Tough Ending
And with that, his reign is over. Totally unnecessary to do it with 3 games to go. Everything I have seen and read indicate the players were, for the most part, cool with Kapler. The only reason to bounce him with 3 games left is to scapegoat him. Either that or show that players that you recognize Gabe was terrible and this is a small token of acknowledgment of that. But again, he wasn’t terrible. He was doing the best he could with what he had. Farhan was trying to deflect, trying to save his own skin.
Pathetic.
Don’t get me wrong. I heard Zaidi’s words. He said this was on him. Said he was gonna look at everything. But those were just words. The action was to can a guy for no reason. This could easily have happened a week from now.
Well, today is Gary’s memorial. I will talk to you guys tomorrow.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Best wishes on m the memorial…Farhan shivved him when Kapler was not looking…agreed it could have waited so comes across as a blood letting. The comment from Farhan that that serious in AZ reflected a team not prepared and was a knock about Kapler in Philly. I said then he was a bad hire and how Farhan has a year to prove he wasn’t the bad hire.
Take care today, Craig.
I could understand an owner saying this but a GM? I want to hear a GM say I’m building a championship team. – “We want to have a product that our fans are excited about and that our fans come to the ballpark to see,” Zaidi said. “I recognize that and I think that’s what ownership wants to see.”
Preface by saying again, I have been a supporter of Z since the beginning, but yesterday’s presser was disgusting and pathetic. Z came off looking like a whiny, clueless bitch . . . Yes GH, he “shivved” Kapler; and worse, he twisted the knife so to speak, by firing him 3 games before the season ended. That was pure humiliation and I don’t know how you live that down.
Coupled with the aforementioned, the bigger bitch in all this is Z’s boss, Johnson Jr. This fucking coward could have said, “. . . let’s wait until the season is over and discuss what options we have.” No instead, he went along with this ambush.
I’m disgusted with this organization. See you guys next season. Out.
Yeah it’s depressing trying to follow the Giants with any kind of conviction when that clown Greg Johnson has publicly said :”Are goals as an organization is too:”Break even every year”! They don’t give a shit about winning it’s all about breaking even? I can’t stand Greg Johnson he brings nothing for this franchise but grief, he has no interest in this team just his fucking latest development project behind McCovey Cove to crack a profit early on..
That is not inspiring for fans to hear, and the constant smoke& mirrors lip service approach to adding real talent instead of dumper diving every freaking year just turns my stomach.
Is McCovey’s statue still in storage somewhere?
Was he canceled?
It’s in storage. The re-erection of it on the shore of the cove will require another profitably emotional ceremony.
Today’s immaculate grid #181 is silly easy.
Rarity score to beat is 26…
No way without a SF column or row.
Last night Flores up in the 1st or 2nd… Dodger announcer..” It looks like Kapler is going to wear it (the blame) but look at this team. This guy (Flores) is your horse, your guy, and he is hitting .281 with 22 homers and 57 rbi’s. If this is your best player this team is where it should be.”
I was not a fan of Kapler, but what the announcer said 100% true. Z should have fired himself!
Braves have 8 guys with more RBIs than Mr. Ed.
That’s pretty crazy…
Zed’s public comments about the organization or the future are worthless lies. Johnson Jr doesn’t lie as badly, but he offers only carefully crafted comments that say almost nothing. I mean, wtf does “breaking even” mean to a biz with huge, appreciating assets and a dozen sources of income? It surely doesn’t take into account the steep, steady rise of the franchise’s value.**
Decapitating Kap in public, essentially on the field before the Willie Mac award ceremony, wasn’t an honest statement, either. It was a cynical performance based on some expensive consultants’ conclusion that feeding fan bloodlust with a fake ritual would, in the end, dupe most of us into caring about what happens next, so that we’ll continue to invest our time, money, and emotion in their business. Feel manipulated?
It’s a beautiful game. Let’s hope these assholes don’t finally ruin it completely.
**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_list_of_the_most_valuable_MLB_clubs
I’n in with blade.
I watched about the first 5 minutes of Farhan’s dugout press thing and was astonished.
By how much BS was being flung. He essentially said he could not say anything bad about Kapp’s character or work ethic or comprehensive approach to managing and blah blah. He’s a great guy. But, yeah, I canned him to start the weekend before the end of this lost season as we face our arch rival in meaningless games. WTF?
Yeah, they lost like clueless and bumbling and carping losers down the stretch of the season — but fire him NOW like putting down some injured horse? That is just garbage.
The last time this was done was when they fired Davenport with a few weeks left in the 100 loss season back in ’85 when THAT dumpster fire had reached conflagration proportions.
This can only be seen as a complete CYA move for Farhan and most especially, ownership. It makes me actually feel bad for Kapp. Did they think the fan base would think capping Kapp was a good move? Just the opposite. I would expect this bush league bullshit move from the rudderless, clueless Warriors under Cohan. This comes off as something only an organization in turmoil does.
What manager will come here now, if it even matters for the next few years. One of three.
First, some experienced dude worth a crap who says I’ll help clean up the mess only if you give me a shit ton of dough, massive authority, and 4 years, in case you fire Farhan next season. Second, nobody — unless/until Farhan is fired in this offseason.
Or three, a caretaker nobody who just wants a manager title and a payday and doesn’t give a crap what happens next season or the next and on and on.
Whatever the announcers say or the talking heads say on KNBR, some of whom were calling for Kapp’s head — which I see as a wink from Giants ownership — this is a complete clusterF and embarrassment.
How can we continue to be lifetime fans of this folderol ? …
Yesterday was an interesting day for me.
I officially retired.
I finally tested negative from Covid after 19 days since first positive so that I can leave my quarantine on the bottom floor of my house.
The Giants finally revealed themselves as the bullshit organization I thought its MAGA-dominated ownership had turned it into.
19 days wow! I started testing neg on day 6. Glad to hear you beat it. I still have a low level weez 3 weeks later but otherwise feel fine.
I took Paxlovid because of my age and I’ve got a few health things going on. I definitely think I got an infection rebound from it, which they say happens about 20% of the time or something. I felt better the last couple of days of the 5 day course, but then about 5 days after being done with it, I felt I went backwards in symptoms for a few days and still kept testing positive even as symptoms subsided. Doctor said not unusual to test positive with home tests a couple of weeks after first PCR, and I probably (not assured) was not infectious as my symptoms declined. But, I was taking no chances of giving it to mrs. snarkk, and the younger snarrkette who has already had it twice. Some studies indicate the more times you have it, the more that Long Covid may result…
one thing that’s nice to see: everyone here finally seeing that Farhan is completely 100% FOS. He’s a good numbers guy and can dumpster dive but that’s all he knows. We’re fucked with him at the helm. We should almost root for his hand picked draftees to suck. Relax, I said *almost. But that would at least get him out of here quicker
I wouldn’t be surprised if Miller takes this as a sign to hang up the microphone. He’s a realist, and he seemed missing a lot this season. This team is going nowhere for the next few years. Kruk and Kuip? If I were them, I’d threaten to retire with the thought that they could, unless the threat generates a big time bonus to stay on. If they leave, the fanbase will crater with a losing team in disarray.
The only reason to watch this team next season is that some of these rookies magically figure out how to play as solid major leaguers.
The 3 in 5 is so far in the rear view through the smoke of this dumpster fire that it has almost disappeared…
honestly, I don’t really give a shit about the announcers. Estes is more interesting than all of them because he calls it like it actually is. We need to hit on the kids in the system, several of them, or we are fucked for the next 10 years.
I can’t improve on what everyone has said on today’s blog. I agree, agree, agree. No Kap fan myself but yesterday’s dismissal sophomoric move by Farhan in hopes of throwing bone to disgruntled fan base and deflecting – at least temporarily – justifiable criticism directed at him for inept roster construction. Ownership and front office bear primary responsibility for dysfunctional state of team. As others have said today, it’s very hard to rally around Giants given malaise which hovers over team.
At a Palo Alto bar drinking a margarita before I have to walk over to this thing. Watching the Detroit game, it is WILD how many bugs are flying around this pitcher. Would never happen in SF obviously. I don’t think I saw a bug all summer.
Can’t believe Colorado, after that horrible first quarter, made it a game.
Down big time second half, made it interesting.
UK takes down Florida 33-14.
Weird how SEC/ACC very top heavy and imploding Pac !2 very balanced with lot of ranked teams.
Cal trying hard to win home game.
I’ll miss the pac 12. Even the powerhouses make it interesting.
Reminds me of a 2009 Sept Saturday night Giants game my younger son and I attended. Dodger fans divided their time between cheering the bums winning on the field and cheering phone updates about the Trojans winning down in LA. Dispiriting experience.
When we left, and headed toward the Dugout store to buy some pint sized Giants gear, guards stopped us at the private garage exit so a big black Mercedes could leave. My son recognized Bill Neukom alone in the car, driving. He seemed grim, almost angry. Bet you’ll never see Johnson Jr looking as determined as Neukom looked.
I gotta believe the FO is working hard trying to talk minority owner Posey into being the manager.
Go Brewers. I plan on going to Zepulon NC next year to see the Mudcats play.
It’s about time the U.S. put a man on Zepulon.
Just hope you land there before the Russians…
Go Mudcats! The next town over from Zebulon is Lizard Lick, ya gotta love that.
Well I have Queens.
Lots and lots of em…
Loo, how are you doing with all the flooding? Hope you’re high and dry.
Somehow my dungeon stayed dry.
Thanks for asking, Loco…
A Gabe Kapler statement the other day.. Class Act..
Jotted down some things on my way home from the park yesterday.
Looking forward to the next adventure 🧡🖤
Most statements like these are platitudes.Gonna try this a little differently..
I miss the players,the coaches,all the clubhouse staff,everyone else that I’ve come to know well already,and I’m like 15 minutes off my bike in Levi’s plaza.I may not have been expressive enough in how much I care for everyone in this organization. Every day walking into that clubhouse and watching everyone under that roof get after it in the weight room, music blasting,then fiercely pursuing their jobs,was something special that so few experience. I know I was lucky to be the Manager of the San Francisco Giants..
The high road.
Why not?
Especially if you want to get hired somewhere else…
Insta version of the statement is a lot longer than that. At least twice he mentions how much he’ll miss speeding on the embarcadero on his bicycle to and from his condo in Levi’s Plaza (bottom of telegraph hill). I don’t think his head, bouncing along in the basket, composed the statement during the last ride home. Seems to me he and some assistants spent time on it. But I actually like it. I wish him well. Now, Zed ….
Correa’s not so bad in this moment.
https://x.com/pavlovicnbcs/status/1708271634166276304?s=46&t=k0FDC_rVBvlG86Y-OHTiNQ
This episode kind of lifts the curtain a bit to see a much more dysfunctional operation than perhaps any of us had thought. I know nothing of Greg J, so I have no idea what’s important to him. Winning? You’d think. Maybe image? If it’s image, I could even see this being a case of waiting for the other shoe to drop, along the lines of Greg saying “I approved you firing Kap but I didn’t think you meant before the season is over, you moron, you’re fired!”…. Z made himself look really bad; if Greg thinks (or cares) about it making the organization look bad, Z might not make it to the hot stove season…
The decision to publicly behead Kap this weekend was strategically plotted and approved from above and Zed got the order to go on the radio with company interviewers to toss up some horseshit for the time being. They’re playing biz angles only they have the info to evaluate. Season tickets (I got an email promo for next year just the other day), ads and sponsors (who knows), and maybe things like cable deals or subscribers, and maybe even real estate matters across the cove. Business is complicated because it’s messy not because it’s rocket science.
Whatever angles they’re playing, I can’t shake the feeling this shit-show isn’t over yet….
Has a fan base ever been successful in calling for a sports franchise to be sold to new owners?
The SF franchise is worth almost $4 billion now per Forbes. Can you imagine the capital gains tax that would be due if some of the old time ownership group were forced to sell? Makes John Fisher’s bind in Oakland look light.
Eek!
Giants were a class organization. Maybe now not so much?
Lack of baseball IQ so annoying. Flores up with runners at 1st & 3rd. Estrada try’s to steal second thrown out 3 feet. GRR
Krukow on that ground ball called Wilmer Wilbur. Miller stung Kruk with a Mr Ed ref. Then Krukow couldn’t remember what his name was: He may even have called him Wilmet in his attempt to recap everything that happened.
Good to see that cocksucker make the final out on the bases.
Good to see you using the word cocksucker.
You’re very wholesome in person…
That’s a win.
Bochy wins the AL West division today, onto the post-season.
Giants fire their manager, celebrate keeping Doghairs from 100th win.
Yay…
The rookie heavy LU whips Kershaw 2-1, finishing with a perfect CS throw from Bailey to Luciano. “The future, Mr. Gittes! The future.”
A bummer the games played out like they did. last day of the season had lots of do or die potential, and instead all the spots clinched yesterday. Go Rangers!
Miami win and they are 5th and play Phillys. Lose and play Brewers. Should they lose?
Craw rides off into the sunset today.
Local Pleasanton product.
Great career. Best SS in the history of the SF franchise, and it’s not close.
Vacuum cleaner glove, great range and great arm in his prime.
Not a great hitter, but more than enough with that D, and pretty clutch.
Great memory of that Slam in Pittsburgh in the WildCard.
Hard to argue with 2 Rings.
Thanks Craw…
Is it 100% that he’s gone? Sure looks done.
Wonder if he’ll get or even seek any offers.
Definitely Giants best SS ever but overall career
numbers have some amazing similarities to Aurilia…
https://tinyurl.com/24n59je6
He’s done in SF.
Doubtful he hooks up with somebody else to play a backup.
He’ll be busy. He’s got a 5th kid on the way.
And, he’s got plenty of millions to hang forever in his Paradise Valley digs in Phoenix…
I wonder if anyone will wear #35 again?
Crawford’s defensive greatness at SS needs special stats to measure fully, although everyone who watched him every day knew. I always liked this fangraphs article on him.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/brandon-crawfords-best-defensive-plays-statistically/
I’ve got no interest in Brebbia and both of the Rogers brothers back next season. Seen enough…
Brebbia yes. Rogers bros? Not perfect, but the numbers say they are legit MLB setup men. If we get a lights out 8th inning guy, then Rogers boys in 6th and 7th would be among the best in MLB.
Hats off to Craw! last link to the series wins:(
Damn Rangers lost:(
I know it was a sad ending to the year. Hope everyone has a great offseason. Go Niners!
Thanks again Craig to bring the blog back! I hope you had a reflective day and good memories of your fiend Craig!
Well said, dude. Back atcha.