And it ends...
The Giants hired Bruce Bochy today.
This move sums up everything that is wrong with the way this franchise has been going since 2002. OK, hugely oversimplified statement out of the way, now I can move on to rational conversation.
Of the four candidates - Bochy, Ron Wotus, Manny Acta and Bud Black - Bochy was the safest pick but also the least likely to to make the Giants significantly better. Maybe it's just the lure of the unknown (the other three candidates are undefeated as major league managers), but it seems like hiring Bochy is Sabean's way of saying he'd rather be mediocre than good. Bochy's .494 winning percentage kind of says it all.
But he has had success. His teams have been to a World Series and won the NL West four times. He also finished with a losing record 50 percent of the time.
Compared to Felipe, Bochy seems to go to the bullpen and sacrifice less, but steal more, according to Bill James. But those numbers also show he has switched his style around season to season (241 steals in 1999, 77 in 2004). Hopefully he's someone who will adjust his style to the team and not just blindly follow some script in his head, though I haven't talked to enough Padre fans to know for sure.
I said before I didn't want the selection to be determined by who the fans thought was most exciting and this definitely fits. Bochy wasn't the sexiest candidate. I understand the logic of getting someone with experience in the division and experience in general, but I would have preferred any of the other candidates. With so little expected of next year this feels like a time to take chances and Bochy seems like he's here to watch the ship until the real manager shows up soon.
This move sums up everything that is wrong with the way this franchise has been going since 2002. OK, hugely oversimplified statement out of the way, now I can move on to rational conversation.
Of the four candidates - Bochy, Ron Wotus, Manny Acta and Bud Black - Bochy was the safest pick but also the least likely to to make the Giants significantly better. Maybe it's just the lure of the unknown (the other three candidates are undefeated as major league managers), but it seems like hiring Bochy is Sabean's way of saying he'd rather be mediocre than good. Bochy's .494 winning percentage kind of says it all.
But he has had success. His teams have been to a World Series and won the NL West four times. He also finished with a losing record 50 percent of the time.
Compared to Felipe, Bochy seems to go to the bullpen and sacrifice less, but steal more, according to Bill James. But those numbers also show he has switched his style around season to season (241 steals in 1999, 77 in 2004). Hopefully he's someone who will adjust his style to the team and not just blindly follow some script in his head, though I haven't talked to enough Padre fans to know for sure.
I said before I didn't want the selection to be determined by who the fans thought was most exciting and this definitely fits. Bochy wasn't the sexiest candidate. I understand the logic of getting someone with experience in the division and experience in general, but I would have preferred any of the other candidates. With so little expected of next year this feels like a time to take chances and Bochy seems like he's here to watch the ship until the real manager shows up soon.
posted by Chris at
10:23 PM
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