Changing coaches won’t fix Giants
The World Series starts Tuesday with two teams that offer further proof of how far the Giants are behind the times. What worked in 2014, and 2012 and 2010 before that, does not work now.
The Dodgers and the Astros have been created through heavy use of analytics. The Astros have been aggressively crunching the numbers for years as they rebuilt their team. The Dodgers have a sky-high payroll, but they also have an enormous analytics department.
The Giants? They just upended their coaching staff over the weekend. As old-school a group as you’ll find.
So was Dave Righetti sacrificed on the altar of analytics?
It looks that way. Bruce Bochy had assembled a loyal coaching staff around him
and now almost all of those coaches are gone or rumored to be on their way out. The Giants want a new look. A remodel.
“There are parts of the game that continue to change and continue to evolve,” general manager Bobby Evans said on a conference call. “We need to be open to leverage opportunities to take advantage of all the information that’s available to us.”
Evans added: “There are candidates we’ve already interviewed that have been dealing in more (of) the analytical world for longer. I think that’s one perspective that will be in front of us.”
That’s some new-age speak. The translation is that the Giants need to change how they do things, how they think. So not only was Righetti reassigned after 18 seasons as the team’s pitching coach, but bullpen coach Mark Gardner and assistant hitting coach Steve Decker also have been part of the shakeup.
Is that enough of an update? The Giants’ staff is going to be different, yet Bochy remains. However, that might be only because of the size and length of his contract (Bochy has two full years left) and the loyalty to a man who brought the organization three World Series championships. But Bochy is going to have to assemble a new coaching staff and apparently change his approach as well. Is Bochy really up for that at this stage of his career?
“Changes sometimes are needed as much for the sake of that new voice as anything,” Evans said. “And that was really the priority here.”
Raise your hand if you think that sounds pretty lame. Of all the issues the Giants have, Righetti was probably about 57th on the list of things that needed changing. He didn’t push Madison Bumgarner off his dirt bike. He didn’t injure Johnny Cueto. He didn’t create underachievers in Jeff Samardzija and Matt Moore — they arrived with those attributes.
Thinking Mark Melancon was the magic fix for a depleted bullpen? Not Righetti’s fault.
Judging from fan reactions, few believe that losing Righetti is somehow a win. Most of the anger is directed squarely at Evans and that’s understandable.
Evans took over the general-manager duties from Brian Sabean after the 2014 season. The past three seasons have been lousy at best, embarrassing at worst. Even though Sabean is technically still Evans’ boss, he seems to be actively distancing himself. At the Giants postmortem after the disastrous season, Sabean said “Bobby and his staff ” needed to improve the team’s offense. Which makes it sound like Sabean won’t be involved.
The Giants also recently announced that David Bell was hired from St. Louis to become vice president of player development and will run the farm system. There has been speculation about the futures of hitting coach Hensley Meulens and bench coach Ron Wotus, though no moves have been announced.
The big changes, of course, need to be on the field. But in their grim news conference in early October, the Giants didn’t promise any big changes. They have too many bad contracts, ones that might make a massive overhaul problematic.
It’s up to Evans to figure out how to do that. So far, all he has done is a partial housecleaning, sweeping up a pile of dust, while mold and cobwebs continue to cover the walls.
The Giants might need a really bold stroke. Perhaps even trading one of their few valuable players — that would be Bumgarner or Buster Posey — to get back enough assets to make a rebuild viable. Something big and brave.
Something a lot bigger than getting a new pitching coach.