It’s safe to say Larry Krueger wasn’t satisfied with what Giants general manager Bobby Evans had to say during the team’s end of season press conference on Tuesday. Evans, who was joined by Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Brian Sabean, CEO Larry Baer and manager Bruce Bochy, fielded questions from reporters about the nightmare season that was, and what the club’s plan is this offseason to hopefully turn things around in 2018.
Evans only touched on specifics, but indicated that the team’s top priority is improving their defense, despite scoring the second fewest runs, having the worst team OPS and the least amount of home runs (by a significant margin) in the major leagues last season. Krueger voiced his displeasure on the Gary & Larry show shortly after, saying that the struggling offense should’ve been addressed last offseason, and that Evans is continuing to act as if he’s in denial about the club’s biggest problem.
“This is what happens,” Krueger began. “They suffer through an ugly offensive year and then they delude themselves into thinking — they had a horrendous offense last year — but they deluded themselves because they had a hot month at the end offensively, and they went into the postseason saying ‘if we just get a reliever we’re set.’ Well they were delusional. They got their reliever, they even got another reliever in Sam Dyson who pitched well, and their bullpen was better, and they still lost almost 100 games, and finished 40 games behind the Dodgers.”
The Giants finished 19th in runs scored, 20th in team OPS and 28th in home runs in 2016, but didn’t make any changes to the offense in the offseason, instead signing closer Mark Melancon to a four-year, $62 million deal. Their decision not to sign another everyday player quickly proved to be a glaring mistake.
“They’ve got to score four runs (per game), they’ve got to improve the offense,” Krueger continued. “(Bobby) Evans at one point said ‘we’re a pitching and defense team.’ You’re a really, really, really bad team. So whatever you are, you may want to change that mindset because it ain’t working, and your window is closed on your championship core. As far as the payroll goes, fans always want to see the team spend more, but to me, you should spend intelligently. If you have a Hall of Fame core and they are getting close towards the end, then maybe you spend a little bit more. If those guys then retire, maybe you dial it back a little bit and spend a little less.
“I heard a lot of the same. You know, ‘no stone will go unturned. We’re gonna explore every avenue possible,’ but when you push (Bobby) Evans even just a little bit, he gets right off the obvious power shortage, and gets into more BS dialogue about pitching and defense.”
One thing is for certain: With the Dodgers, Rockies and Diamondbacks all making the playoffs this year, the Giants will have to add at least one big name bat if they hope to be competitive next season, no matter how much the defense improves.