Giants must hit, but new pitching coach Curt Young has most difficult challenge on team’s staff

Source: www.knbr.com --- Saturday, November 04, 2017
To whom much is given, much is expected, and that’s especially true in the sport of Baseball. The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Washington Nationals all finished with at least 91 wins this season, and all three teams fired their managers. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series last year and played their way into the NLCS this season, and still, Joe Maddon’s coaching staff has already received a face lift. All four franchises could have counted the 2017 season as a success, but in some form or another, all four elected to shake up their leadership pyramids in an effort to better position their teams moving forward. That’s why it should come as no surprise that after finishing with a 64-98 record, the San Francisco Giants decided to pursue an overhaul of their coaching staff that claimed the likes of pitching coach Dave Righetti, bullpen coach Mark Gardner and third base coach Phil Nevin and forced reassignments of bench coach Ron Wotus and hitting coach Hensley Meulens. Entering 2017, the Giants believed their roster had enough pieces to contend in the National League West, and at the very least, compete for a playoff spot. General manager Bobby Evans committed more than $172 million to San Francisco’s Opening Day roster, and because much was given, much was expected. Simply put, the Giants were a complete and total failure. San Francisco’s most glaring weakness, of course, was its inability to hit. The Giants failed to hit ...

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