Questions about Shohei Otani have been asked since the inauguration ceremony. And he expressed his desire to recruit.
The San Francisco Giants announced on the 26th (Korean time), “Coach Bob Melvin has been appointed as the San Francisco manager.”
San Francisco chose to part ways with coach Gabe Kapler at the end of this season. Coach Kapler, who took charge of San Francisco ahead of the 2020 season, succeeded in advancing to the postseason by winning the Western Division championship in the 2021 season, but ended the fall baseball season by losing in the division series against the LA Dodgers.
Afterwards, Coach Kapler signed a contract extension until the 2024 season. But after that, San Francisco went downhill. The 2022 season ended with 81 wins and 81 losses, 3rd place in the National League West Division and 5th place in the wild card, and this season also failed to reach the postseason stage with 79 wins and 83 losses. In the end, I had to pack my bags with 3 games left.
San Francisco is looking for a coach to lead the team starting next season. Inside the team, it was reported that female assistant coach Alyssa Natkin, third base coach Mark Hallberg, and bench coach Kai Correa were interviewed. However, externally, they also set out to find a suitable person for the position of head coach.
And manager Bob Melvin, who led the San Diego Padres, quickly emerged as a candidate for San Francisco manager. San Diego allowed Coach Melvin to be interviewed, and after meeting with San Francisco, Coach Melvin ended up leading district rival San Francisco.
“It’s incredible to be back where I grew up,” Melvin said 오피가이드 at a press conference. “San Francisco is the Giants and the Giants are San Francisco. No one understands this better than I do.”
According to the American media 'Mercury News', Coach Melvin was asked at a press conference about three candidates who could be recruited ahead of next season. The main characters are Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Oryx Buffaloes), and Blake Snell (San Diego Padres).
"We'll see. They're all good players. We'd like to have them all, but it takes a lot of money financially," Melvin said. "We'll talk about all those players. Hopefully I can influence the signing of those players." "I hope it goes crazy. We'll see how it goes."
Melvin has experience coaching Ichiro Suzuki with the Seattle Mariners, Hideo Nomo with the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers, and Ha-Seong Kim with get more info San Diego.
Regarding the relationship with Korean and Japanese players, Coach Melvin said, "I'm familiar with those countries," and "I even played two opening games in Japan when I was in charge of the Oakland Athletics. I hope it resonates."
San Francisco Giants general manager Pete Putilla./My Daily
Meanwhile, San Francisco is also interested in recruiting Lee Jeong-hoo. At the end of the season, general manager Pete Putilla visited Gocheok Sky Dome to check on Lee Jung-hoo in person. It remains to be seen whether Lee Jeong-hoo, following Kim Ha-seong, can form a relationship with director Melvin.