San Francisco Giants Coaching Changes Can’t Be Biggest News This Offseason

The San Francisco Giants made a bunch of coaching changes (with more on the way), but they’ve got plenty more work to do this winter.

The San Francisco Giants made some headlines on Saturday morning, announcing multiple changes to their coaching staff. Three changes came, and according to NBC Sports’ Alex Pavlovic, more changes are on the way.

Dave Righetti and Mark Gardner, the team’s pitching coach and bullpen coach, respectively, were both reassigned within the organization. The two coaches were staples of the organization, as both pre-dated manager Bruce Bochy. Righetti joined the Giants’ staff in 2000, becoming the longest-tenured pitching coach while guiding stars like Jason Schmidt, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Madison Bumgarner along the way. Gardner became the bullpen coach in 2003.

Also as part of the shakeup, assistant hitting coach Steve Decker was reassigned. Decker has been in the Giants’ organization since 2001, first serving as the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes’ hitting coach and making his way through the minor league ranks. He joined the major league staff in 2015, and now becomes a special assistant for baseball operations.

Two other candidates for reassignment (or outright dismissal, possibly) are bench coach Ron Wotus and hitting coach Hensley Meulens. Wotus has been the team’s bench coach since 1999, making him the longest-tenured Giants’ coach, and has been interviewed for numerous managerial jobs in the past.

Meulens took over in the middle of the 2010 season after Carney Lansford‘s firing, and has consistently been on the hot seat since as the Giants’ offense has always been lackluster. Meulens managed the Netherlands team in the World Baseball Classic, and has been named as a candidate for open manager jobs this offseason.

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General manager Bobby Evans indicated he will wait until all coaching vacancies are filled to announce the balance of the reassignments, likely to not hurt their potential candidacy. However, the team has already interviewed potential hitting coaches (like former Giant slugger Chili Davis), so it seems all but assured that Meulens will not be back in the same capacity.

All of this comes a few days after the team hired David Bell, another former Giant, as the Vice President of Player Development, basically handing him the reins to the entire minor league and developmental system. He replaced Shane Turner, who was also reassigned.

The team has said they want to get an experienced pitching coach on board, and they have options to do so. Chris Bosio took on his first pitching coach gig in 2003 under Lou Piniella with the Tampa Bay Rays (Devil Rays, at the time), and was most recently in the position with the Chicago Cubs. He was let go on the same day Righetti was reassigned. Jim Hickey served as the Rays’ pitching coach since 2006, but parted ways with the team after the 2017 season. Dave Eiland had been with the Kansas City Royals since the 2012 season, but is also now available.

Making changes on the coaching staff can be a good thing, especially for some of the guys that have been around for a long time. The game has changed a lot since Wotus, Righetti, and Gardner first joined the Giants’ staff, and maybe they can bring in guys who are more analytically-driven to keep up with the rapidly changing game. Sometimes, a new voice and a new set of eyes is needed. That might be what a couple players need to put all their tools together and have a breakout season.

Righetti has long been a staple of the Giants, and has helped numerous pitchers reach their potential throughout the years. Though his new job with the team can be seen as a demotion, he will still be part of the team as a special assistant to the GM. He can still have a voice if a player needs him, even though there will be a new pitching coach in place.

So, with all that said, getting new coaches in place isn’t a bad thing. It could become a great thing. But the Giants can’t allow this to be their biggest headline this offseason. They can’t just change the coaching staff and hope everything else solves itself.

Coaching changes won’t fix the least productive outfield in baseball (0.8 WAR and 82 wRC+, both 30th among 30 teams). It won’t help Denard Span improve from being the worst defensive center field in the game. It won’t reverse the aging process on Hunter Pence, who continues to miss large chunks of time with injuries, and isn’t nearly as productive as he used to be when he is on the field. It won’t magically find them a long-term left fielder, which has been a problem since the Barry Bonds era ended.

The new coaching staff will have their work cut out for them, as the Giants are seriously lacking in a lot of categories. As other teams in the NL West are getting big contributions from young players, the Giants continue to get older. While other outfielders make dazzling catches, Giants’ outfielders continue to turn and chase balls that they just didn’t have the range to get to.

In the simplest of terms, the Giants need to improve on the field. They need to get busy with putting better pieces in the lineup to make the coaching staff’s job easier. If the Giants stand pat this offseason and stick with the same lineup, it won’t matter who is calling the shots and who is making the decisions. The team as it is now, especially on the offensive side and defensively in the outfield, is not good enough to compete in the division or in the wildcard.

Of course, it’s not even officially the offseason yet with the World Series still to be played. Free agency has yet to start, and the trade market likely won’t truly heat up until the Winter Meetings. There’s plenty of time to try and put together a respectable team, but they have a lot of work to do.

Next: Giants CF Trade Options: Yelich and Ozuna

Changes to the coaching staff can be seen as a good start, but those aren’t the only changes they need to be making.