Managing a ballclub a lot like running a Starbucks

One summer eons ago, I worked as a flunky at a boat dealership. A salesman let me in on some of his tricks.

Like: “A lot of times when a guy is ready to buy, he’ll say, ‘I gotta call my wife.’ And I’ll say, ‘Really? You have to ask your wife if it’s OK to buy a boat? Isn’t it your paycheck?’ Works every time.”

Guys hate to admit they’re not the boss. That’s the awkward phase Major League Baseball managers are going through, and Bruce Bochy is probably phasing himself out at a good time. For a manager, it used to be lonely at the top. Now it’s getting crowded.

With the analytics revoluchief, tion, a lot of traditional managerial powers are being outsourced to general managers who make the calls not only for roster makeup, but also lineups and in-game strategy.

Sportswriters like to speculate on which manager in history would have reacted most violently to being told whom to play and how to play. Billy Martin gets a lot of votes.

Managers have always been the absolute bosses. The shift in decision-making power is awkward, and it’s made awkwarder by everyone pretending it’s not.

Fortunately for Bochy, the Giants’ new baseball-ops Farhan Zaidi, will take pains not to look like a puppet master. But Zaidi was hired to do what he does, and what he does encroaches on traditional managerial territory. Bochy and Zaidi will try to make it work, but it will be a dance.

Managing a ballclub these days is more like managing a Starbucks. Even if you believe in your heart that offering pumpkin-spice latte in June is the right move, you’re going to get overruled by corporate.

Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler

Jeff Chiu / Associated Press Giants manager Bruce Bochy may be bowing out at a good time with analytics driving decisions.