Speaking of the Giants…. Interesting article primarily on Belt in The Athletic. Since the beginning of 2000 he has the highest slugging pct. in baseball. .600
I found the comments interesting as well. Which I’ll get to.
As for Belt, during the “Belt Wars” the only number I cared about was his slugging percentage. It dropped precipitously in ‘18 and ‘19. He attributed his success from ‘20 to both his trusting his process more and the staff supporting it completely. (I’m sure that was important-but it doesn’t explain a near .200 point jump in his slugging) And in so doing, perhaps took a backhanded swipe at Bochy and Co.
Which leads to the comments, many of which suggested how this was further proof of how “overrated” Bochy is. I bristle when I read those comments. The analytics Uber Alles crew has been saying that for sometime. Never liked how he set lineup, favored veterans etc.
I will agree with those that say Bochy, Sabean et.al were slow to adjust to the changing landscape. But that doesn’t diminish the enormous success. All I know is that in my lifelong love affair with the Giants he’s the only manager to bring home a crown. And he did it three times. Personally, I thought he was a master with the pitching staff. Not as strong on the offensive end. But he never had a great offensive hand to play with. And from all I’ve read, the players loved playing for him. Those that fail to appreciate what he achieved tick me off a bit. You don’t get “lucky” 3 times….. Unless your John Derek….
One of the many things I like about Zaidi is, while analytics are very important, he also gives props to the scouts. Another interesting Athletic article was about how when he came to SF he kept a good chunk of the scouting staff cause they had done an excellent job and had a good process to boot. (Contrast that to Billy Beane who allowed the ridiculous Moneyball Movie to trash a good baseball man (Art Howe) and pretend that the A’s famous win streak was all about Mark Hattiesburg, Chad Bradford and walks. Barely a mention of Tejada, Chavez, Dye, Hudson, Mulder and Zito. But hey, he’s Brad Pitt. Right?).
Zaidi did a tremendous job of shifting the culture, while still honoring the prior Admin. Not an easy task.
Rant over…..
I found the comments interesting as well. Which I’ll get to.
As for Belt, during the “Belt Wars” the only number I cared about was his slugging percentage. It dropped precipitously in ‘18 and ‘19. He attributed his success from ‘20 to both his trusting his process more and the staff supporting it completely. (I’m sure that was important-but it doesn’t explain a near .200 point jump in his slugging) And in so doing, perhaps took a backhanded swipe at Bochy and Co.
Which leads to the comments, many of which suggested how this was further proof of how “overrated” Bochy is. I bristle when I read those comments. The analytics Uber Alles crew has been saying that for sometime. Never liked how he set lineup, favored veterans etc.
I will agree with those that say Bochy, Sabean et.al were slow to adjust to the changing landscape. But that doesn’t diminish the enormous success. All I know is that in my lifelong love affair with the Giants he’s the only manager to bring home a crown. And he did it three times. Personally, I thought he was a master with the pitching staff. Not as strong on the offensive end. But he never had a great offensive hand to play with. And from all I’ve read, the players loved playing for him. Those that fail to appreciate what he achieved tick me off a bit. You don’t get “lucky” 3 times….. Unless your John Derek….
One of the many things I like about Zaidi is, while analytics are very important, he also gives props to the scouts. Another interesting Athletic article was about how when he came to SF he kept a good chunk of the scouting staff cause they had done an excellent job and had a good process to boot. (Contrast that to Billy Beane who allowed the ridiculous Moneyball Movie to trash a good baseball man (Art Howe) and pretend that the A’s famous win streak was all about Mark Hattiesburg, Chad Bradford and walks. Barely a mention of Tejada, Chavez, Dye, Hudson, Mulder and Zito. But hey, he’s Brad Pitt. Right?).
Zaidi did a tremendous job of shifting the culture, while still honoring the prior Admin. Not an easy task.
Rant over…..