- 7/2/2025
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00:00Bob, I want to hear this call.
00:01Eric in Walnut Creek.
00:02He's got the whole thing figured out.
00:04Hey, Eric, what'd you wait for so long?
00:07Why are you calling now?
00:10Well, here's the thing.
00:11I've called you guys a number of times, and you always cut me off,
00:14and you write off what I say.
00:16All right, thanks, Eric, for calling.
00:17We appreciate it.
00:18No, I'm kidding.
00:18Go ahead.
00:21Look, this team has, obviously, it doesn't have a spark plug.
00:26They got the wrong guy with Devers.
00:29You need someone like Jerks and Profar.
00:31You need someone like Corey Seager.
00:33You could have looked at the A's and found Rooker was available.
00:36Lawrence Butler was available.
00:38You need speed and clutch hitting.
00:40You don't need a guy that bats 300.
00:42I know everyone's looking for that, but remember when the Giants got Will Clark?
00:46Remember the spark of Will Clark?
00:48Not an all-star, but they need a gamer.
00:50They need someone who's intense.
00:52Look, Profar's not the most likable guy.
00:54That's what I would like on our team.
00:56And then double down on the small ball.
00:58There's nothing wrong with Tyler Fitzgerald.
01:00He's a wonderful bunner.
01:02He's a great base runner.
01:03These bases are bigger.
01:05Double down on that and just there's nothing gluing the team together.
01:10I want speed.
01:11I want strategy with slashing guys over and stealing.
01:14And they'll start winning some of these series, and they'll be back in contention.
01:18I don't want to cut Eric off.
01:23We would never.
01:24Although I really wanted to when he said that Will Clark was not an all-star, which he was
01:29six times.
01:30Will Spark was his name.
01:32Oh, Will Spark.
01:33I just...
01:33And I'm going to say this, and I'm not going to attach a gender to it, because that would
01:38be cool.
01:40Yeah, fireball fans.
01:41But when you talk about a baseball player being a wonderful bunter, it's like saying,
01:47oh yeah, your spouse has a great personality.
01:50That's exactly what that is.
01:51Can I share a quick aside?
01:52Your partner, like, hey, you're dating so-and-so.
01:56I can't believe you brought this up today.
01:57What do you think about them?
02:00Oh boy, they've got a great personality.
02:02I was at a brunch with the lovely Christy today.
02:05Okay.
02:05And some of the folks who've been around on planet Earth for quite some time, who she
02:11has known since childhood, like friends of her parents.
02:14Gotcha.
02:14So this came up.
02:15Can you help me with my phone?
02:16Yeah.
02:17Yeah, exactly.
02:17That generation.
02:18The reason I bring it up is what came up in...
02:22And this works for any couple.
02:24Like, let's say whoever passes away first.
02:26Then you have someone there who, at some point, may start dating again.
02:33And her dad was in this situation years ago because she lost her mom a little bit early.
02:39And so along comes the time when people start calling to you and going, hey, I got someone
02:44for you to meet.
02:45And he would always bristle a little bit when they would say she's really nice.
02:51Right.
02:51Not because he's thinking solely about aesthetics, but the way his mind worked was, well, that's
03:02such an incredibly low bar.
03:04Why would you even be talking to me about this person if they weren't really nice?
03:10If that's all you've got to say about a person, I'm going to need a little bit more.
03:16Like, that should be the baseline.
03:19She's really nice.
03:21Like, of course, I would hope you're not coming to me with, you know, who you need to meet
03:26is this absolute jerk of a human being who lives down the street would be perfect for
03:32you.
03:32Right.
03:32That's the baseline.
03:34Anyway, quick aside.
03:36No, the aside works because when I heard the uninterrupted caller talk about him being
03:42a great bunter, I was thinking about that.
03:44Like, this is really what we're saying about Tyler Fitzgerald.
03:47Like, his marquee trait is that he's a really sturdy bunter.
03:52Okay.
03:53That's great.
03:54And it's nice to have that.
03:55And I disagree with what he's saying about Rafi Devers.
03:58And right now, the small sample is not good.
04:01He is hitting .204 with an OPS of .677, and he's driven in five runs in 14 games.
04:10He's been a negative war player in 14 games.
04:14Guess who else has been a negative war player this year?
04:17And name a giant, and I would say yes.
04:19No.
04:19Keep going.
04:20Yes.
04:21Willie Adamas.
04:22How about Jurekson Profar?
04:24Oh, boy.
04:24Who, by the way, this year has three hits.
04:27He has been to the plate 15 times.
04:29He's been hurt all year.
04:31They just activated him.
04:34Jurekson Profar.
04:36Like, the fact that you called and Jurekson Profar is supposedly the solution to the Giants.
04:41No wonder we keep cutting you off.
04:44I'm sorry.
04:44Well, he got suspended for 80 games for a bad substance.
04:47Exactly.
04:48And he just got reinstated.
04:49Which is why they DFA'd Verdugo, the Braves.
04:54They DFA'd Alex Verdugo.
04:56Now, once upon a time, the key figure in the Mookie Betts trade, DFA'd in the middle of the year.
05:03Right.
05:03You want him?
05:04I mean, sure.
05:06Put a little pressure on Jung Huli.
05:08Can he get two hits in every nine at-bats, which would be a .222 average, which would be like fourth on the team?
05:14No, yes.
05:14He's hitting .233 this year.
05:16Done.
05:17He's been bad this year.
05:18And last year, he was less bad, but he was bad.
05:20But the year before that, he's a good baseball player.
05:23Alex Verdugo.
05:24And I don't know what the solution is for Jung Huli.
05:27I don't know if he needs, quote, pressure put upon him.
05:30Or like you were intimating maybe yesterday or today about, like, the book being out on Jung Huli.
05:37But I think about earlier this year, and I'm looking at game 19.
05:43He goes two for four.
05:44His average was .361.
05:46And I know it's a small sample early in the year, but now he's all the way down to .240, and he hasn't really hit in about six weeks.
05:55So I don't know what the fix is.
05:57If firing a hitting coach, is that going to make him stop, like, uppercutting at every high fastball?
06:04I don't know what the fix is.
06:05Yeah, I don't either.
06:06I don't either.
06:06So, yeah, if you, like, again, I don't want to sound dismissive or crass here.
06:13I really don't.
06:15But I am still, I am 50 years old, and I am waiting for the first night where I go to bed thinking about who the Giants hitting coach is.
06:23That hasn't happened yet my entire life, and I'm a humongous fan.
06:27I don't, like, I just, I don't even know how to connect to that.
06:31I don't know how many, how do all of you assess someone when you don't know the first thing about what they do?
06:38Do you know what I mean?
06:40I might as well, when you call, we should advocate firing of you.
06:45Because I don't know what the hell you do for a living either.
06:48I don't watch anything you do.
06:50Bob Melvin makes decisions that we see, and he's in charge.
06:55The hitting coach, I'm not going to, like, I hope it doesn't sound this way.
06:59I'm not saying that, like, oh, you don't even need a hitting coach, or there's no value in a hitting coach.
07:05I'm just saying what a hitting coach does is all behind the scenes.
07:09And I don't know how big leaguers with $180 million contracts, when they're struggling, I can immediately go, ah, it's the hitting coach's fault.
07:19I just can't do it.
07:20You know, so that's where, like, the premise of all of this today, I don't even know how the hell we can assess what Pat Burrell is doing.
07:29Because I actually firmly believe that Pat Burrell, a hitting coach, could be doing a good job, and the hitters are still struggling.
07:37And vice versa.
07:38The hitting coach could be poor at his job, yet the hitters are finding a hole, with a ground ball with eyes.
07:46You know what I mean?
07:47I mean, this is baseball.
07:48The Giants have sucked out loud for at least two weeks, maybe a little bit more.
07:53But that, like, that doesn't suddenly make all the coaches bad.
07:57And the premise with regard to Bob Melvin, there are plenty of moves that I haven't loved.
08:04I'm with Shasky.
08:05He was all over this this morning.
08:07And even Hunter Pence was saying it on the broadcast.
08:09How does a guy throw eight straight balls at age 23 and nobody goes out to visit?
08:14How?
08:15Why didn't anybody go out there?
08:18Go out there.
08:19Tell the kid to take a deep breath.
08:21He's a professional baseball player.
08:23He can throw a strike.
08:24But obviously, his mind is racing.
08:27The game's getting away from him.
08:28It's a two-to-one ball game.
08:30Chill.
08:31Take a breath.
08:32Let's see if we can maneuver your thought process.
08:35Throw a good pitch.
08:36Instead, no one talked to him.
08:37And somebody golfed the ball into the swimming pool, and now it's four-to-two.
08:41So, that's a mistake.
08:44But that's not a fireable offense.
08:46Bob Melvin has come in and largely, I think, changed the culture of how that clubhouse feels about itself.
08:55And that's his number one job.
08:59And I think he's done a very good job of that.
09:01And if you're feeling like the chemistry of the team is not good, Buster's right.
09:06You should look at him, not Bob.
09:08Buster's the one who came in and changed the ingredients.
09:11He changed the ingredients, but when the ingredients are mostly good, and you could look at the baseball cards and the stats of these players, then they should be doing better.
09:21And so, if they're not doing better, and if the ingredients are good, and then the meal is not tasty, you do have to look at the chef.
09:27And right now, the chef is Bob Melvin, so it's up to him to figure out new ways to combine the chicken and paprika and the kale and whatever else you think that they have in the pantry.
09:38It's up to him to come up with a new recipe when things aren't going well.
09:41No doubt.
09:42But at the same time, that kind of thing, for me, is decided over a long haul.
09:46Agreed.
09:47That's why I cannot think about a manager when a team goes on a losing streak.
09:52I can't even think about it.
09:54They're still sitting here with more wins than losses.
09:56For now, yeah.
09:57Yeah, for now.
09:58I can't think, well, you go 1-7, and now we're firing the manager.
10:02Like, that's not how baseball works.
10:04You're not firing the manager, but maybe you look at changing the menu.
10:07And I don't know if that means, like, taking, you know, Carson out of the rotation or changing up, you know, you had Jung-Hoo Lee Sid.
10:15I don't know what it is, but the way you're going right now, heading into Philadelphia and L.A., you've got to change up something.
10:21He doesn't have a lot of options right now.
10:22That's part of the problem, too.
10:24Farm system is not deep.
10:26Injuries are here.
10:27Infield is totally at bare bones.
10:29Injuries is ...
10:29Injuries is FRED nitristen.
10:30in juries is a person.
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