‘Unbelievable ride’:
Bochy, overcome with emotion, tells players of his plans to step aside after 2019, the final year of his contract.
SCOTTDALE, Ariz. — More than 65 players, plus a gaggle of coaches and Giants executives, crammed into the home clubhouse at Scottsdale Stadium on Monday morning for a meeting that occurs 30 times a spring before each majorleague team holds its first full-squad workout.
Rah-rah speeches are given. Players and coaches are introduced. Perfunctory details about workouts and scheduling are disseminated.
Giants players got their first clue that this meeting would be far different when Bruce Bochy walked into the room and became emotional with his first words: “This is the last time I get to do this.”
As he gathered himself, Bochy unmasked a secret he successfully held close for several months, that he had decided he would retire after the 2019 season, his 13th with the club and 25th consecutive year as a big-league skipper, also the final year of his contract.
“In my mind, it’s time,” Bochy told reporters in the dugout a few hours later as a biting rain fell on the field. “I’ve managed with my gut. I came up here in 2007 on my gut, and so it’s my gut feeling that it’s time. It’s been an unbelievable ride.”
Bochy made it clear he wants that ride to continue toward a fourth World Series championship under his reign, which began 12 years ago when he navigated the Giants through a
turbulent losing season centered on Barry Bonds’ chase for the career home run record.
“At this moment, I’m focused on getting this team ready,” he said. “I look forward to one more shot. Trust me, I’m all in.”
From the moment he spoke, the 2019 season turned into a players’ crusade.
“We’ve got to end this on a high note,” pitcher Derek Holland said. “We need to take him where he needs to be and give him that last game in October, not in September.”
No matter what happens in 2019, Bochy has all but cemented his place in the Hall of Fame after guiding the Giants to World Series championships in 2010 — the first in San Francisco history — 2012 and 2014. He managed his first pennant winner in 1998, the fourth of his 12 seasons in San Diego, before the Yankees swept the Padres in the World Series.
Monday’s news was surprising because Bochy consistently declared he had no plans to retire, despite his approaching 64th birthday in April.
Bochy and team officials were quick to dash any potential false narratives, or, as Bochy put it, any “hidden agendas.”
No, they said, Bochy was not forced out by new president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. In fact, Bochy informally told Giants President Larry Baer he was considering retirement as far back as last season, the Giants’ second in a row with a losing record.
Zaidi knew when he interviewed for the job that Bochy was mulling retirement, but Bochy did not make a final decision until after Zaidi took the job.
No, Bochy is not in bad health. To the contrary, he suggested part of the timing is to enjoy his good health with family, including two small grandchildren.
No, Bochy insisted, he was not retiring because of all the losses the past two years, how the game has changed, or how managers are being marginalized.
Executive vice president Brian Sabean, who hired Bochy after the 2006 season, said he believes his good friend found himself at a nexus of what he had done in the game, what he hopes to do professionally and personally, and, perhaps feeling that Zaidi should have a chance to chart his own course with a handpicked manager.
Sabean was among those who learned last season that Bochy was thinking about retiring.
“It wasn’t at all surprising,” he said. “That’s a pretty fast treadmill to do this for 25 years.”
Bochy had planned to hold the announcement until the end of the season but realized that would place a “burden” on his team, which would have been hounded with questions about the uncertainty surrounding its manager in his final contract year.
Bochy also said he did not want to be dishonest with reporters who surely would ask in every city.
Once Bochy made the decision, he pledged secrecy until he could tell his players and staff in person. Even some of his closest confidants in uniform were taken aback.
“It got me off guard a little bit,” said infielder Pablo Sandoval, who considers Bochy like a second father. “He said everything the right way in the moment. It was emotional.”
First baseman Brandon Belt surmised that some in the room thought Bochy might be contemplating retirement.
“But just to hear it come out of his mouth, it’s a little surprising, a little shocking,” Belt said. “I think it’s still setting in with everybody. I think you could sense he was getting a little bit emotional. When you see the lead guy getting emotional, it can make you emotional. We’ve been through a lot with him.”
The preseason announcement could benefit the Giants, affording Bochy and Zaidi a more relaxed relationship as they work together in 2019 without the old-school, newschool story line consuming the season. Zaidi also gets a huge head start in contemplating Bochy’s replacement.
Baer said there is no successor in mind and Zaidi will make the decision next offseason. Bochy then gets to decide what role, if any, he wants to maintain with the Giants, who have extended an open invitation.
Bochy was vague about his plans, although he declared he will be in baseball even if he’s managing a Little League team. He even declined to rule out managing in the majors again, saying, “Never is a long time.”
“I don’t have any cruises planned,” he said. “I don’t plan going up Mount Everest. I don’t have a bucket list. Baseball is my life. I’ll be around.”