San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin met with the media after being hired as the new Giants manager on Tue Oct 25, 2023 at Oracle Park in San Francisco (@SFGiants photo)
By Stephen Ruderman
SAN FRANCISCO–The San Francisco Giants officially announced that Bob Melvin will be the 39th manager in franchise history this morning.
After the Giants dismissed Gabe Kapler as manager on Sept. 29, it seemed that with Melvin’s situation in San Diego, there was a very good chance he was going to end up managing the Giants. The Giants were granted permission by the San Diego Padres to interview Melvin, who had managed the Padres the last two seasons. In just 48 hours, the Giants knew they had their man.
We are so excited to have [Melvin] leading our club,” said Giants Chairman Greg Johnson. “I can’t think of any other person in Baseball with the level of integrity, respect and achievements Bob has had in his career.”
“We view Bob as the perfect manager, and the perfect leader for this team and this organization right now,” said Giants President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi. “There are so many players out there who played for Bob, who to this day will say he is the best manager they ever played for, and that carried so much weight for us in this process.”
For Melvin, he returns back to the Bay Area, where he grew up; where he went to college at Cal; where he played for the Giants as a backup catcher from 1986 to 1988; and where he managed the Oakland Athletics from 2011 to 2021.
“This is kind of a surreal moment for me,” said Melvin, who described it as coming full circle. “To be able to not only play here, manage here, go to Cal [and] manage the A’s, it’s not even something you even dream about.”
Melvin will bring a healthy mix of old-school baseball and new-age analytics to the table. While Melvin comes from an old-school background, he quickly got acclimated to analytics in his time managing under Billy Beane in Oakland.
“[Analytics are] very important,” said Melvin. “Every team, even the teams you see now that are playing deep into the playoffs, analytics are part of it
“Coming from Oakland, without analytics, we wouldn’t have had the success that we did there,” Melvin added. “There’s always a balance to everything…….I learned from my days in Oakland that there [are] a lot of smart people that contribute to this game; and there [are] also a lot of old-school baseball people, who understand what it’s like to go out there and compete, and the one thing analytics doesn’t show you is the competitive[ness] in certain people and certain players.”
Melvin coming to manage the Giants doesn’t just connect Giants History in terms of him playing for the Giants, but it connects in terms of the fact that he played for Roger Craig, who made an indelible mark on this team, as well as the city of San Francisco.
“There are certain things I learned from every manager, but really for me, Roger was the guy that made me watch the game like a manager,” said Melvin. “To this day, I will always be indebted [to him] for that.”
Just over two and a half months ago on Aug. 4, the Giants were 12 games over .500 61-49; held the first wild card spot in the National League; and held a four-game lead over the Miami Marlins for a playoff spot. They then went 18-34 the rest of the way, finishing under .500 at 79-83.
Melvin also credited Phil Garner, Billy Beane and Sal Bando for the manager he has become today. Melvin was the bench coach under Garner in 1999 with the Milwaukee Brewers, and in 2000 with the Detroit Tigers. Melvin credited Garner with teaching him old-school philosophies, while he also credited Beane for introducing him to analytics.
Zaidi dismissed Manager Gabe Kapler on Sept. 29 prior to the team’s game against the Dodgers that night. Bench Coach Kai Correa managed the final three games against the Dodgers.
It was believed that Kapler had lost the clubhouse, as a sense of a lack of urgency, as well as Baggarly’s report that Outfielder Joc Pederson had the clubhouse enthralled in the filipino card game, ‘Pusoy.’
Melvin was hired by the Padres following the 2021 Season in almost the exact same situation he is set to be hired by the Giants. The Padres went 36-24 in the shortened 60-game COVID sprint season of 2020, and were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division series.
On Aug. 10, 2021, the Padres were 18 games over .500 at 67-49, and half a five-game lead for the second—in 2021, the final—wild card spot. They then collapsed, and went 12-34 the rest of the way, finishing at 79-83, the same record the Giants finished at this season. The Padres dismissed Manager Jayce Tingler, as the Padres had clubhouse issues in 2021, which was highlighted by a dugout spat between Fernando Tatis Jr., and Manny Machado on Sept. 18 in St. Louis.
Melvin was brought in, and the Padres had a much more solid clubhouse in 2022, as they went 89-73 to get the second wild card spot; upset the New York Mets in the National League Wild Card Series; and upset the 111-win Dodgers in the NLDS before losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games in the National League Championship Series.
The clubhouse issues returned in San Diego this season, but Melvin’s handling of the Padres’ clubhouse in 2022 shows that he can fix an uneasy clubhouse situation. He will be walking into a calmer situation, and he will have the immediate backing of clubhouse leaders, such as Logan Webb, Mike Yastrzemski, Wilmer Flores and Thairo Estrada.
Melvin is also a former Giant, and was a prodigy under one of the greatest managers in Giants’ history, Roger Craig. Melvin played with the Giants from 1986 to 1988, and was a part of the 1987 Giants team that got within a win of the National League Pennant, but ultimately lost the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in the NLCS.
After retiring as a player, Melvin was a coach under Bob Brenly on the 2001 World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks, and was hired by the Seattle Mariners to manage prior to the 2003 Season. The Mariners went 93-69 in 2003, and missed the sole American League Wild Card by just two games. After a disappointing 63-99 2004 Season, the Mariners let Melvin go.
Melvin was then hired to manage the Diamondbacks in 2005, and after a pair of subpar seasons in 2005 and 2006, he took Arizona to a 90-72 National League West division title in 2007, as they swept the Chicago Cubs in three games in the NLDS, before being swept in four games by the Colorado Rockies, who were on an historic 21-1 run, in the NLCS. The Diamondbacks went 82-80 in 2008, but after a slow start in 2009, Melvin was let go on May 8.
After falling short of the Houston Astros’ managerial opening, Melvin spent the 2010 Season as a scout for the Mets, and then returned to the Diamondbacks in a front office role in 2011, following unsuccessful interviews for the Mets’ and Milwaukee Brewers’ managerial openings.
On June 9, 2011, Melvin was hired to manage the Oakland Athletics, following their midseason dismissal of Bob Geren. In 2012, Melvin took the A’s to an improbable division title, but he ran into a buzzsaw in Justin Verlander, as they lost the American League Division Series in five games to the Detroit Tigers. The A’s ran into the same buzzsaw in Verlander, and lost the ALDS to the Tigers in five again in 2013.
The A’s led the American League West for most of 2014, but a midseason trade of Yoenis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox, and a late-season collapse barely netted them the second wild card spot, as they ended up losing a thrilling American League Wild Card Game to the Royals in Kansas City.
The A’s traded away their talent, and suffered in the standings from 2015 to 2017, but they were back in the playoffs after another improbable run in 2018, which saw them get the second wild card spot with 97 wins. They lost the wild card game in both 2018 and 2019, and then lost the 2020 Wild Card Series to the Chicago White Sox.
The A’s contended with an 86-76 record in 2021, but there was every indication that season that the A’s would once again trade their talent following the end of the year, which they indeed did, and Melvin left for San Diego.
Melvin will not be the former Giant returning to the team. It is expected that Matt Williams, who has been a part of Melvin’s coaching staff in Oakland in San Diego, will join Melvin in San Francisco. Williams was a fan favorite in San Francisco, as he spent a decade with the Giants from 1987 to 1996, and would have had a chance to break Roger Maris’ single-season record of 61 home runs if it was not for the Strike in 1994. Williams hit 43 home runs through 115 games.
Former Giants, Pat Burrell and Ryan Vogelsong, are also rumored to be back in Giants’ uniforms on the coaching staff, with Burrell as the hitting coach, and Vogelsong as the pitching coach.
Zaidi expressed gratitude to the Padres for allowing the Giants to interview Melvin, and said that the Giants will not have to compensate the Padres. The only compensation will be from Melvin to Giants’ young infidler, Casey Schmitt,” whose number six will be worn by Melvin for the 2024 Season.
Johnson also said that the team expects to announce soon that Zaidi will be extended through the 2026 Season.
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