San Francisco Giants: Four Reasons Bruce Bochy May Be Baseball's Newest Villain

We all know that NL All-Star manager Bruce Bochy heavily favors his own players over some players with other clubs who are arguably more deserving.

I've started to feel a certain disdain for Bruce Bochy. 

If anyone had asked me about manager Bruce Bochy a week before the All-Star rosters were revealed, I would have shown no real ill-will or "hate" for Bochy. So it got me thinking about where all of this sudden change in feeling was coming from. 

It leads me to my four reasons why Bruce Bochy might just become baseball's next villain (much like Tony La Russa has been):

Five Giant Players? You Can't Be Serious...

The Giants have five All-Stars, whether they are eligible to play or not.

They are Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Brian Wilson, Ryan Vogelsong, and Pablo Sandoval.

The only player who was not a Bochy selection was Brian Wilson. He was a player pick and arguably the only Giant that deserved to be an All-Star without question.

Bochy went on to pick Tim Lincecum, who is having a "decent" season by his standards while starting pitchers like Tommy Hanson, Jordan Zimmerman and Jeff Karstens were not picked (or, in the case of Karstens, was one of several replacement players).

Some people will argue against Vogelsong, but I do believe that Bochy made a solid selection for a guy who not only played well enough to be an All-Star but whose journey is inspiring.

My real problem with these selections is the replacement player, Pablo Sandoval. I understand the decision, given the fact that there have been injuries and Aramis Ramirez declined.

The easy choice of remaining third basemen, however, would be Arizona Diamondback Ryan Roberts, who has been clutch and at times a "fire-starter" of sorts for his club.

It also irked me to hear that Bochy's reasoning was highlighted by Pablo's 21-game hit streak, despite him missing roughly two months of the season.

You Needed To Feel Pressured To Add Andrew McCutchen?

A .291 batting average, 14 home runs, 54 runs batted in, .894 on-base plus slugging percentage, 15 stolen bases, and Bochy had this to say about adding Andrew McCutchen to the All-Star team roster: "I got hit fairly hard with McCutchen and was happy to get him on the club."

The fact that public outcry was needed to get Andrew on the roster should speak for itself in terms of fans starting to see Bochy in a negative light from a personality standpoint. 

Bochy and Sabian Want Riggleman in Their Corner

It has been reported by Sports Illustrated that former Nationals manager Jim Riggleman is set to interview for a job in the Giants organization. Brian Sabian and Bruce Bochy called Riggleman to offer Jim his chance to interview.

Why would Bruce Bochy want to go near a former manager that expert after expert, as well as a number of managers, said would almost certainly never work at the major league level again?

In my opinion, he doesn't seem to care about any unwritten baseball code.

It's not to say that Jim wouldn't be qualified for whatever role he is up for (likely a front office advisor), but Bochy supporting the prospect of hiring a man that just quit on his team less than a month ago sounds pretty villainous to me.

Brian Wilson Goes Unchecked

Bruce Bochy has been adamant since arriving in Arizona about Brian Wilson being his closer if the National League is in a position to win this year's All-Star Game.

That in itself is perfectly fine.

The problem I have is the fact that Bochy also made it clear that Wilson is his closer despite pitching in 4 of the last 5 games for the Giants coming into the break. He may have said 3 out of 4 but looking at box scores I have counted 4 of 5 including a blown save against the Mets on Sunday.

You would think that Bochy would be comfortable with the likes of Craig Kimbrel, Joel Hanrahan, or the always-reliable Heath Bell. You would think he'd be looking out for the back end of his bullpen as his team looks to repeat.  

There is also the factor with Wilson where he is allowed to beat up Gatorade coolers and act like a child with what is likely hundreds of thousands of children watching him on ESPN and other sports shows on a daily basis and have no consequences.

Oh, right, winning is more important than ethics. What was I thinking?

Conclusion

In the end, Bruce Bochy is still a world champion and a quality manager, Brian Wilson is clutch and the Giants are still winners.

I'm just speculating that Bruce Bochy might just be the next Tony La Russa. It wouldn't surprise me if Bruce slowly becomes the next villain and one of the more hated managers in Major League Baseball.