Mick dateline='[url=tel:1698543919' Wrote: 1698543919[/url]']
Question for Lex and Giants. If, in 2023, the Padres and Giants switched managers at the beginning of the year, how do you think each manager would have done?
Mick, I don’t know. And I don’t care. It’s an impossible question to answer. You are free to mourn the loss of Kapler. I’m thrilled. “Different strokes for different folks. And so on and so on and scoobey doobie doobie.”
Giants dateline='[url=tel:1698538591' Wrote: 1698538591[/url]']
Thanks, Mick. You answered a number of questions I had re: why you don’t think Melvin is “all that”.
The one thing I would point out - I disagree with using average in the context you detailed. It is better to use median. IMO, because the 107 is such an outlier, the average is significantly skewed. The median (81) represents a truer expectation based on past performance.
While we still have a strong difference of opinion regarding Melvin, I think we can agree the focus is now on Zaidi and how he navigates the off-season.
We agree on that. New manager was just the first step.
What I don’t understand, Mick, is why you continue to brush aside the comments of Webb, Yaz and Zaidi. Seldom do players publicly make such comments. We can disagree on Webb as a CY candidate - yes, no way he wins. But please don’t use the W-L record to support your position. He had the worst run support in baseball. Led the league in innings. Had a terrific year. And he is the closest thing to a star the Giants have.
Yaz is not a star. But he’s as solid as they come. And a leader on the Giants.
Kapler was Zaidis first managerial choice. He picked him knowing it would not go over particularly well. So, that he came out near the end of the year and said they weren’t ready when it mattered most spoke volumes.
‘21 was a great year. Led by three supposedly washed up veterans.From day one, I’ve maintained, rightly or wrongly, that was more due to Posey, Crawford and Belt. Which is why I predicted 80 wins in ‘22 and 78 in ‘23.
But from comments and the dreadful second half, added together it appears that they stopped playing for Kapler. When that happens, the manager is toast.
Melvin is not going to turn chickens-t into chicken salad. Now it’s on Zaidi to improve the roster. Better chance to do so with Kapler gone. Players know what’s going on. And if there was that much public grumbling, it’s reasonable to conclude that there was much more that did not come out.
As for SD in ‘23, I don’t know what happened. But he has a 20 year track record. And a good one at that.