Let’s help Buster Posey in his search for the next manager of the San Francisco Giants.
Here’s the key, Buster: Your new skipper should be new.
Posey might not be aware of this, but the Bay Area has a grand tradition of first-time managers and coaches being wildly successful.
It’s not a foolproof recipe. Every Bay Area team has had first-timers who were laughable, regrettable, forgettable flops.
Overall, though, our rookies have rocked.
The latest: Natalie Nakase, who was hired by the Golden State Valkyries’ rookie general manager and rookie team president to lead a group of castoffs, and got ’em to the playoffs in the team’s first season.
The list is long and strong, and includes (in random order): John Madden, Steve Kerr, Dusty Baker, Kyle Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Tom Flores, Jim Harbaugh, Mark Jackson, Al Attles and George Seifert.
And, of course, the patron saint of rookie out-of-nowhere hires: Bill Walsh.
Coaches who were hired as first timers are responsible for all three Raiders Super Bowl titles, all five San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl titles and all five Golden State Warriors NBA titles.
The only ultimate championships won by Bay Area teams under a coach/manager not hired as a rookie were the Giants’ World Series titles of 2010-’12-’14 under Bruce Bochy.
In addition, Baker led the Giants to a World Series, Shanahan has taken the 49ers to two Super Bowls, and Kerr, along with his four titles (Al Attles won the other), led the Warriors to two other Finals.
Rookies get you to the promised land.
Posey will consider, and possibly interview, multiple candidates who have MLB managing experience. OK, experience can be a good thing.
But here’s why Posey should go with a newbie: A first-time manager would bring new energy, new enthusiasm, new ideas and new hope. To the players and the fans.
Mark Jackson took over the Warriors in 2011 and brought in a new spirit. He infused confidence in youngsters Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. Those three were sad and angry when team owner Joe Lacob fired Jackson and hired Kerr, but Lacob was convinced that Jackson wasn’t the guy to take the team to the next level. As it turned out, Lacob was right.
Kerr is the poster guy for what Posey should be looking for — a candidate who shows up at the interview with the passion, preparation and personality of a guy pleading his case at the gates of Heaven.
Lacob hires new people on purpose — Jackson, Kerr, GMs Bob Myers and Mike Dunleavy, Nakase, Valkyries GM Ohemaa Nyanin and president Jess Smith.
“I go for hungry, smart, vibrant executives,” Lacob told me Monday. “Entrepreneurial. Generally younger, as I believe I can help train them if they haven’t done some aspect of the job. I generally don’t want to be in retread mode. High potential is a great thing.”
Lacob probably nodded when the Giants hired a rookie president of baseball operations. Now that new guy needs to hire a new guy to manage, just like he did by hiring Zack Minasian as his GM.
And here’s where I’m going to quibble with Posey. He said he’s looking for “somebody who is going to be obsessive about the details, obsessive about work, obsessive about getting the most out of our players, getting the most out of our staff, and somebody who will inspire confidence in our players on the field and also all the interactions that happen off the field as well.”
I’m pretty sure Bob Melvin was obsessive about details and work. He didn’t tell the players, “Forget about hitting the cutoff, just chuck the ball towards the infield.”
I don’t believe the Giants did dumb baserunning because Melvin forgot to remind them to run smart.
If you want players who hit the cutoff man, and run the bases well, tell your GM to trade for guys who do that, and build a minor-league system where that stuff is drilled home.
It starts with getting the right kind of players. If Jimmy Butler or Stephen Curry were baseball players, they would hit the freaking cutoff man.
Details and fundamentals are important, but you don’t pick a manager because when you peek into his office at midnight, he looks like a diligent Bob Cratchit bent over his desk in Ebeneezer Scrooge’s counting house.
You want a skipper who will bring a slumping player a special meal (Baker), or call off a practice and take the team bowling (Kerr), or put on a bellhop suit and meet the team bus (Walsh), or get his players yelling that nobody’s got it better than they do (Harbaugh), or convince the players they are considered unremarkable only because nobody has taken the effort to recognize their potential (Nakase).
In baseball, more so than in the other major sports, it’s not so much about the strategy as it is about the vibe. That’s not to say a professorial type like Melvin can’t be a great manager. He had wonderful success with the Oakland A’s.
But for the Giants, it’s time for a change, and not a Speedee Oil change. Posey needs to hire a guy not for his diligent work ethic, but because he’ll shuffle the deck by throwing the cards into the air.
It’s a Bay Area thing. This has always been the land of creative thinking, new energy, new approaches, big dreams, and fun — all in the pursuit of excellence.
We even export these fresh faces. Look what Stephen Vogt did for the Guardians, what Dave Roberts has done for the Dodgers.
There you go, Buster, that’s the advice from this corner. Go discover someone. Recycling is for aluminum cans.
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