The Giants 2023 Season…
Well, the 2023 season for the San Francisco Giants has come to an end. If you’re like me, you might be wondering what went wrong and why we couldn’t capitalize on multiple runs of success throughout the season. I think it boils down to a few things. A: the clubhouse. B: player workloads. And C: just the will to win. Let me break it down for you.
As I’m sure most of you know, there have been plenty of comments from players and others within the organization that have said the morale and the “vibe” in the clubhouse is not one of winning culture. Star pitcher Logan Webb was one of the leaders of these comments, outright saying that he’s tired of losing. I think this boils down to one major thing, and that’s the manager. Gabe Kapler, who was recently relieved of his duties in the middle of the final series of the season against the Dodgers, obviously took the brunt of the blame for the years struggles. 2 years removed from a franchise record 107 win season and a manager of the year title, many people wondered if his managerial duties were a fluke. Fast forward 2 years and that question seemed to reign true. An 81-81 season in 2022, and an abysmal 79-83 season in 2023. After last season, myself and many other people wondered how we went from a feared team around the league to one of the laughing stocks around baseball. Well, for starters, the team wasn’t managed in a way that put them in a position to win at the highest level. Every postgame, I would see clips of Kapler trying to push the blame of why the team was sucking onto everyone but himself. When in reality, he was doing to much with the team, and in turn, hurting their chances, and the team morale. As mentioned before, the clubhouse didn’t have that winning mentality. An anonymous player on the Giants said that he couldn’t control a clubhouse that he never had. Thats when I knew it was over for him. Hopefully the next manager knows somewhat of what he’s doing.
The second reason also relates back to Kapler, which is player workloads. Personally, I never was a fan of the every day “platoon” strategy. These guys are major league players, who were brought up on playing every day with their college, and minor league teams. Obviously, you want to have the lineup that gives you the best chances at winning, however I think Kapler took that strategy a little too far. Look at the Dodgers unfortunately. They play their best players every day, and it seems to work out for them, as they’ve won the west 10 out of the last 11 years. The Giants might not have a stacked roster like the Dodgers, but the same philosophy should apply. Play your best players regardless of the “matchup”. Benching, subbing, sending players down and up constantly cannot be good for their confidence. This is why you saw Casey Schmitt’s performance take a dip, he wasn’t getting the chances to play everyday to keep his confidence up. Everyone goes through slumps, that doesn’t mean that they have to get sent down to get things right. I’m sure what was going on roster wise made some sense, but to me, playing your best players regardless of matchup is how you win games, and I don’t think the Giants did that very well this year.
The last point is the will to win. I’ll keep this one short and sweet. This team had no drive to win. Joc Pederson and other players wanted to play cards instead of watch film and be prepared. That’s just unacceptable. I don’t want to keep beating a dead horse, but I think Kapler had something to do with that. If the manager wanted to win, he’d make sure those guys in the clubhouse are fired up and willing to work as hard as they can to get better and learn from their mistakes. I saw the same team all year, one with no fight, drive or will. Aside from a few games early in the season, Giants baseball this year was very flat. As said before, you can’t control a clubhouse you’ve already lost. If Farhan’s goal is to win, land high end players and be competitive, the players have to want it. They didn’t want it, which is very unfortunate.
At the end of the day, we live and learn. The Giants are watching the postsesason from the couch once again, scratching their heads as to why. San Francisco used to be a feared team, and now teams that are constantly in the bottom 5 seem to march right over them. Changes are coming soon, starting with the manager position. Let’s hope we can rally this team next year and bring the orange and black back into the playoffs.
