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00:00that you do not miss out on the best damn Giants talk in the Bay Area.
00:03It is fascinating as we move forward here with Buster Posey
00:07as your new president of baseball operations.
00:09He will search for a GM.
00:10That's basically priority number one.
00:13Get him a GM, get him some baseball guys around here, get him some scouts.
00:17But it is amazing after six years and all this chatter about Farhan Zaidi
00:22and the think pieces and elites and the bizarre ending in the month of September
00:26with the 2024 San Francisco Giants that they moved on so quickly.
00:31I mean, it is an absolute masterclass.
00:34To hold that presser.
00:36It was short.
00:38Got out of it.
00:39We don't have to come back around and we're gone just like that.
00:44Not even a statement from Farhan Zaidi.
00:45Was there a statement from Farhan?
00:47No statements. I didn't see those statements at all.
00:50I'm out. I'm out.
00:52I'm out. I'm out. I'm out.
00:53I mean, just wow.
00:56I can't believe how quickly they pivoted off of Farhan.
00:58Just like he doesn't even exist.
01:02This had been in the works for months.
01:04There's no doubt it has.
01:05I know Buster was like, yeah, you know, this was more recent days, weeks, months.
01:10It's like, dog, I love you, Buster.
01:13I call cap on that.
01:14Like, I'm going to pull the 13 year old in the backseat.
01:17I call cap on that. And here's why.
01:20You moved here because you smell blood in the water.
01:22And Greg Johnson's been begging you to come do something.
01:25It was basically, what's the contract?
01:27What's the job? What do you want?
01:30Right. And let's just call it what it is.
01:32I know you can't be that honest, but I wish they would be.
01:36It is interesting, though, he kept hammering home.
01:39It's about the players. It's about the players.
01:41And I found that to be in the stark contrast
01:44to what the prior regime told me at the front end of their run, which was
01:50players are plug and play and replaceable.
01:52It's all about the thought process and how smart we are in the front office
01:57and how we're going to put people in a position to succeed
02:00because we think the game on a cerebral level and it doesn't matter.
02:04We're going to have interchangeable avatars on the field.
02:07It's just such a difference. It's so different.
02:10I don't think you heard the word like players, players, players at all,
02:13like you did at the beginning of that at that run.
02:16And it's just it's so different.
02:18It's a good point. It's a good point with that one.
02:20Pardon you. Bless you. Bless you.
02:23It's such a good point.
02:24And he made it about the players because that's what it's about.
02:27The players bring the fans to the ballpark.
02:29The players bring the television ratings.
02:31The players make us excited.
02:34It's about the players, players, players.
02:36They're going to make a manager look really, really good.
02:39They're going to make a GM look really, really good.
02:41It is about the players.
02:42So how did it get the players better?
02:44Buster Posey, such a no nonsense type of guy that he will
02:48he'll figure out who's because this is a baseball lifer, for crying out loud.
02:52I mean, this guy, I don't underrate the fact that he played at Florida State
02:56for a legendary manager, high level baseball at Florida State,
02:59who were college baseball powerhouse for many, many years.
03:02He played all nine positions in one game.
03:04I know that's how we all found out.
03:06We were all watching SportsCenter one night.
03:08You remember that night?
03:08We're all watching SportsCenter one night in the late 2000s.
03:11Who the hell is this? Buster Posey played all nine positions.
03:14OK. And then the Giants selected number five.
03:16We're like, hey, we don't know how good he's going to be,
03:19but he played all nine positions.
03:21So he's playing high level baseball.
03:22So he knows the making.
03:24I mean, this guy's a great player himself.
03:26Now I've read.
03:27Colum said that he's a borderline Hall of Famer.
03:29I get that he's going to get in the Hall of Fame.
03:32I want Thurman Munson in there.
03:33I want Jorge Posada in there.
03:35I think those guys were great.
03:36Yeah, the early millionaires going to get in there.
03:38They should all get in there. Whatever.
03:39Baseball's got a it's so damn strict on their baseball Hall of Fame.
03:43And I get it.
03:44You don't want to haul a very good.
03:45But, you know, these guys are great.
03:47These guys are great players.
03:48But Buster Posey knows what goes into being a great player.
03:52He's a no nonsense type of guy.
03:53So he's going to weed those guys out.
03:55So if you think you're going to clown around the Lila
03:57gag down the first baseline or show up your catcher or show up your manager,
04:01you're going to be out of here, buddy.
04:03That's not flying with Buster Posey.
04:04Yeah, it just feels like now.
04:06And he said it like I want people to be accountable for their own baseball career.
04:10How refreshing was that?
04:11Wow. I mean, it's such a difference from
04:14we're going to continue to get in your way and we're going to platoon you to death
04:19and we're never going to let you bat against the lefty
04:21if you struggle against lefties, even in the slight.
04:23We're never going to let our right handed power pitcher face
04:27the lefty in certain matchups because we want them to avoid those.
04:31It was head on like you are in control of your own baseball career.
04:36And I found that to be very refreshing.
04:38And it does. It feels like baseball as a whole.
04:41I think that the writers are obsessed with one word.
04:44And it's analytics. It's driving me.
04:46Yeah, I know. I knew where you're going with that one.
04:48I was just going to say I was going to recall where he goes.
04:51Analytics are here and they're here to stay.
04:53And it will be a mistake to say that you're not going to use all that information.
04:56But analytics have been around forever.
04:58Like we've got to stop with this analytics like it's some buzzword.
05:02It's dry. It drives me insane.
05:03It's just like a quarterback.
05:05It's just it's like system quarterback.
05:07Aaron Rodgers, look, Aaron Rodgers could be cuckoo at times, right?
05:10But he was on a Pat Dachoff show yesterday saying we're all system
05:13quarterbacks. It was like, what are you talking about?
05:15What are people talking about?
05:16You know, I've been yelling about that for years.
05:18Game managers say, well, that's what the quarterback's job is supposed to be.
05:22And when it comes to analytics, of course, you're going to use data.
05:25If a guy in his last seven games is batting 033 and he's one for 37.
05:30Well, guess what? OK, we could piss in this guy.
05:32He can't hit the fastball inside.
05:34That's the analytic data point.
05:36Exactly. We're trying to make these things so damn complicated.
05:38That's my point. Oh, my God.
05:40It's driving me insane.
05:42And I get out the next time we have Kalakami on.
05:44I'm going to ask him, what do you mean?
05:46What analytics are you talking about?
05:47Like, what do you mean?
05:49What do you mean when a guy faces a lefty on the road, on turf?
05:52Day games, night games.
05:54That's an interview that I'm just going to say, hey, Tim,
05:56come here to run a guess why?
05:58And I'm just going to turn off my bike.
05:59No, and I liked him.
06:00He's a very he's a very good journalist,
06:03but he throws that word around in baseball and I don't think he understands
06:07what it means.
06:08Do you mean WRC plus?
06:09Because that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
06:11How about Babbitt? His batting average or balls in play?
06:14Like, OK, like if you're going to say the buzzword analytics, my retort back to you
06:19is and I'm not trying to be a jerk.
06:21Which ones are you referring to?
06:23Slugging, OPS, batting average, you know, me against lefties.
06:27Like what? Third time through the lineup.
06:29What are you describing?
06:31Like and it's just it's driving me crazy.
06:34Analytics is used in every sport, every sport, every sport.
06:37You got to use you got to use trends like we talk football, right?
06:40OK, we know this team on third down struggles.
06:42OK, we know this team doesn't like to run to the left side of the line of scrimmage.
06:46Yes, we know this team doesn't like to run up the middle.
06:48We know this team doesn't want to do.
06:49They've always been at the high school levels,
06:53the juco levels, the college levels.
06:56Analytics are everywhere, but we all use data, but we use it like this buzzword.
07:01Like, oh, we're bucking the trend.
07:03Exactly. We're in the next gen.
07:05We're going to be like, no, stop.
07:07You know what analytics can't do?
07:08Make you lay off the three, two slider in the dirt. Right.
07:11You know what analytics can't do?
07:12Teach you how to get a ground ball.
07:14You can be in perfect position and still booted.
07:16How many times was Luciano right where he needed to be based off of,
07:20you know, the little sheet on his arm, telling him where to stand.
07:23And he booted it right off his heel.
07:24Yeah, right. You still have to execute.
07:26So you bring up like all the old school players.
07:28Shane Battier had a great one.
07:29He was like, I knew if Kobe had to take more than one dribble to his left,
07:34his shooting percentage went down like whatever, two percent.
07:36And he was like, so all I was trying to do was make him
07:40make him take two dribbles to the left, not one, just two.
07:43Because if he did one, he got into his rhythm.
07:45Like those are the little things. It's just it's very funny.
07:48I, I get it.
07:49But here's the thing that he said, I thought about analytics.
07:52And this was the part I thought was finally we get some of it.
07:54He goes, the key to it, the key to the analytics is some guys need all of it.
08:01Some guys need none of it.
08:03And some guys need just enough.
08:05Our job as a staff is to know when and how to use them for each player.
08:11And I thought that was the most important thing.
08:13Pete Rose, I know everyone has feelings on him,
08:15but he has a quote that I use to this day and it goes,
08:18some guys need to be kicked in the pants.
08:20Yep. Some guys, I need to put my arm around.
08:23Some guys, I don't say a damn thing to. That's coaching.
08:26And you have to know what kind of person that that person is on the other side
08:30that you're trying to connect to.
08:31And so he said, of course, we're going to use analytics.
08:34But I'm not going to give it to somebody who's like Pablo Sandoval.
08:37Pablo is going to swing at what he swings at.
08:39And I want him to be a natural athlete.
08:41I don't want him knowing all the analytics.
08:43I kind of think him being free and not being in his own dome
08:46is what makes him beautiful.
08:48He doesn't need to think about that.
08:49Maybe that destroyed him. The Boston, another quote from Posey.
08:52A lot of my basic principles are pretty simple.
08:54I want us to be known as a team that's the ultimate prepared team.
08:57One that's fundamentals are held at a really high standard.
09:00Ultimately, this is all about the players.
09:03But basic principles.
09:04But to your point about managing guys differently, it's so true in all levels.
09:08Youth high school I've seen in my whole life.
09:11Some guys, the stars who are kind of knuckleheads.
09:13Hey, you're going to coach them a little differently.
09:15Some guys like me. I need to kick him in the ass.
09:17Hey, stop being so lazy, Pote.
09:19Run, run through the line of scrimmage.
09:21What the hell are you doing?
09:22Like, you know, I can handle that.
09:23But some guys can't.
09:24So to that point, to that point there about the analytics.
09:27Yeah, you don't want to bombard some of these players with all this super data.
09:30I want you to go up there, wait for your pitch, see pitch, hit pitch.
09:34And let's go and get on base and do what you do.
09:37You think Vladdy Guerrero?
09:38I'm just using him as an example.
09:39You think Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
09:41would have benefited from from all those things in his head
09:44or just being Vladdy Guerrero, Jr.?
09:46How about just being Vladimir Guerrero, Sr.?
09:48Oh, excuse me, Sr. I meant Sr.
09:49Yeah, Sr. too. Yeah.
09:51All the favor. Yeah.
09:52But Jr. too.
09:52It goes both ways.
09:53You don't need all that stuff, man.
09:55But that being said, like Joe Panik used to talk about,
09:57like he wanted some of that data.
09:59You know, he wanted to know what the trends were,
10:01so he could kind of adjust his game accordingly.
10:03So I think it's all about balance.
10:05And, you know, Posey having that feel is good.
10:08I just want to see who he hires from here on out.
10:10Yeah, no doubt.
10:11925 Comcast Business Text Line.
10:14I love this before we go to break.
10:16Analytics are like a bikini.
10:18It shows a lot.
10:19But it's not everything.
10:21Interesting. That's for the franchise.
10:23That's it's an interesting one.
10:24I kind of like it.
10:25I kind of I kind of smell what you're cooking up there, 925.
10:27You know, I'm a read.