With Kapler and Harris aboard, Giants shift focus to roster

First off, welcome back to The Giants Baseball Blog!

I took a bit of an extended hiatus and I'll talk a little more on that later, but I figured now would be an ideal time to return as the Giants enter arguably their most pivotal offseason in over a decade. It's one that's seeing them change the brass of the team, including bringing in a new general manager and new field general after the huge acquisition of Farhan Zaidi to take over baseball operations last fall. Finally, after what seemed like a very long search for their GM and manager, the Giants were able to fill both those spots within a couple of days of each other, and now the new hires will join Farhan as they try shift all the focus on getting the Giants back to being a perennial contender.

Last week they plucked 32 year-old Scott Harris from the Cubs front office, where he had been a prominent part of their research and development and built a reputation for spotting young talent. Working under Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer in Chicago, Harris got to learn from the best during his time there. He was an instrumental part of the Cubs changing their fortune and winning their first World Series tittle in more than 100 years back in 2016. The move fits right in line with the Giants and Farhan Zaidi's philosophy of moving toward the future of analytics and player development department. WIth the Giants in the midst of rebuilding and trying to put together some pieces they can build around into the next decade, Harris' abilities should be put to use immediately. Farhan will still have the ultimate say-so in regards to player movement at the big league level but Harris will likely be tasked in forming and hopefully stockpiling the minor league system.

A few days after bringing Harris aboard, the Giants found their replacement for Bruce Bochy, who had managed the club since the 2007 season and led them to three World Series tittles during his tenure here. Gabe Kapler will take over as the field general for the Giants, just their fourth different manager they've had since 1993. Kap had one previous run as manager, leading the Phillies in 2018-19, accumulating a record of 161-163. Obviously his record, especially last year after the Phillies went out and spent a ton in free agency, came up short of expectations. He did do a great job as coordinator of the Dodgers minor league system before taking over the Phillies, which is when he and Farhan worked together. I think that's the thought in mind the Giants had upon hiring him, that he'll be a guy to help bring along the young players in the minor leagues as the Giants franchise goes through transition the next couple of seasons. 

Obviously it's going to take a while to see if he's going to work out, and there has been mixed reactions amongst the Giants fans across the bay area. Out of the three finalists they had narrowed their search to, I definitely think they made the right choice. I always think a former player like Kapler who played with success in the big leagues not too long ago has an advantage when it comes to managing. He automatically gets the players respect cause he's done it before, plus I think he's very much in tune with the way the game is being played today and should bring a little bit more modern and experimental strategies to the Giants style of play.

One area in which I think Bochy was sort of stuck in his old school ways and I'm hoping Kapler will change is the constant use of hitters in certain spots of the batting order, regardless of how they were performing at the time. For example, Buster Posey has been great during his career and I'm hoping a year removed from hip surgery and a full, healthy offseason will lead to a bounce back in 2020, but he's been bad at the plate the last two seasons and has no business continuously hitting in the middle of the Giants order until he proves again that he can produce there. I also expect to see veterans who aren't performing well take a seat at times to give other younger players an opportunity, regardless of what their salary is. If Brandon Crawford is hitting .220 and is his defense continues to slide, he should no longer be viewed as an everyday shortstop.

We'll tackle more of the player and lineup issues throughout the offseason, this is post is more just to get back into the swing of things and provide a little perspective on the two new hirings that took place over the week. Again, I do think Kapler was the best choice out of the three finalists. Were there better managerial options available out there? Probably, but Farhan obviously targeted these guys for a reason and so far he hasn't done anything yet to hurt this franchise, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt until then. Also if you look at the two teams in the World Series this year, both managed by former players (A.J. Hinch and Dave Martinez) who played a lengthy career and had success in the league. Then there's Dave Roberts in LA who's been one of the best managers in the game aside from some decisions later in the playoffs, but you can tell that these guys know how to get the most out of their players and I look forward to that translating with Kapler in San Francisco.

As for what's next, right after the Kapler presser, Zaidi and Harris immediately shifted their focus to free agency as the Giants have already lost one huge piece from last year. Closer Will Smith inked a 3-year/$40M deal with Atlanta after declining the Giants' qualifying offer, which will in turn net the Giants an compensatory pick in next Junes draft. Now all eyes will be on Madison Bumgarner, as he expectedly declined his QO as well earlier this week. The Braves and Yankees are said to be favorites to land the left-handed postseason ace, and I ultimately see the Yanks offering him the most money as they'll likely be thinking of October if they ink him. The Giants still have a chance at retaining him, but I just don't see his return as a likely scenario.

I'm very much looking forward to getting back into my regular posting schedule and we should have a lot to talk about in the coming weeks as the hot stove picks up. There are three parts of a baseball calendar year that really stand out for me and that is obviously opening day and the beginning of the season, the postseason (especially when the Giants are involved) and the beginning of the offseason. Especially in an offseason like this for the Giants in which they could go a number of different ways and have shown with their pursuit of Bryce Harper last winter, they will go all out for a player if they want him bad enough. 

I don't have an exact posting schedule but typically in the offseason we'll do at least one post a week, with more coming at times there is breaking news or intriguing rumors to discuss. It's great to be back though, and I appreciate all you guys who have come back to this site over the years. I hope to gain new readers as well and strive to make 2020 our best, most productive year on this blog. Hopefully the Giants make it easy to do so and can put together an exciting product to field next season. Much like the 2019 season, I don't think there is anything the Giants can do this winter to put themselves in position to be legit contenders in 2020, but they have to continue to progress.