Farhan Zaidi, Ron Wotus' words reverberate following SF Giants team meeting
Prior to the start of the SF Giants homestand, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi led team meeting in the Oracle Park clubhouse. The Giants were coming off a road trip that ended in a five-game losing streak and continued an abysmal stretch of play. The Giants had seemed like a surefire playoff team earlier this season, winning ten games in a row in June. That winning streak was the fourth longest by any team this season. Zaidi reiterated his belief that the players in the clubhouse could still get back to that level of play.
“For a good chunk of time, we were the best team in baseball for a stretch,” Sabol told Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle about Zaidi's message on Friday night. “It’s in there. And we all believe that we can go on a run here and push back in the playoffs.”
Zaidi may seem like an unlikely person to prompt a meeting. However, Giants manager Gabe Kapler was happy to give him a platform in the clubhouse.
"He's really good at speaking from his heart," Kapler said about Zaidi. "He's good at being disarming. He's got a ton of experience in playoff chases. A ton of experience around a lot of different types of clubs and anytime he comes in and speaks from the heart I think it lands really well. I thought it landed well yesterday. As importantly, I thought our players spoke up and had some insightful things to say."
Logan Webb, a leader in the Giants’ clubhouse, let the position players lead the charge when players received an opportunity to speak up.
"It's tough for me to speak up, right?" Webb told reporters on Saturday night. "I play once every five days. I'm not in there grinding like those guys are every single day. We had a lot of veteran players, position players speak up and said a lot of things everyone was already thinking, and they did a great job.”
Webb acknowledged that team meetings always come when teams are on a downward trajectory. Infielder Thairo Estrada had already given a spirited speech that sparked a winning streak back in August. It's no secret that San Francisco needs to turn things around if they want to reach the postseason.
“I feel like when you have team meetings, it's usually things aren't going well. So I kind of wish we didn't have team meetings if that makes sense. But sometimes it's necessary, right? Kind of a kick in the ass just to say, 'Hey, we gotta figure some shit out.'"
Webb also highlighted Giants special assistant Ron Wotus, who spoke up at the meeting as well. Wotus, of course, was a mainstay on the Giants coaching staff for decades before stepping back from his full-time role recently. Still, his voice carried a lot of weight with the Giants ace.
"Wo actually spoke up,” said Webb. “He said, 'You show up every year in spring training to get to this position, right? So why would you get to this position and not try?' Hopefully you don't go into this position and you're like 'You know what? This is fine.' You workout and you get to spring training trying to get back to this position. You work hard for six straight months, seven, eight straight months, honestly it's 12 months to be honest with you because you're working and doing all these things. Why would you get to this position and not give it your best? Give it your all. I think it's a great message, right. Because no matter what happens at the end of the year, we're just going to go right back to the offseason and show up in spring training and we're going to try and get into this position we're in right now. We're in the playoff hunt. We have a chance to do something cool. To do something special. I think that's a cool message to have. Go out there and bust your ass every day. Do your best to win no matter what."
"You're not part of three World Series teams by coincidence. He's got a lot of knowledge. Every time he speaks, you listen."
So far, the SF Giants have responded to the meeting with a wild comeback 9-8 victory on Friday and a blowout 9-1 win on Saturday. They will look to keep the positive momentum going on Sunday, looking to complete a sweep of the Rockies.
