Barry Tompkins: Can the board fix the boring Giants?

By the time you read this yarn it could be a moot point.

The professional fate of one Farhan Zaidi may be decided between the time this leaves my computer screen and the time it magically reaches your eyes online or in print.

In which case, I can proudly say, “I told you so.”

The problem is I won’t be able to tell you what I told you because I haven’t figured it out yet.

Let me begin with what I know. Farhan Zaidi is a very smart man. I know that because he graduated from MIT with a degree in Economics, has a graduate degree from Cal and is the proud owner of a Phi Beta Kappa key. As close as I ever got to Phi Beta Kappa was looking it up to see if Kappa had two “p’s.”

Zaidi defines the term “whiz kid”. I trust he’s never met an algorithm he didn’t like. I’m guessing he’d rather see his players wearing propeller hats than batting helmets. Players arrive and depart the team like a game of Whac-A-Mole. He has mastered the art of identifying players who are performing at a sub-par level and bringing them all the way up to par. Par, as in golf, puts you somewhere in the middle of the pack. Or, right where the Giants find themselves.

And that’s the question before the Giants’ powers that be, that needs to be discussed.

Baseball itself has evolved. It’s gone from a game of manager’s intuition and hunch bets, to a game of printouts and statistical analysis. And now it’s swaying ever so much back toward the middle – the best of both. Analytics are here to stay, but the most recent success stories seem to be that they are a tool rather than an etched-in-stone philosophy.

And speaking of philosophies, the San Francisco Giants’ mantra is that they are never in rebuilding mode. They are always in it to win it. That, combined with their “analytics first” conclusion, has made the Giants what they’ve become — a bland, faceless, uninviting version of a team, plus or minus a win or two that could carry them all the way to ordinary.

And that’s a big part of what the team poobahs need to talk about when evaluating a continuing working relationship with Farhan Zaidi.

I’m going to take a wild guess here and suggest that 10 years from now it’ll be a trivia question: “Name three members of the 2024 San Francisco Giants.” I’ll give you a head start: Logan Webb and maybe Matt Chapman. The third is a crap shoot. And if you said Blake Snell, the reply would be, “where did he wind up playing?”

This team is vanilla. It needs some Rocky Road or mint chip. Something a little nutty. Something that makes you take notice. Something enjoyable that the fan doesn’t mind paying for.

It needs a Tim Lincecum, a Panda, a Brandon Belt or a Hunter Pence. It needs life.

The acquisition of Hunter Pence would never have been accomplished by the current Baseball Operations office. The Giants made a July 31 trade for Pence in 2012. They sent their best defensive outfielder, Nate Schierholtz, their No. 2 prospect, catcher Tommy Joseph, and their No. 4 prospect pitcher, Seth Rosin, to the Phillies to get him.  The media that day proclaimed it a “steal” for the Phillies.

In fact, Pence had only an 0.8 WAR (wins against replacement) when he came west. And when he did get here, he hit .219 for the remainder of the season with the Giants. The Giants went on to win the World Series and Pence was key – both on the field and more importantly, in the clubhouse.

Analytics said “no,” don’t make that deal. Analytics couldn’t read character. Analytics was wrong.

And if it’s analytics that is being leaned on to select the team’s first-round draft picks in Farhan’s tenure, then it may be time to buy a new computer. Of the number one picks in Zaidi’s current term, only one has made it to the major leagues, two are all but invisible, and it’s too soon to give a full report card to the other three.

The Giants’ farm system currently ranks  No. 23 out of 30 major league teams. It has three players in the top 100. The highest, Bryce Eldridge – who appears to be the real deal – is currently No. 54.

Moreover, players rarely seem to improve rapidly in the minor league system and are routinely called up to the big club before their time. (See Casey Schmidt, Luis Matos, Keaton Winn, Marco Luciano and even Kyle Harrison). Some, like Heliot Ramos make a quantum leap at the highest level.

Look around the league. When prospects are left to get enough seasoning, the bounce from Triple-A to the big leagues isn’t nearly as treacherous as this team has made it seem.

So, here’s where we stand as the Giants’ brain trust contemplates life with or without Farhan Zaidi.

The baseball team is composed of complimentary players without anyone to compliment.

It may be a fact that C students run the world, but it’s definitely not so when it comes to the collective results of a major league baseball team.

Bob Melvin was stuck in the middle of being a manager who was told he’d be able to make a unilateral baseball decision without consulting a spread sheet, and actually doing so for fear of losing the support of the guy who created the spread sheet.

A minor league system that has half its players playing over their heads due to the fact that the Triple-A team can’t field its own roster because its players are being called up to the big leagues before they’re ready.

What’s wrong with this picture?

So now it’s in the hands of those who sign the checks. Now the board is left with this choice: Buyout or bailout. Do they buy out the remaining guaranteed year of Farhan’s contract? Or do they sit by and watch the bailout of season ticket holders who are just plain fed up with mediocrity?

Hmmmm.

Barry Tompkins is a 40-year network television sportscaster and a San Francisco native.  Email him at barrytompkins1@gmail.com.