Buster Posey should buck recent trend in hiring next SF Giants manager

The SF Giants are at a crossroads. After another disappointing season defined by inconsistency, injuries, and mediocrity, the franchise faces another crucial decision. Who will lead the next era of Giants baseball?

The team already has star power. Willy Adames, Rafael Devers, and Matt Chapman in the lineup. Robbie Ray and Logan Webb in the rotation. The team also has a budding young prospect in Bryce Eldridge, who may soon be ready to pop as a star.

SF Giants need their new manager to have prior experience

The point is, this team has talent. This is not a rebuild project. That's why this team needs to hire a manager with winning experience to guide the Giants back into the postseason quickly.

Don't be fooled by teams like the Mariners, who hired Dan Wilson and immediately made the ALCS. Most first-year managers do not have that sort of quick success, and even if they do, it often costs them in the postseason.

Stephen Vogt is another manager who was hired without any managerial experience and has had great success with the Cleveland Guardians. The Giants may still be wishing they had hired him instead of Melvin.

But for every Wilson or Vogt there is a David Ross who flamed out with the Chicago Cubs after four seasons. He came into that job with no prior manager experience.

Players, especially veterans like Devers and Chapman, who have been in the game long enough, and seen plenty of success on their previous teams, respect managers who have won. Managers who have been to the dance and been successful. The kind of leadership that can't be faked.

For a team with championship DNA, the bar should be higher than hiring an 'experimental' or 'transitional' manager. Giants fans deserve leadership that reflects the tradition of winning that this organization has been all about. This team does not need someone who will be learning on the job.

While Gabe Kapler was a solid hire, who delivered a 100-win season and a division title to San Francisco, his focus on analytics might have held him back. Outside of an outlier 2021 season, Kapler's tenure was marked by the same mediocrity that led to Melvin's dismissal. For that reason, the Giants should not focus too much on hiring an analytical head coach.

The next manager of the Giants does not have to be the smartest guy in the room, and he shouldn't be an up-and-coming young genius. He just needs to be a winner. Brandon Hyde, a Santa Rosa native could fit this bill as someone who led the Baltimore Orioles to 101 wins back in 2023. The Giants reportedly interviewed him recently.

Nick Hundley is the reported front runner for the job, but he would be a first-time hire which certainly carries some risk that he could be a bust.

We will see which route president of baseball operations Buster Posey wants to go, but he would be best served hiring a manager who has experience doing the job.