Giants: Add Bob Geren to the list of managerial candidates

As the search for Bruce Bochy’s replacement continues, the San Francisco Giants front office has interviewed an ever-growing list of candidates. Add Bob Geren on the mix.

With Game 7 of the World Series on tap, the 2019 MLB season is set to wrap up one way or another on Wednesday night. How long before the San Francisco Giants have a new manager?

After 13 seasons at the helm, the Bruce Bochy era has come to a close, and taking his place will be the man who ushers in a new era of Giants baseball.

Will it be a known commodity with MLB managerial experience? A longtime coach who finally gets his chance? A younger, analytically focused option to bring a fresh perspective to the job?

So far, all we have is a list of candidates.

It sounds like the goal is to trim the list of candidates to three or four before a final round of interviews. It sounds like two of those spots have been filled:

Who will join Houston Astros bench coach Joe Espada and former Philadelphia Phillies manager Gabe Kapler?

Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens, Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol, Athletics quality control coach Mark Kotsay, Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, and Cubs first base coach Will Venable have all either been given interviews or been rumored as likely candidates.

Now another name can be added to that list:

Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumors offered up the following analysis on the connection between Bob Geren and Giants team president Farhan Zaidi:

“Like Kapler, the 58-year-old Geren is plenty familiar with Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi from the pair’s days with the Dodgers. However, Geren’s connection with Zaidi predates their Dodgers tenure, as Geren also managed the Athletics from 2007-11. At the time Geren was hired in Oakland, Zaidi was a burgeoning baseball operations analyst with the Athletics, and he was the club’s director of baseball operations by the time Geren was dismissed in June 2011.”

During his time at the helm in Oakland, Geren logged a 334-376 record, with the team’s best record under him coming in 2010 when they went 81-81 to finish a distant second in the AL West.

Since being fired from his post midway through the 2011 season, Geren has served as the bench coach for the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the latter being the role he currently holds.

It remains to be seen just how serious a candidate he is, and whether he will receive a second interview.