You might think that a 107-win season would be enough of a proof of concept for Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler’s baseball philosophy, but not everyone has bought in.
The fans seem frustrated, and not just because the team is hovering around .500 before the All-Star break. San Francisco’s desire to platoon consistently is only popular when the team wins. When they don’t you hear loud complaints asking why All-Star Joc Pederson isn’t in the starting lineup or why Brandon Belt is being pinch hit in a three-hit game.
Though there are other variables, fan frustration seems to be affecting butts in the seats, with the Giants currently sitting at 13th in overall attendance after the greatest regular season in franchise history.
KNBR’s Marty Lurie sees a disconnect between the fanbase and the organization’s philosophy.
“You don’t sit around saying ‘Boy I can’t wait ’till the fifth inning so Slater can have an at bat! And Yastrzemski will sit down,’” Lurie said on KNBR Wednesday. “You know, you sit there saying ‘I can’t wait until Bonds comes up in the fifth inning to see if he’ll knock one out. I can’t wait ’till Jason Schmidt gets the seventh inning to see if he’s going to strike out 14.’
“Yeah there is a disconnect in that way and the way they play the game, because not everyone is playing Strat-O-Matic when they come to the ballpark. You like to see some consistency. And now the games are exciting, but you like to know if your guy is gonna be up or if your guy is gonna pitch six or seven innings.
“Look, the TV ratings and the radio ratings are great, but it’s a time that they have to take a hard look at it, because the attendance is down a little bit. It’s a little like Candlestick now. You get a great weekend crowd but during the week it’s not so good.”
Lurie believes another big reason for the attendance issues is a lack of marketable stars on the roster.
“Now, the marketing of the team is starting to take a hit a little bit right now and now the team has hit a lull and I think they’ve got to realize that they’ve got to get some stars. They’ve got to get some people that have been there before. Some people that have been in the World Series before, that have been in a pennant race before. You just can’t always bring in — you talk about lightning in a bottle — you can’t always do that. But they like to do it and they’ve gotten away with it.”
With all that said Lurie believes the Giants are still a playoff team, and will be able to generate more excitement in the second half if they make a couple moves at the trade deadline.
“But now with this trade deadline coming up, you’ve got to give me a hitter. Give me one guy, a DH, someone that I can count on, that I know is going to be in there. They’re not going to change the way they do it, they’re going to platoon, they’re not going to bring in a new outfielder and sit three people down. And you need a bullpen guy, some bullpen guys who have been there before. And you’ve got to have a closer, you’ve got to name a closer.
“So, they’ve got a lot to do, and the trade deadline is huge for me. I’d like to see a couple of guys who have been there before added to the team.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Murph & Mac weekdays from 6 – 10 a.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.
