SF Chronicle’s great beat writer Susan Slusser joins me from Arizona to talk about a fascinating Giants camp. Susan discusses the importance of Bob Melvin’s presence, the clear need for more starting pitching, the shortstop situation and much, much more.
Matt Chapman is a premier 3B with a loud bat that can do damage when he catches his pitch. There are dozens of baseball reasons why he's a great fit for the Giants.
But I think about his relationship with Melvin. I cannot shake the feeling that last year's dispiriting/dysfunctional situation with the Padres perhaps made Melvin appreciate Chapman's clubhouse presence even more. Does Melvin believe that the situation in the Padres dugout wouldn't have gotten so dark with a presence like Chappy? I'd wager yes! Similarly, the 20-20 vision of hindsight suggests that the presence of Buster Posey in 2021 and Evan Longoria in 2022 helped steady the Giants clubhouse in those years when, as reported, Gabe Kapler had a mostly hands-off policy concerning the clubhouse. Now Gabe has been replaced with a completely different manager in Bob Melvin so some of those issues are less likely to be present. But Matt Chapman, Melvin's security blanket, working to keep the clubhouse together, leading by example seems like extra insurance just in case.
Another fascinating chat with Sluss, Rog. If you guys ever do a live session at a bar and charge admission for charity, I'm buying several tickets as I could listen to the two of you talk ball all day. Cheers.
'Slater-Kinney' is the name of an exit off of I-5 in Olympia, Washington. It is tied for my favorite exit name [BTW, who has a 'favorite exit name'? Weird.] in the I-5 corridor, the other being 'Sunnyside-Turner' which I always thought would be a great name for a blues musician.
Matt Chapman is a premier 3B with a loud bat that can do damage when he catches his pitch. There are dozens of baseball reasons why he's a great fit for the Giants.
But I think about his relationship with Melvin. I cannot shake the feeling that last year's dispiriting/dysfunctional situation with the Padres perhaps made Melvin appreciate Chapman's clubhouse presence even more. Does Melvin believe that the situation in the Padres dugout wouldn't have gotten so dark with a presence like Chappy? I'd wager yes! Similarly, the 20-20 vision of hindsight suggests that the presence of Buster Posey in 2021 and Evan Longoria in 2022 helped steady the Giants clubhouse in those years when, as reported, Gabe Kapler had a mostly hands-off policy concerning the clubhouse. Now Gabe has been replaced with a completely different manager in Bob Melvin so some of those issues are less likely to be present. But Matt Chapman, Melvin's security blanket, working to keep the clubhouse together, leading by example seems like extra insurance just in case.
Another fascinating chat with Sluss, Rog. If you guys ever do a live session at a bar and charge admission for charity, I'm buying several tickets as I could listen to the two of you talk ball all day. Cheers.
Slater-Kinney walk-up song for Susan. Well played!
'Slater-Kinney' is the name of an exit off of I-5 in Olympia, Washington. It is tied for my favorite exit name [BTW, who has a 'favorite exit name'? Weird.] in the I-5 corridor, the other being 'Sunnyside-Turner' which I always thought would be a great name for a blues musician.
Indeed, a photo of that exit is on the cover of one of their albums