7. Giants will continue to plunge
Things went terribly wrong for the San Francisco Giants in April. If there’s any silver lining for the team and its fans, it’s that things can’t get any worse in May. In fact, conventional logic says that the Giants will get much better. San Francisco is a combined 62-26 in May over the last three years.
Still, we’re less than convinced that 2017 will fall in line with 2014-2016.
It’s tempting to say that the Giants will fire Bruce Bochy. It’s ridiculously easy to say that they should. But the reality is that San Francisco hasn’t fired a manager in-season since 1985, eight years before the current ownership group took the reigns. It’s essentially impossible to see Bochy, a man who’s won three World Series, being the one that the trend is broken with.
But the case is not hard to make.
Going back to his days as the San Diego Padres manager, Bochy has relied a lot on his bullpens. For the most part, that hasn’t been a problem. He has had good bullpens in San Diego and San Francisco. But much like 2016, his 2017 relievers are well below average. Still, Bochy uses them in a formulaic way, often bringing in shaky, cold relievers with men on base.
Conventional baseball logic also says that batting a speedy player at the top of the order is a good idea. After all, you want someone with speed on base when your best hitters are batting. But speed is only an effective tool if a runner can reach base. Additionally, the advantage of a fast runner is tempered when your team rarely steals, or even hits and runs. Players like Gorkys Hernandez don’t belong in a lead off spot, especially when one of the team’s best on base guys — Joe Panik — often hits at the bottom of the order.
Strangely, less accomplished managers would be more inclined to adjust. But Bochy has managed nearly 3,600 games and with three World Series wins has a virtually guaranteed spot in the Hall of Fame. That makes him far less likely to change his style on the fly.
But as long as Bochy is managing this Giants team in his typical fashion, it’s going to suffer. Don’t expect any seismic turnarounds in May.