03-30-2019, 07:18 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-30-2019, 07:21 AM by OutsiderFan.)
I'm a multiple time internet software entrepreneur. I have started three companies myself and been involved in founding four. One was sold. One is a going concern now. One is on back burner. And one is my current startup focus. The first two were very niche, so I'm not Jerry Yang, Pierre Odimayer, or Mark Zuckerberg. The one I am working on now is something on that scale, but that's not the point I'm making here.
The point is no matter the size of your organization or its past achievements, you must be vigilant about staying ahead of competition. It requires a constant reinventing of what you do and how you do it. My favorite book ever is The Innovator's Dilemma because it teaches this lesson to those who don't naturally embrace a constant improvement mindset.
The Giants are a case example of how if you are slow to innovate, you will have your lunch eaten. I was exasperated by the Giants not going into re-build mode in 2017 and knew the longer they waited the worse it would be. I think they have actually found themselves in the worst case scenario they had in front of them in 2017. They decided they weren't going to re-build, but "re-tool" in 2018. This not only wasted half of 2017 and all of 2018 starting a new talent infusion into the system, it made 2018 and 2019 years to sink further to the bottom.
My feeling at the time was, if they told the fans or otherwise made clear to the fans there was a re-build in place, coming off 3 WS titles in the 2010s, the fans would have their back. But now, we are looking at the abyss, for certainly all of 2019, and probably 2020 at minimum. There is no reason to care. You can't even support the young and up and coming players, because there aren't any there.
McCovey Chronicles wrote a great story on the game last night. It said "no player currently on the Giants will be on the team when the Giants are a contending team again." Let that sink in. They are effectively an expansion team right now. Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos are literally the only players in the system who you can say will be on those teams. This is why I am far, far more interested in what Augusta, San Jose, and Richmond are doing this season than I am the San Francisco Giants.
The point is no matter the size of your organization or its past achievements, you must be vigilant about staying ahead of competition. It requires a constant reinventing of what you do and how you do it. My favorite book ever is The Innovator's Dilemma because it teaches this lesson to those who don't naturally embrace a constant improvement mindset.
The Giants are a case example of how if you are slow to innovate, you will have your lunch eaten. I was exasperated by the Giants not going into re-build mode in 2017 and knew the longer they waited the worse it would be. I think they have actually found themselves in the worst case scenario they had in front of them in 2017. They decided they weren't going to re-build, but "re-tool" in 2018. This not only wasted half of 2017 and all of 2018 starting a new talent infusion into the system, it made 2018 and 2019 years to sink further to the bottom.
My feeling at the time was, if they told the fans or otherwise made clear to the fans there was a re-build in place, coming off 3 WS titles in the 2010s, the fans would have their back. But now, we are looking at the abyss, for certainly all of 2019, and probably 2020 at minimum. There is no reason to care. You can't even support the young and up and coming players, because there aren't any there.
McCovey Chronicles wrote a great story on the game last night. It said "no player currently on the Giants will be on the team when the Giants are a contending team again." Let that sink in. They are effectively an expansion team right now. Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos are literally the only players in the system who you can say will be on those teams. This is why I am far, far more interested in what Augusta, San Jose, and Richmond are doing this season than I am the San Francisco Giants.