Looking for a steady hand to stabilize their franchise, the San Francisco Giants will hire Bob Melvin, major-league sources confirmed with the Bay Area News Group, poaching the soon-to-be 62-year-old Menlo Park native from the San Diego Padres to become the 17th manager in the club’s West Coast history.
The Athletic was first to report the news, which hasn’t been formally announced by the club. They are expected to hold an introductory news conference Wednesday.
The process has moved quickly since the Padres granted the Giants permission to speak to Melvin last week. According to The Athletic, Melvin, who had one year left on his contract in San Diego, was given assurances that he would be a top candidate upon accepting the interview and did nothing to dissuade the Giants from hiring him in a lightning round of interviews over the past 48 hours.
After firing Gabe Kapler with three games left in the season, the Giants’ search seemed to hinge on San Diego granting permission to speak to Melvin. He was in the opposite dugout for Kapler’s 543rd and final game in San Francisco and had been at the top of their list to replace him ever since.
It’s possible there are details still to be sorted through as one of the game’s top managers departs for a division rival with a year remaining on his contract, charting the same path Bruce Bochy did to great success 17 years ago. The Giants paid no compensation to the Padres then, and it’s possible that San Diego will be satisfied with shedding Melvin’s $4 million salary and blowing up a reportedly toxic situation between him and general manager A.J. Preller.
Melvin arrives with more than 1,500 wins, a .516 career winning percentage, eight playoff appearances and four division titles to his name over a 20-year managerial career spent between Seattle, Arizona, Oakland and San Diego. But the star-studded Padres, loaded with the third-largest payroll in the game, massively underachieved in 2023, and the reported dysfunction between Melvin and Preller apparently proved too much to overcome.
However, San Diego won 14 of its final 16 games to leapfrog the Giants in the standings. And now, Melvin will hop from a roster headlined by Manny Machado, Juan Soto, and Fernando Tatis Jr. to one whose biggest stars are Logan Webb and … Camilo Doval? Thairo Estrada? Wilmer Flores?
It’s not only that the Giants have missed the playoffs in four of their five seasons under Farhan Zaidi’s leadership. In a season where attendance spiked across the league, it stayed flat at the Giants’ waterfront ballpark. Melvin himself may not be a box office draw, but regularly announcing his probable starting pitchers well in advance and maintaining a steadier starting lineup might be.
Moreover, the Giants are expected to be active this offseason to that end, and having a reputable manager such as Melvin at the helm could help alleviate concerns about stepping into a situation where the president of baseball operations is entering a lame-duck year. Zaidi confirmed he is entering the last year of his contract, and Giants ownership will likely be seeking results in 2024 to determine whether to extend him beyond next season.
It remains to be seen what the managerial shakeup means for the Giants’ 13-person coaching staff, the largest in the league. Some of them — bench coach Kai Correa, third base coach Mark Hallberg and assistant Alyssa Nakken — remained well-regarded enough within the organization to interview for the managerial job, while others have been linked to jobs elsewhere. Catching coordinator Craig Albernaz was reportedly a candidate to succeed Terry Francona in Cleveland, while pitching coach Andrew Bailey has been mentioned as a candidate to join Boston’s coaching staff, closer to his Connecticut home.
Melvin could bring some of his coaches from San Diego with him, such as bench coach Ryan Christenson and third base coach Matt Williams, who starred for the Giants. Before landing Melvin, the Giants also interviewed former catchers-turned-coaches Stephen Vogt and Jason Varitek, who could conceivably still join Melvin’s staff, though Vogt is reportedly a “serious candidate” for the Guardians’ job.
Melvin, who turns 62 this week, is the fifth-oldest active manager under contract in the majors, and it’s not known how much longer he intends to continue.
The Giants will be the fifth team he has led and, even including 11 years in Oakland, will be the closest to home.
Born in Palo Alto and raised in Menlo Park, Melvin was a two-sport athlete at Menlo-Atherton High School and went on to play baseball at Cal-Berkeley and Cañada College in Redwood City before turning pro and beginning a 10-year playing major-league playing career. Drafted by the Tigers in 1981, Melvin went on to play for seven teams, including three seasons in San Francisco, where he crossed paths with manager Roger Craig.
Craig, Melvin told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019, “was the first guy I played for who really communicated. He would let you know when you were going to play. He would say, ‘Look, you’re going to play two days from now against this pitcher, and here’s why.’ That resonated with me, and I feel I do that with my players the best I can.”