help Logan Webb and help Landon RP and help Robbie Ray and help this team find its way back to the playoffs. But you have to understand what could come with it. And just based on what the Giants have told us this off season and just who Tony Vitello is, they already have a lot going on. They already have enough going on when it comes to hiring and a firsttime pitching coach. First time major league pitching coach, I should say. First time major league pitching coach. And you’re going to bring in Framber Valdez who just pulled some you know what like this last season allegedly. But it also was on accident. I don’t see it happening. But if they do it, then we know that the Giants are truly truly putting winning above everything. And I would say not even just putting winning above everything. They believe that their culture uh can supersede and can overcome a lot of different things, but we don’t even know what that culture is yet. That’s my that’s my thing. If Tony Vital was 5 years in, or I would even dare I say two years in, I might look at Framber Valdez differently. But this being his first season, I just think there’s enough on his plate like a Las Vegas buffet. Throwing on a a Framber Valdez on top of it when you’re already full is not the best thing. And then those those Vegas buffets, they get you they get you on the other side. So, I don’t know if they’re willing to to go in that direction, but if they do, that would truly mean that they believe that their culture is strong enough to overcome anything at all. And their wallets, by the way, thank you for listening to Locked On Giants. Thank you for watching Locked On Giants. Be sure to follow me on social media at the_SFile South with an I. A lot of you were in my comments joking about my room. Okay, so let me explain something to you real quick. Let me explain something to you. I have a two-month-old and I have a 2 and 1/2year-old. Okay, #girlack. What happened was we had the kid. I was doing it downstairs if you recall. I was doing it downstairs. All right, had a nice ambiance there. But now the baby is downstairs for now, right? We’re doing the bassinet thing. So once she goes into her room, I will be back downstairs. All right. And it’ll be a shorter backdrop because a lot of you are getting on me. This is what happened. This is why a couple months ago I took that day I only took a day off. But look, we’re dealing with a lot right now. So, thank you for hanging with me. I appreciate it. And thank you for all the suggestions for putting Giant stuff up all around my bedroom, if you will. Thank you for watching and listening to Locked On Giants. Be sure to follow the Lockdown Giants account as well. We will talk to you tomorrow. Still a lot to get to. 30 minutes just isn’t enough sometimes. Still a lot to get to. We will talk to you tomorrow. Until then, peace.

The Giants have finally found their pitching coach — and it’s Justin Meccage, a long-time Pirates developer who just spent a season working with Milwaukee’s Triple-A staff. Today we break down what this hire actually means for a pitching-first front office that keeps preaching “great pitching and great defense” as their formula. We dig into Meccage’s track record, why he was let go in Pittsburgh, and how he fits with Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, and the young arms like Roupp and Birdsong who are expected to take real steps in 2026. We also dive into the Giants’ surprising decision not to protect any eligible players from the Rule 5 Draft — and what that says about their recent failures in talent evaluation, from Bednar to Bishop to Crawford. Plus, could Framber Valdez be the frontline arm Posey is talking about? We break down the fit, the risk, the contract projection, and whether the Giants are finally ready to make a real investment at the top of the rotation. Loaded episode with pitching at the center of everything.

0:00 Pitching Coach hired
12:05 No Player protected from Rule 5 Draft
19:19 Framber Valdez Rumors

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