SAN FRANCISCO — Just a few weeks ago, Giants chairman Greg Johnson took a big swing by giving the club's top brass his endorsement to run it back in 2024. Given an opportunity Thursday to back manager Gabe Kapler in the same way, the Giants' top baseball boss, Farhan Zaidi, let the pitch go.
During his regular appearance on the club's flagship network, KNBR, Zaidi was asked by host Adam Copeland if Johnson's statement to the San Francisco Chronicle two weeks earlier, that Zaidi and Kapler "will both be here next year," still held true.
At the time, the Giants had survived a prolonged offensive funk and a rocky start to September and still held their postseason fate in their own hands. They have since lost 10 of 13 games, fallen from four games above .500 (75-71) to three games below (78-81) and from the odds-on favorite for the final National League wild card to eliminated before the final weekend of the season.
"Yeah, I mean, obviously, like I said at the time, really appreciate the support from ownership and the plan to have us both back," Zaidi responded. "Right now our focus is kind of just getting through these last three games and finishing strong, finishing at .500. I think we all just have to look at how we can improve across the board. That's the personnel on the roster, that's our culture in the clubhouse …"
That's not a ringing endorsement of the manager overseeing the sinking ship.
Like Zaidi, Kapler has one year remaining on his contract.
"I just think we have to look at everything," Zaidi said.
When Logan Webb called for "big changes" this week, he joined a growing chorus of clubhouse leaders to acknowledge changes needed to be made. Mike Yastrzemski said they lacked "edge." Infielder Wilmer Flores said they "lost focus."
Zaidi said he agreed with Webb's comments.
"I felt good about it because you want to feel like you have standards," he said. "We haven't met the standards of the San Francisco Giants the last two seasons. He's calling people out. People should feel called out. I should feel called out.
"I think when he says 'big changes,' that can come in a lot of different forms. We need to rethink how we're thinking about players, how we're putting together the roster, our players need to think about the culture that they're fostering, our manager and coaching staff need to think about the culture we have in our clubhouse. I think we need to rethink everything. So I'm glad he said that."
Webb, who signed a five-year extension in April, is the Giants' only player signed beyond 2025.
Among the change in philosophy this offseason, Zaidi said, is a focus on "guys who have a chance to be here for a long time … and not just guys that are going to be here for a year or two."
Zaidi also called out the Giants' "athleticism on the bases and, in particular, the outfield," as well as "the managing of the pitching staff and the use of the opener – the 'O' word – and on the position player side, the platooning and some of pinch-hitting that we do."
The Giants rank a distant last place in stolen bases amid a league-wide uptick — "a smoking gun," Zaidi said — and the contrast in athleticism was never more apparent than in their two-game sweep in Arizona that effectively ended their season.
"That was really a do-or-die series for us, so to see that kind of contrast at a point in time where you're just in must-win situations … it becomes really glaring," Zaidi said. "I've been talking to a few people about how 162 games is a grind and we want our players to be comfortable and be able to wash off some of the tough losses. But when you're in do or die games like those games in Arizona, you want them to feel different. I think we're really going to have to ask ourselves if we were prepared to elevate our level of focus and play for those games that really mattered down the stretch."
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