Bruce Bochy joins Splash Hit Territory: New manager Tony Vitello and state of current Giants roster

00:00:06
Speaker 1: All right, super special episode of Splash Hit. Today, we have Baseball Royalty join us. Thirty two seasons as a professional manager, twenty eight in the Big league's four World Series champions three with the Giants, and six most wins in Major League history, and the eleventh manager in Major League history to earn two thousand wins. Bruce Bochie joins the show today. Boach Man, thanks for coming on.

00:00:28
Speaker 2: Of course. Of course, I'm just telling you earlier. There's not a whole lot I can do here right now in Nashville, got icy roads, it's below freezing, so we're all staying indoors right now.

00:00:42
Speaker 1: When are you heading the spring training?

00:00:44
Speaker 2: I'm going to go with March, the first part of March. I'll be there the whole month though, so looking forward to it, looking forward to getting to know these players. I've seen the younger players as well. I'll shoot over to watch minor leaguers, to catch up with everybody. Of course, the staff, you know, Tony and I we we've met a couple of times. But yeah, it's gonna be, uh, you know, the exciting time for me. I'm getting back to Bay Area. I'm looking forward to it.

00:01:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's My next question, welcome back. How does it feel to be with the Giants again.

00:01:18
Speaker 2: Oh? It feels great. You see me with the orange. You know, I'm excited. Yeah, And you know what, I didn't know if I was going to, you know, take a year or two off, or if I, you know, would do something like this. But talking to Buster, I just you know, he had mentioned earlier, you know that may I'm I'm a Giant, and I feel like that that's that's my home. It's spent thirteen years there. So I'm excited to you know, just stay in the game. I'm in a good place right now.

00:01:45
Speaker 1: Go.

00:01:45
Speaker 2: I have to make a lot of those decisions that managers have to make this time of year. But it's gonna be uh, you know, exciting for you know, the family too. They're looking forward to it. I have a son that's a firefighter there. I'll get to see him quite a bit. Well, that's cool.

00:02:00
Speaker 1: We're also glad to have you back. Talk about Buster a little bit, like what's your guys relationship, like now, how's it evolved from a player to now president of Baseball Operations And what do you think about the job he's doing so far?

00:02:15
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, of course it's going to change from manager to player to what it is now now he's my boss. But I think more importantly, you know, we're just probably closer friends now. You know, you always have a little distance as a manager. That just comes natural. I believe this is my second time though, that I've had a player that ended up being my boss with Chris Young they're in Texas and now with Buster. But no, we've been texting, you know when he makes these moves. I get excited about him. I just getting baiter out, fire off a text, just keep up with everything. So no, we and that was a big reason why I wanted to come, because of Buster being there and being the president.

00:03:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we talk about the organization right now. Boach and a lot of Giants fans are watching this and maybe they're not happy with all the signs this offseason, but to me, it's more of a big pitcher thing.

00:03:14
Speaker 2: We have the right people in the right place, you.

00:03:18
Speaker 1: Dusty, Buster, guys that have won championships before, and maybe you could just talk about the direction the organization is heading and your feelings about that.

00:03:27
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, first of all, I think they have a really good foundation. I mean, you look at the lineup, I think it's a team that's going to put runs on the board this year. You know, you don't have Devors for a full year. You know, you had a couple of guys, the three guys that could hit thirty plus home runs in the lineup. It's I think it's a fairly young lineup, you know, when you're looking at you know, I don't know what Willie is probably thirty years old, and Endeavors is around in that area. So but anyway, I think they've added some important pieces to the lineup, a guy like Bata. I know they wanted to improve the defense. I've always been pitching centric. I've always loved defense, especially in that ballpark. So I like what they've done to the rotation. Uh, you know, as always, it's just it's gonna be a key to keep that rotation healthy because those guys that they're going to throw out there, you start with Webb and Ray and of course Maley, you know Adrian Hauser. Uh, you know, those guys are going to give you a chance to win when when they go out there, and the bullpen always plays a huge part of your season. So we'll see how that goes but they have good arms down there, and uh so I think they're they're adding some nice pieces. Uh and you know, some some good pieces of work with. And as as always, you don't know how the year is going to go. It takes the life of its own. But you know, these guys do what you know we expect them to do. You know, it's gonna be a nice year. It's a tough division, no getting around it. But so I can't tell you what's going to happen from this point to spring or even until the season starts. But I think they've added some nice pieces.

00:05:13
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the bullpen a little bit, like there was nobody better I don't think in the history of the game of managing a bullpen, and when you talk about how important that is in today's game, and maybe what's going on with the giant situation. A lot of times you see managers burn a bullpen out early in the season. They got nothing left. In October, the guys are all gassed, Like, what was your philosophy on how to run a bullpen?

00:05:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Tony asked me that question. That was one of the questions he asked me when we get together here in Nashville, and you know, I like to say there's a secret sauce, but every year is different. You got to adapt to the bullpen that you have. You may have a frontline closer like a Hoffman or Wilson, and then you know, we kind of piece it together when we didn't have that one closer, cause see I did probably the lying share of it, but we had to adjust there with him. And so it's just, you know, hopefully you get the arms that you can get the matchups that you want, Guys that are I call them men, and you know, guys that they're winners because they're coming in with the game on the line, and so you want the type of player that wants to be out there then. And so I think this bullpen has some really good arms. They got some nice lefties and rightings, you know, to get the matchups that they want. Games change a little bit with that three battered minimum, where I had Romo and Lopez and I you know, i'd move those two around quite a bit. But so now they have some good arms and you're getting Folly who has a really nice arm. Hopefully he'll be back I think in May, so he'll make that bullpen even better.

00:06:52
Speaker 1: Bach was just in fantasy camp in Scottsdale and Jeremy I felt had a team. He was one of the coaches. So there was a lot of boat stories.

00:06:58
Speaker 2: Going on in the coach his room.

00:07:01
Speaker 1: I mean, he was telling me about how influential you were on his career.

00:07:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was a lot of fun. He's he's a lot of fun to get on, to have some fun with, and he takes it well. But he was so valuable in that bullpen. You need a guy like that, a guy who can go multiple innings face left. He's some rioting's who's resilient. Uh. You know, I didn't give him a lot of days off. He could handle it. Had it had you know, his ups and downs, like all bullpen guys, but he handled it well. And uh that's the key to a team. That's the key to the player, every individuals you're is being resilient. So, but he just had a great way of about, you know, not making baseball his his sense of significance. You know, he took the game seriously, but he didn't take himself so seriously, and he kept everybody loose down there, and a lot of fun, a lot of and I still you know, we still take all the time. We stay close. Fact, I must see him here a couple of weeks here at this Safari Club.

00:08:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, that relationship you have with all your players, I mean you talk about when you win a world championship that just brings everybody so close together, and you guys have.

00:08:15
Speaker 2: A bond for life.

00:08:15
Speaker 1: I'm sure you stay in touch with a lot of your players.

00:08:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah you do. I mean's face it, I mean you've been there. You're together for one hundred and sixty two all count spring training, over two hundred games. You do become like a family, probably, you know, as years ago. Not I should keep in touch a little bit more. But you know, we have some group techs with all the teams I've been with, so I try to keep track of everybody, and I look forward to the reunions things like that. And like I said, I'm looking forward to just getting back to bear A and seeing a lot of these guys. I talked to Wodas a couple of days ago, just touch base with him, and you know, these guys meant so much to me, Righetti, Wotas, Flannery, and but we do keep in touch.

00:09:03
Speaker 1: You talk about all the teams you managed, and you mentioned Trevor Hoffman, and I played against you guys in nineteen ninety eight and I know you've won four World Series, but that had to be one of the most talented teams you ever managed. I mean there were superstars everywhere on that San Diego Padres nineteen ninety eighteen.

00:09:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really was. You know, it's probably one of my biggest disappointments that we didn't win the World Series because we were talented. I remember going to spring training and thinking, this team's going to do something special. I mean we, as I said, we had men all around that field. Came an Eddie vond and Walie Joiner, I mean, Tony Gwynn. These guys were a close knit group too, and we got to the World Series. Of course we ran in a juggernaut Yankees. You know, that's that's the year they had that incredible season, and but it was a special year in that group. The group texts and they all stay close together, and it just shows you how important you know the culture of the chemistry that you create, what the team is and you see why you know that team won or our giant teams, they were very close knit group.

00:10:17
Speaker 1: What would Bruce Bochie after twenty eight seasons and all your accomplishments, and tell a young Bruce Bochi, excuse me, tell a young Bruce Bochie maybe in nineteen ninety five, when you first started managing, with all your experience, what would you tell the rookie manager in nineteen ninety five, Well, ninety.

00:10:36
Speaker 2: Five, I'll tell you what I want. I told myself is to delegate a little bit more. When I first started in ninety five, I did everything. I ran the meetings, you know, talk about how we were going to pitch the hitters, where we were going to play them. And then after a couple of years of that, I said, well this is I'm not going to last long doing everything here. And you know, if you're the smartest guy in the room, then you're in the wrong room. Because you know, these these staff, the staff that you hired at pitching coaches and and uh base coaches. You know, they all all have their expertise, and uh so I would have told myself use those guys. I had Davey Lopes for example, first base, you know, so I let him run to the base run and hey, if you think they can steal it, uh you got something on these pitchers, send them so uh that's where it would have started. Uh. After that, probably uh you know, maybe be a little bit more patient, you know, And I know I would show frustration to doug out and things, and uh, you know, a couple of snaps you feel bad about because a lot of people look at me and they say, ah, you know, he just seems so calm, but don't don't let that bly what's going on underneath? And you know, kicking the buckets and they would have some last one time I put that stuck in the bucket, and you know, it's just it's just uh, you know, it's just something that I probably would have told myself, which I think that's why I you know, the way I end up managing the last three four or five years was just being a little bit more more patient and realized how hard the game is.

00:12:09
Speaker 1: Well, what's your impressions of Tony so far and what's going to be his biggest challenge?

00:12:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, he's very impressive. Man, He's gonna be fine. He's got a great way about him. He's smart, he understands baseball. You know, he's been doing this long time. Yeah, you know, been you know, coaching, wearing different hats, and so he has a great feel for the game. Obviously, the biggest challenge is all the games that you're playing. And I don't think he's ever lost sixty seventy games in a season, so you know, you've got to deal with that, you know. Of course, you know the workload on the players college. You can run him out there every game, but those guys are need the rest, particularly the bullpen. You know that those guys that you got to just keep an eye on. Well, he's got two nice pitching coaches there that will help him. Of course, Tingler, he's managed, he's going to bring that experience, and Washington to be there to help him out, and of course the Dusty and I were there to help. We're there any anything he wants to ask or talk about. You know, we're there for him and we want to help him succeed. I want to see the Giants win another championship. That's that's the biggest reason why I'm here.

00:13:29
Speaker 1: That's awesome Giants fans. I love to hear that. Butach I managed an a ball in San Jose and the game was moving so.

00:13:35
Speaker 2: Fast for me.

00:13:36
Speaker 1: I'm coaching third base I'm putting on signs I got to get a guy up in the bullpen. Is the speed of all that and maybe the speed of the major league game going to be a big challenge for Tony or is it just baseball's Baseball's baseball?

00:13:48
Speaker 2: You know what it could be? You know, again, not ever coaching college, but I'm sure moves were made in the college game too. But you know, the biggest thing is just being prepared, don't be surprised, and so that's what you have to tell yourself, and you do that before the game, so you know you're you're ready for any anything that comes up. And that's uh, you know, that's where a guy like Tingler is going to help out too. H even the pitching coach. Uh, you know, I started relying on coaches more too. Just give me my options, you know. I you know, I did my own thing, but I want to woe to say, Okay, well I'm missing something here. This is what I'm going to do. And Ronnie was great, Rags was great, and so that's that that will be an important part of the game.

00:14:38
Speaker 1: So open lines of communication. You mentioned Tyler Mallee earlier newest Giant pitcher one of the newest Giants pitcher.

00:14:44
Speaker 2: You managed him.

00:14:45
Speaker 1: What can you tell Giants fans about Tyler Malley.

00:14:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love the guy, you know, I was. I was behind this move. Leave me. He was so good before we got hurt key up. We're got to keep this guy. Hell the uh he's a really good competitor. He's like a number one or two when he's on the mound and he's healthy, throwing well, we had you know, Valdi and de gram on that staff, and he was thrown as well, not even a little better than them before his injuries. So he's got he's a four pitch guy. You know. He's hit that riding fastball. He's got great command, he's got a nice split to work with, and he'll mixing the breaking ball and good poy. He's uh just sounds away, getting tougher with men on base, good teammates, a lot of good qualities. Yeah, he's he's he made this better staff when he when he joined us.

00:15:39
Speaker 1: He said, riding fastball, that's awesome. That's old school. Everybody says spin right right now. In the videos I've seen of Tyler Mally, he's throwing like ninety one and ninety two pass guys late in the county, elevates the fastball and it looks like it's playing up to like ninety seven ninety eight.

00:15:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's actually right. And don't look at him, you know, coming in throwing harder than that. You know he'll bump ninety two ninety three. But you know that's he just got you know, that good ride extension all that, It just jumps on them. And uh, he'll use it too. He's got a lot of confidence and uh, but the biggest thing is this command. He can pitch on it. I had all four quadrants as well as anybody.

00:16:19
Speaker 1: All right, switching gears a little bit to the Hall of Fame. What does that mean to you? Getting into the Hall of Fame based on all the hard work you put in, everything you've done in the game of baseball for so many years.

00:16:30
Speaker 2: Well, I'll start with I'm not into Hall of Fame. Uh. Well you know that that.

00:16:35
Speaker 1: That I meant getting into the Hall of Fame?

00:16:37
Speaker 2: What what would that means? You would be a better That's that decision will be made by people. But you know what it's it's just hard to wrap my head around that. You know, I just see the Hall of Fame, you know, for the great players, you know, the benches and and Willie Mays and those guys. Of course, I'm not going in as a player, I get that. Uh, as a manager, it's kind of it dis blows your way when when that comes up. The question comes up to me a lot, and uh it's it's just horror for me again to you know, to think that that's a pulse the possibility, because that's such a high pinnacle that I never even thought about that when I started managing. When I started managing minor leagues, I didn't know if I was going to manage in the major leagues. And now you know, this talk, this Hall of Fame talk has been coming up in the last couple of years, and uh so it is. It's it's very humbling, and we'll see what happens.

00:17:34
Speaker 1: From Spokane to the Hall of Fame. That'd be pretty cool. I saw your first year you were like, I don't know, ten or fifteen games over in Able. What was that like going from I mean I did a too quick boach. I jumped out, retired and then got right into coaching. And I wasn't ready for that transition. I was still taking in deal with the guys jumping into groups at batting practice. What was that transition like for you?

00:17:55
Speaker 2: I loved it. I absolutely loved it. And if I if I was to the minor leagues manager, I would have been fine. Spokane especially was a great way for me to start because of these young kids coming in and you have to deal with so many different things in the minor leagues, as you probably found out, you know, anything from you know, family issues, homesick things like that. So it just teaches you how to deal with the different personalities, you know what, learned how what makes guys tick. You got to look under the hood at all these players and see how you have to adapt to coaching them. So it was just a great experience for me. I loved it. Now you brought up the you know, coaching the minor leagues, you brought up some good things too. You did everything in the minor leagues. You coach third, you had to make the moves, you had to think about the pitching, you had to you know, keep make sure the lineup card was straight in the dugout and all. And and that really helped her pair of me for managing them in the major leagues. Actually it was easier to major leagues when once I was up there as far as the game, because you know, you you don't get a chance to drift mentally as a minor league manager because you get so many different things you got to do, and you might be out in that third base coaching box and so you're trying to communicate your pitching coach whatever. But yeah, that's you know, just a special time my years in the minor leagues. Yeah.

00:19:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, who broke the lamp in the hotel room. You don't have to worry about in the big leagues.

00:19:33
Speaker 2: Stuff like that.

00:19:34
Speaker 1: Felipe gave me some great advice. He was managing the Giants at the time, and he said, Frankie, make sure that your players get there before you. The biggest mistake minor league coaches make is they want to climb that ladder and get to the big leagues as coaches and and and they they lose focus. And he said, make sure your guys get there before you. And when you walk into that major league clubhouse someday, obviously I transition to broadcasting, all those guys will be thankful that you helped them get to the big leagues.

00:20:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd love for Lebay. First of all, I got to start there. You're talking about Hall of Fame. I think this guy should go into Hall of Fame with what he did as a player. What he did is a manager, broke barriers for the Latin players coming from the Dominican. But yeah, we're very close, and he was kind of he was like a mentor to me. I would pick his brain, you know him, He's got that great wisdom, these great sayings, and in fact, in San Francisco, he's in my office all the time. In spring training, he was there every day. And still keep in touch with him. But yeah, the special Man.

00:20:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would be talking to you if it wasn't for him. He was a guy that called me up to the big leagues and he's one of the biggest influences of my life. I'm sure there's a lot of players that feel the same about you. Okay, we'll end on this one A fun one. Your six all time in managerial ejections with eighty nine. Tony's Italian. He's kind of fiery, like we both get that, right, you give it? Tony, any advice about how he answer umpires, I don't. I don't think there's a lot of ways to get ejected now, especially with the ABS coming next year. But like you know, you talked about kicking buckets in the dugout. You were pretty famous for snapping on umpires.

00:21:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right, though, great point. It's gonna be hard for anybody to get thrown well, Bobby Coxon never get approached. But even you know, if you get eighty nine, I mean, that's I mean, it's not crazy, but that's a lot. I don't see that happening now. I mean, we're there's no argument anywhere because you can replay everything. You know, the ABS, that's that's going to change. That was your last chance get thrown out on pitches and if you use them up with shame on you. That's your fault. And and so I don't see guys getting thrown out anymore now, you know, occasionally you have, they'll do it, replay and they'll reverse it, and the manager, you know, still go out there and argue, which I never never did. That never understood it. I did want to. And I take that back. Jonah Hine. They got they got him for blocking the plate against the White Sox. He wasn't even in front of the home plate. They overruled. You know, the blocking the plate deal, but yeah, that's that's pretty much gone. So you know the Billy Martin's and Losorda's and you know those Panela was the best, but those those acts, you know, I think baseball will miss.

00:22:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're sterilizing the game a lot right now. All right, Bach, I'll let you go. Man, Thank you so much for coming on. I really really appreciate the podcast is new, it's just starting out. A lot of Giants fans are paying attention. We're all so happy that you're back in the Orange and Black, and I know you're such a valuable resource to Tony and the whole organization. I look forward to seeing in Scottsdale, Boach.

00:22:43
Speaker 2: Hey, back at you. I look forward to it. See you soon.