Revealing Bob Melvin interview shows disconnect with SF Giants front office

In an interview with SF Giants manager Bob Melvin conducted by Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (subscription required), the first-year manager of the Giants spoke about the disconnect between himself and the front office.

If you are able to, the entire interview is well worth the read. Melvin gets very honest about how this year’s struggles have been especially tough on him given his ties to the Bay Area. But one section where he talks about the age-old "analytics vs. your gut" debate really got my attention. 

Bob Melvin admits that he has trusted the analytics over his gut

Melvin spoke about how it has been a bit of a weird transition for him over the years going from the Oakland A's organization where they were obviously very analytics-heavy moving to the San Diego Padres organization where there was not as much emphasis on analytics and then to the Giants under Zaidi where analytics are more prevalent.

Baggarly prodded him more and basically asked him point blank if he was making decisions in games that he did not fully agree with because they were what "the model" said to do. Melvin agreed with that assessment before quickly assuming blame and saying that ultimately the decision is his and at the end of the day, he is the one responsible.

What should we make of this? Well, when Melvin was hired there was an assumption that with him as the manager he would act as a bit of a counterweight to Zaidi's analytical approach. Melvin is an old school manager of the old guard so it was thought that he would often go with his gut and his eyes rather than the numbers in certain situations.

Instead, it seems like he has not been all that different from Gabe Kapler in terms of following Zaidi's orders. Of course, Melvin has not platooned quite as much as Kapler did but he specifically mentioned times when he pinch hit for Michael Conforto against lefties even though Conforto has fared well against lefties.

One can empathize with Melvin for having to adjust to different teams and different front offices these last several years. It is not easy coming into a new situation where you have to learn new players and figure out their strengths and weaknesses. But it is still a bit puzzling why he would feel so beholden to Zaidi's "model" when, ostensibly, his hiring was due to the fact that this model was flawed and could roughly guarantee you a 75-win season but had a lot more trouble getting you into the playoffs or even above .500 reliably.

Since it seems likely at this point that the Giants are going to retain both Melvin and Zaidi going into next season, we need to hope that Melvin learns a lot from this year. Next year he needs to go with his gut more often. It may not always be right, but the "modelball" the Giants have been playing these last few years has not been working. It is time to try something new.