04-28-2022, 01:40 PM
I had a discussion with a Giants fan friend today about the Giants' model.
He suggested that it looks like the team is almost trying to turn the fans into fans of the front office more than the players. Like, they are valuing their process and baseball operation more than they do talented players. The evidence suggests this is what is happening. The question is if it is a byproduct of the Zaidi approach or if the approach is designed to de-emphasize the value of individual players to win while saving money.
What I find fascinating is how the Giants seem to have managed walking a fine line between getting players to run through a wall for the team and ruthlessly replacing them when they don't perform. Usually those things don't go hand-in-hand.
If fans root for the front office because the team wins games with a large cast of characters, they don't see any individual players as any more important than others, which allows ownership to drive down payroll absent any star players.
The Giants haven't won a top of market free agent since Barry Bonds and Zito. If they wanted Suzuki they simply would have paid more than anyone else to get him. They could have signed Gausman (31k, 0 BB, 0 HR 2.19 ERA so far) instead of Cobb and still been way, way under the luxury tax. So the Giants wouldn't pay to keep a guy they had and wouldn't pay what it took to get a guy they didn't have.
So I think my Cal grad friend is on to something.
Thoughts?
He suggested that it looks like the team is almost trying to turn the fans into fans of the front office more than the players. Like, they are valuing their process and baseball operation more than they do talented players. The evidence suggests this is what is happening. The question is if it is a byproduct of the Zaidi approach or if the approach is designed to de-emphasize the value of individual players to win while saving money.
What I find fascinating is how the Giants seem to have managed walking a fine line between getting players to run through a wall for the team and ruthlessly replacing them when they don't perform. Usually those things don't go hand-in-hand.
If fans root for the front office because the team wins games with a large cast of characters, they don't see any individual players as any more important than others, which allows ownership to drive down payroll absent any star players.
The Giants haven't won a top of market free agent since Barry Bonds and Zito. If they wanted Suzuki they simply would have paid more than anyone else to get him. They could have signed Gausman (31k, 0 BB, 0 HR 2.19 ERA so far) instead of Cobb and still been way, way under the luxury tax. So the Giants wouldn't pay to keep a guy they had and wouldn't pay what it took to get a guy they didn't have.
So I think my Cal grad friend is on to something.
Thoughts?