Giants GM Zack Minasian Addresses 5–8 Start, Offense, and Catcher Debate

Want free checking? That's really free? Free from fees, free overdraft protection, free mobile

banking and free access to ATMs nationwide. That's what you get with free checking from Redwood

Credit Union. We love to help you succeed. Take control of your finances at Redwood Credit

Union. Start today at redwoodcu.org or stop by a local branch. Redwood Credit Union for you,

for free, for all that you love. federally insured by NCUA.

T. Proudly. We look forward to our Thursday, 730, Buster Posey, Tony Vitelo, and Batting Third,

General Manager Zach Menazzi, and the executive show sponsored by Benjamin Moore Paints,

experienced the Benjamin Moore retail difference that are independently owned, authorized retailers

today, or at Benjamin Moore.com. Now Zach, it's always great to talk to you on the huma gas line.

Welcome back to Murphy Marcus. Let's be honest, because we're friends. We've known each other for a

little bit, and can be honest now, how much were you dreading doing this show Monday night,

and how much better do you feel during your show Thursday morning? Good morning.

Morning, Zach. A world, a world of difference. A world of difference. Morning guys.

It is a, it is a results-based business, Zach, right? Oh my goodness. Well, let's start positive.

You know, I mean, we have a bunch of questions about the team, but we were just saying three things

from yesterday's game, jumped out to us. One Tyler Malley, you know, which you got there,

two Tony V. Navigating the bullpen, and three Rafi Devers, being Rafi Devers, as a general manager,

if I threw those three developments yesterday, which one stuck out to you the most?

Oh boy, I think they're all great, and we don't win the game without contributions from each,

but I think looking at Rafi's at that, you know, look, the Homer is kind of the big blow,

and one thing I thought was interesting is he's facing Aaron Nola, long home run to center field,

and then he gets up later in the game against the tough left hander, Jose Alvarado throwing up

in 90s and laces of ball in the center field. So when you see back-to-back, played appearances

like that, it feels like a sign of a lot of good things to come, and you know, he's our big bat

in the middle of the lineup, and him doing damage gives us a much better chance to win day in and day out.

Yeah, Zach, I'd say one of the other positives from yesterday's game, and really the first 11 or so

games of the season, 13 games now, in Luis Alvarado's second base. Now he was over at DHS

yesterday, and he joked about how he wanted to be out on the field, but this far into the season,

what have been your thoughts, the early return on Luis Alvarado's not just what he's doing with the

bat, but what he's provided defensively over at second base as well.

Yeah, he's been great, the other thing, you know, even beyond the offense and defense is the

energy that he plays with. It's infectious, and you know, even just seeing him kind of on the

base pads, getting secondary leads and trying to mess with pictures a little bit. It's been fun

to watch, but he's a tremendous worker. He's been great in our clubhouse. I think he's gone out

there feeling like he has something to prove defensively, three time batting champion. I think

we all know the offensive profile and what he can bring there, but he's really come into this

determined to show the baseball world what he can do at second base. So we felt like going into

this, that his hands and his arm strength would play, and just him continuing to work on angles

that he's taken to the ball to increase his range. And he's worked really hard. Ron Washington

Hector Borg out there every day. And it's been fun to watch and feel like it's something he can

maintain. Zach Manazion is the voice you hear on our Giants executive show on the Uma Guest Line

every of every Thursday we rotate from Buster Posey to Tony Vitello to Zach to Larry Bear and

then Rit Lather Rinse repeat. Okay, let's go a big picture. We just have to couple specific things

for me yesterday. Five and eight in the West, you're in last place. You look up the Rockies,

you just swept the Astros, things are happening. So let's go macro, Zach, you've been around the game

forever since you were a little kidding club houses. And Tyler Malley addressed the elephant in the

room. He said, everyone is, should we say crapping on us? He used a different word. I wondered

your feeling about the big picture of a slow start. Three and eight fans upset. Now five and eight

still not what you totally wanted. But where is the front office in evaluating this five and eight

start to the season? Are you guys a little underwhelmed? What's your attitude?

Um, well, I think, look, nobody likes to lose. Early in the season, late in the season,

one game, 13 games, you know, whatever it, whatever it may be. I think for us in the front

office, and I think our coaching staff and obviously our players, it's just continuing to push

yourself. But I think Tony's talked about a two about having that balance of letting go a little

bit too and not trying to be perfect. And I think we have a lot of players with great natural

ability and letting that take over. So, you know, from an evaluation standpoint, you try not to go

too day by day. I think you'll drive yourself crazy. But you're always trying to look at the big

picture and, you know, is this good enough? Is that good enough? Well, we have to make changes here.

And I think changes with baseball rosters are inevitable. We use as many players now as there's

ever been used in the game. So I don't want to sit here and and be naive to think we're going to

have the same 26 or 27 given the Buto injury all year. And you try and stay nimble and constantly

in evaluation mode. But, but try to balance that that short term look with the sample size that we

have and kind of what you're seeing for the future. Zach, one of the questions I had about the

roster going to the season was the roster construction with the bench. You guys currently do not have any

left handed bat as options late in games. So talk to us about those decisions to build the roster

that way. And do you guys feel like maybe it's maybe limiting the options and possibilities for

Tony Vitelo to have some of those late game management moments because of the lack of options when

it comes to lieutenant bets. Yeah, probably. I mean, I think it'd be foolish to say it doesn't

limit him. I think it's a little bit of a give and take on on what we want to have off the bench.

I think Jared, Oliver, we look at at his speed and and and feel like that can be impactful off the

bench. But, but obviously, you know, those opportunities haven't been there as much as we had hoped.

The first 13 games of the season. So 13 positional players on the roster and, you know, pretty much

eight spots that have been very, very set. So, so not a lot of opportunities to pinch it as we kind

of depend on our guys, but it's all part of referring to to a long season and constantly

evaluating and being open to making changes, whether that's Tony and the staff feeling like,

yeah, there are more pinch hit opportunities, you know, continuing to look at the roster and

how it matches up with the series ahead, you know, the week ahead, whatever it whatever it may be.

So, yeah, to some extent, you know, it probably does limit him, but, but also kind of prioritizing

what we feel like we can use because, you know, you are limited on on the players you have on

the roster. Zach Manazion, addressing questions about the giants. As they take a day off today,

they head to Baltimore tomorrow, love Camden yards, 415 start tomorrow. Landon Roops could be on

the hill for the giants. Okay, so Zach, you and Buster and Jeremy Shelley and the whole crew,

you guys assembled your roster. And certainly, I guess in your whiteboard in Scottsdale, did you not have

13 games in five home runs, worst in baseball or or or 13 games in 26th in baseball and runs scored.

So, how do you in the front office say, man, what do we do about this office?

Yeah, well, to answer your first question, no, I didn't have that down. I mean, I think there's

a lot of power throughout the lineup and feel like we will hit some homers. You know, as far as

why, you know, there's probably a variety of reasons. And I'm not one for making excuses, I think,

as far as going forward, you know, it's still going back to track record. You know,

Willie Adamis is the first giant to hit 30 homers. And I don't know, I feel like it's 80 years,

for as much as I heard about it coming here. So, so there's certainly power with with Willie,

with Ramos, with Chapman. Obviously, Ross, he's one of the premier power hitters in the game.

You know, other players on the roster that that have shown that in flashes. So, you know, just

just kind of feel like it's something that'll turn with the time as as players heat up and

rely on their track record of showing power in the past and feel like it'll come in time.

Want free checking? That's really free free from fees, free overdraft protection,

free mobile banking and free access to ATMs nationwide. That's what you get with free checking

from Redwood Credit Union. We love to help you succeed. Take control of your finances at Redwood

Credit Union. Start today at redwoodcu.org or stop by a local branch. Redwood Credit Union,

for you, for free, for all that you love. federally insured by NCUA.

This isn't your average podcast. This pot is about to be crazy. I don't even know what's

going to happen. This is full send. It's just like a boy's scrap. Join the party. We threw like a

spontaneous party out of nowhere is crazy. And we pulled off a crazy prank. Prinks, parties,

and viral culture at its wildest. Just seeing like the guys that you brought in and like seeing

their different personalities and stuff that's been entertaining, dude. This could be the greatest

content built of all time. The full send podcast. Let's get ready to rumble. Follow and listen

on your favorite platform. Let's do it. Zach Manassian is a voice here this morning. GM

of the San Francisco Giants on the KBR executive show sponsored by Redwood Credit Union,

for you, for community for 75 years. And Zach, take a look at the bullpen. You brought up the

Jose Bouteau injury earlier in this conversation. You guys decided to call a blade toadwell from

triple A. Now we've talked about maybe his future as a starter. So where do you guys see his

season long role? Is it in the bullpen? What are those opportunities? What's the game plan going

for for blade toadwell? Yeah, kind of to be determined. I give blade a lot of credit. He's

he's coming in and and pitched out of the pen. And it's it's been pretty seamless for him to

transition to the role. I don't think he's giving up a run yet. I'm going to knock on wood as I

say that. He's pitched very well. And and that that slider he has is a is a real outpitch. And

and look, we think it can work well in longer stints. But it's certainly shown to work in shorter

stints. And and with us having five starters going day in and day out that we feel like give

us a chance to win and and constantly looking at at how to maximize the bullpen we have. We feel

like he's in a really good spot right now. I give Zach Manazio. It was kind of like the Tyler

Malley. I mean, my gosh, you know, that's a guy who has fans that know a lot about. And his track

record was injury laden. But Bruce Bochie also told you guys, this guy could be

not top of the rotation, but near top of the rotation. And yesterday, he neutralized a very good

lineup. That split finger was great. Mine would be a John Burkett from the early 90s. He kind of

looks like him too. So give us your realistic. Like, what did you guys see from Malley? What are

the analytics show? And what's the prognosis going forward? Yeah. I mean, I think analytically,

when we talked about him in the off season, it was someone who really limits hard contact.

So, you know, maybe not a big strikeout guy, but really a feel for pitching, mixing his pitches,

throwing to different quadrants of the strike zone. And a bit of a game or two, you know,

confident, confident guy. I think the outing before, and second out in a year, he was, he was

pretty disappointed in the results. And he came out yesterday to determine to throw, to throw a

good game. So, it's always great to win really any game, but, you know, a getaway day before a

long trip was, you know, it's huge. And look, we've got a, I think, a great medical staff

led by Dave Graschner and, and feel like Tyler's in a great spot physically right now. And,

and we'll do as best as we can to keep him healthy and, and keep him pitching, because I do think

every time he steps on the mound, our players feel like they got a good chance to win the game.

Zach, we've now seen back-to-back wins with back-to-back shutouts with two different catchers behind

home played. So, I want to ask you about Daniel Susek. And if you could tell our audience,

the back story about how you guys were able to acquire him through the rule five draft and

Minnesota twins were able to select him. You guys made the trade. He comes in. What did you see

in from him in spring training? And what had been your takeaways from the first two games that he's

played in a San Francisco Giant uniform? Yeah, just, just going, going way back. I mean, a lot of these,

a lot of these conversations on players just start way, way, years in before acquiring them. And

our amateur group was on Susek as an amateur player. He was a first-round pick out of Arizona.

Obviously, some giants ties with his brother and believe it or not, some, some brewers ties,

and that we traded for Andrew in the Will Smith Phil Bickford trade. So, some familiarity for me

as well dating back to, geez, that would have been 2015, 2016. So, some history there,

the two people in the office who work very hard to stay on top of everything related to pro

personnel, Hadi Rodd and Dostorum and identified. Susek has a pretty good catching prospect. And

we had some conversations with Oakland actually in the off season about acquiring him. And those

didn't come to fruition. And we were excited when we saw him available in the Rule 5 and

thought it'd be a good opportunity for us to, to try and get another catcher. And really excited

about having Asus Rodriguez, I mean, Patty, Borderline Platinum Gold Glove Defender. But,

you never have enough catching. So, you know, when he was available in the Rule 5, we worked pretty

hard at trying to find some different avenues to move up the draft to acquire him.

Wasn't easy at different times we heard through the grapevine that he was going to get selected

before our pick. So, it felt like we had to trade up to get him. We're fortunate to do so.

And he came in the spring training and I think he really stays within himself at the plate,

has a really good plan, knows what he's trying to do. He's worked very well with Hunter Mence

and defensively very calm, can really throw. And it feels like he's coming into his own here early.

Well, in the front office, do you guys view every day in the major leagues as a dog eat dog world?

In other words, Patrick Bailey is a two-time gold Glover, but Mike Kruco tells us every Monday,

Wednesday and Friday, and the big leagues you're fighting for your job every day. In the front

office, do you guys say to each other, hey man, if Dan Susak wants to take over QB1 as catcher,

let him go. Like, is that, are you guys open to that?

Yeah, I think, you know, something that's been really interesting to me, fortunate to spend

as much time with and around Buster as possible. One thing that he's always told me is,

Boach would always deliver the message that as a player, you can never go about things

as having arrived. And we're talking about a player that is going to go to the hall of fame.

And I think that's kind of how Buster approached it is. He had never arrived. He always wanted to

go out there and prove himself because he wanted to be QB1. And so, yeah, I think we always

need to be open to putting the best roster on the field to win in any given day. I think

Patty Bailey has shown what a great defender he is. And I think we all know how important that is.

And, you know, it's something that we want to be a cornerstone of who we are is playing great

defense. But certainly, the way Sus has performed early on here in the season,

he's warranted more playing time. And, you know, we'll see how that goes. It's obviously a fluid

situation. And, you know, great to have the two catchers. It's such a demanding position

physically. We give mountains of information and data to our catchers for preparing for a game.

And it's demanding to their mind. So, having the two can be a great thing. And I almost look at it

like the dual running back system that we start to see more and more in the NFL, having two catchers

and keeping those guys fresh can be great. So, certainly excited about what Sus has done here early.

And obviously, Patty has a track record of being such an impactful defender. It's great to have

both options. Yeah, Zach, to your point, we all know how valuable Patrick Bailey is defensively

behind home play. But I want to ask you about the ABS system. I know it's a small sample size,

only 13 games of the season. But do you feel like the implementation of the APS system has now

devalued a defensive catcher like Patrick Bailey? I don't think so. You know, I think teams are being

very choosy about when they use it. I think Patty's ability to kind of steal strikes on the edges,

maybe forces teams in decision mode, maybe more so than other catchers. And I think a lot of these

things in baseball. Statistically, it's still a game that's relative to what other players do.

So, you know, I would not, I would push back at devaluing him. And in some essence, I think you

could say it increases the value because he's so good at forcing hitters to make those decisions.

So, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. I don't know if anybody really knows the two

impact just yet. You know, we run every algorithm imaginable to figure that out. But I think

CNN real time and getting a big sample size will tell us a lot. I know we don't have

y'all mornings to discuss. We've seen the last couple ones here. The bullpen has forever been

the number one topic for everyone. We do a came year round table to start this season. We all

said, well, what's going on in the bullpen? So we all wonder. And Marcus and I talked about this

earlier in the show about the way Tony V navigated that game yesterday. We didn't know. Like,

where do you, who do you go to when Mally is time to go? Well, he went to Matt Gage. Okay.

Well, where do you go next? Well, he went to Caleb Killian. Oh, okay. Where do you go next? Well,

he goes to play. So in other words, we're just kind of guessing along. And it seems to change,

matchup by matchup night by night. And I guess yesterday it worked. Yesterday was the ideal. We saw

on Sunday, two one leading the eighth against the match. It didn't work. And we saw on Monday,

most notably in a four, nothing game, four, two lead, it didn't work. And that obviously

changes your season outlook if you win those two games. So it's a long way of saying, Zach,

you guys gave us a wide open bullpen with a lot of question marks. Is that okay? Or do you guys

need to firm that up or do something with your bullpen? Well, it's, it's okay. Only if they

pitch well. And look, there's no hiding behind results. So I think we saw the first couple

series of the year. The bullpen throw really well. A little bit marred by a Jose Buto outing where he

was pitching with basically no blood flow to his hand. So I think that muddies the numbers a

little bit. And then we saw the struggles. And I think even the best bullpen. You have

hops and downs. You know, we're facing the Yankees early in the year and watching David

Bednar throw against us. And just how dominant he can be. And I think back to two years ago,

watching him in Pittsburgh after having been a pretty much rock solid reliever go through

struggles. And then he regains it. So I think with most bullpen, you go through up and down. And

I think we all know it's going to be a lightning rod for speculation because it's not

the proven names of, you know, Wagner, Lidge, Dotael or Herrera, Holland Davis. But we do feel like

there's armed talent there. I don't know if it's going to be a big strikeout bullpen. We'll see

how that evolves. That's one of the things that we feel like Blade Tidwell brings. And I think

when you factor that in, we're going to have to play really, really sound defense behind them.

So, and I do think as a team, we can be one of the better defensive clubs in baseball. And

that's something I think we'll improve upon in all versus what we've seen in the first 13 games.

Zach, you know that we can't let you go without asking a question about Bryce Eldridge.

You guys made the decision to have him start this year down in triple way. He is first home run

of the season last night in Sacramento. So what update can you give us from Bryce Eldridge down in

Sacramento? Yeah, just still some some fine tuning. I think Bryce recognizes it too. You know,

offensively and defensively still feel like his future is extremely bright. Still feel like he

has a chance to be an impactful player on the 2026 Giants. And just just keep working, you know,

keep working and and keep getting better both offensively and defensively. I think he's made a

lot of strides, especially defensively. It's been great to see him get on base at the rate he has

in triple A, you know, here early on. And you know, just continue to challenge him and he's the

type of person and and the type of player that that responds to challenge as well.

All right, Zach. Well, listen, it's always fun to go through. By the way,

Vick Barakotto hit home run last night too. Keeping an eye on him. So did you. Yeah, Gilbert also.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's he's been swinging well. It's been I think we've had organizational

sweeps the last two days. Our minor league teams have gotten off to great starts. Okay. We'll

keep an eye. We could go hours and hours with you. We got to let you go. You got a young kid

and we appreciate you hopping on and hey, like we said at the start, so much better coming on

after two straight straight wins that worked out well. Yeah, I told Tony earlier in the week. I

got KNBR on Thursday. We better win a couple of games here. And he delivered guys. There you go.

Yeah. You guys were our muse. You did the gods were smiling. The gods were smiling. I love it.

Well, listen, have a great week. Are you going on the trip to Baltimore or Cincinnati?

I'm going to meet the team in Cincinnati. Something that we've started to do is have a little

midseason meeting with our amateur scouting group. So we'll get Michael Holmes and his group will kind

of give us a rundown on how things are looking. All things amateur scouting for the draft and

and all these things. They come up on us before we know it. So so it'll be great to to me with that.

Marcus and I you can send Marcus and I the zoom link and we will let chime in. How's that?

Sounds good. Sounds good. You'll get back. Don't call us. We'll call you. All right. All right.

Have a great trip, Zach. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks, Zach. Thanks guys. Thanks guys. Take care.

All right. Blowing up the clock and going along with Zach Manazion on these sports leaders.

Want free checking? That's really free. Free from fees. Free overdraft protection.

Free mobile banking and free access to ATMs nationwide. That's what you get with free checking

from Redwood Credit Union. We love to help you succeed. Take control of your finances at Redwood

Credit Union. Start today at redwoodcu.org or stop by a local branch. Redwood Credit Union for you

for free for all that you love. federally insured by NCUA.

People don't track their budget. You have this slow slipping that happens every month.

To all of a sudden, you go, man, I don't have any money. The reason is now two people go to a

restaurant. The bill is 60 bucks for two. Two guys walking to a restaurant. They start screaming.

They're hilarious. 60 dollars. Stacking Benjamin's. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

Want free checking? That's really free. Free from fees. Free overdraft protection.

Free mobile banking and free access to ATMs nationwide. That's what you get with free checking

from Redwood Credit Union. We love to help you succeed. Take control of your finances at Redwood

Credit Union. Start today at redwoodcu.org or stop by a local branch. Redwood Credit Union

for you for free for all that you love. federally insured by NCUA.