San Francisco Giants : Will Bruce Bochy Leave and What It Would Mean

As soon as Terry Francona was ousted in Boston, speculation began about who his replacement would be.  Bruce Bochy's name has been mentioned along with many others as possible successors to Francona, but how realistic would that move be?

Bruce Bochy has one year remaining on his Giants contract but it is widely expected that the popular manager will be extended at some point this offseason.  "Boch" has weathered significant storms in San Francisco since his arrival from San Diego, culminating in winning San Francisco's first ever World Series Championship in 2010.

2011 was not nearly as successful as Bochy's Giants failed to make the postseason.  The Giants suffered major injuries and played over their heads for a big portion of the year, crashing back to reality in a horrible stretch of baseball in August. 

The offense was inept, to say the least and Bochy did what he could to get the most out of the players that he had.  Bochy was not immune to criticism as some of his decisions were questioned throughout the season.

The Giants' skipper was widely criticized for staying with struggling veterans too long, mainly Aubrey Huff.  If a team got points for ground outs to second base, the Giants would have run away with the division and Huff would be the unanimous MVP.  Giants fans who had fallen in love with Huff on the championship drive less than a year earlier now cringed every time Bochy penciled him in to play first base.

Criticism aside, Boch has shown over the past few years that he has a knack for working matchups to his favor and that was never more apparent than in the 2010 postseason when seemingly every move he made worked in the Giants' favor.

Baseball can be a "what have you done for me lately" sport and sometimes even the most successful managers fall out of favor with an organization, especially when that organization is experiencing change over in the ownership group.

Larry Baer will be taking over as the CEO of the San Francisco Giants at the end of 2011.  Baer has been a steady representative of the franchise since the current ownership group took over in 1993.  He has never gone against the grain and has presented a consistent, company line message for all of these years.  He has also never wielded the sort of power that he is about to assume.

I can't imagine that Baer would be looking to make his mark on the team in the manner of letting Bochy leave, but there will be a new president of the team as well as a new majority owner voice who may want the team to move in a new direction.  If that is the case, it is possible that the Giants will enter spring training in February under a new field manager.

The Giants organization has been fairly stable in field leadership since 1993.  Bruce Bochy is just the third Giants manager in that time and Ron Wotus and Dave Righetti have been key members of the coaching staff for all three managers.  The consistency is refreshing for the fan base as all three managers have had their faults, but overall, have led the team in a way that reflects the fan base and the organizational message.

What if the Giants do want to make a change or if Bruce Bochy decides that he wants to leave the west coast where he has played the majority of his career and where his entire managing career has been based?  The Giants would be left to find a new manager who would work well with GM Brian Sabean (who is also entering the final year of his contract) and be able to maintain the momentum that the organization has been building for a couple of years.

Steve Decker, the manager of the Giants' Triple-A affiliate Fresno Grizzlies last year, has long been considered a rising star in the managerial ranks.  But if the team wanted to be safe and maintain a consistent message while rewarding loyalty, they would finally promote long time bench coach Ron Wotus to manager. 

If Bruce Bochy did leave for Boston, it would be interesting to see if the Giants would entertain the idea of bringing Terry Francona in to be the new manager.

In my opinion, all of this will be made a moot point in the coming weeks.  I honestly believe that Bruce Bochy has the complete confidence of the entire ownership group and that of Brian Sabean.  I also believe that Boch does not have the desire to uproot himself and move across the country to take a job such as the one in Boston. 

I expect that the Giants will soon announce that Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean will sign extensions to their current contracts and that they will continue to lead the Giants into the future.