[Giants]

I think you put far too much emphasis on the value of a manager.  It is all about the players.  Heck, even if they had signed Ohtani, the Giants are not a 95 win team.  There are too many holes in the lineup.  They are too slow, poor defensively, have no pitching depth, and a relief corps that is suspect. 

As currently constructed, they are a 70-75 win team.  With Ohtani, they would have bumped to a .500 club.  

Melvin brings experience, class and structure to the team.  However, until they acquire some talent (or find some gems in their farm system) they will struggle.   In summary, I am not suggesting he is at the same level as future HOF managers like Baker or Bochy but I would say he is the right guy for SF at this time.

Agreed, I think I said in an earlier post that 75 wins was my max expectation -- before adding Soler, Lee, Ray and Murphy. If Kapler won 79, Melvin wouldn't win more than 75. With Soler, Lee, Ray and Murphy, they've filled a lot of holes...and addition by subtraction, losing DeSclafani, Stripling (clubhouse cancer), Haniger, etc.

In a prior post, you wrote that Bob Melvin would be worth 5-7 wins. Last year's Giants under Mr. Coconut Oil won 79. An additional 5-7 wins would imply 84-86 wins, not 70-75, so I'm a bit confused over that. Lex originally estimated 78 wins. Be interesting to see how it plays out.

Yep, at the time I wrote that, I was optimistic re: the Giants off-season (and the hiring of Melvin).  In hindsight, I should have been more realistic re: the off-season given Zaidi’s track record.  Quite frankly, I didn’t think Zaidi would flop two years in a row.  By the way, we do agree that Zaidi is a boat anchor weighing down the entire operations group.  

I do think Melvin will wring every possible win out of the schedule.  However, given the bad hand he has been dealt, I do not see improvement over last year.  If anything, the team has regressed.  Hence, my revised win total.

[Giants]

I think you put far too much emphasis on the value of a manager.  It is all about the players.  Heck, even if they had signed Ohtani, the Giants are not a 95 win team.  There are too many holes in the lineup.  They are too slow, poor defensively, have no pitching depth, and a relief corps that is suspect. 

As currently constructed, they are a 70-75 win team.  With Ohtani, they would have bumped to a .500 club.  

Melvin brings experience, class and structure to the team.  However, until they acquire some talent (or find some gems in their farm system) they will struggle.   In summary, I am not suggesting he is at the same level as future HOF managers like Baker or Bochy but I would say he is the right guy for SF at this time.

Agreed, I think I said in an earlier post that 75 wins was my max expectation -- before adding Soler, Lee, Ray and Murphy. If Kapler won 79, Melvin wouldn't win more than 75. With Soler, Lee, Ray and Murphy, they've filled a lot of holes...and addition by subtraction, losing DeSclafani, Stripling (clubhouse cancer), Haniger, etc.

In a prior post, you wrote that Bob Melvin would be worth 5-7 wins. Last year's Giants under Mr. Coconut Oil won 79. An additional 5-7 wins would imply 84-86 wins, not 70-75, so I'm a bit confused over that. Lex originally estimated 78 wins. Be interesting to see how it plays out.

Yep, at the time I wrote that, I was optimistic re: the Giants off-season (and the hiring of Melvin).  In hindsight, I should have been more realistic re: the off-season given Zaidi’s track record.  Quite frankly, I didn’t think Zaidi would flop two years in a row.  By the way, we do agree that Zaidi is a boat anchor weighing down the entire operations group.  

I do think Melvin will wring every possible win out of the schedule.  However, given the bad hand he has been dealt, I do not see improvement over last year.  If anything, the team has regressed.  Hence, my revised win total.