The SF Giants have not officially announced Jayce Tingler as a member of their coaching staff yet, but he is already saying all the right things. He likes the current state of the roster, but recognizes that there is a lot of work to do.
Tingler had spent the past four seasons as the bench coach for the Minnesota Twins. However, the Twins parted ways with veteran manager Rocco Baldelli at the end of the year.
They have filled that role with another veteran manager in Derek Shelton. On Friday, he finalized his coaching staff, with former Giants coach Mark Hallberg being hired as their new bench coach.
A change in managers often leads to sweeping changes to the coaching staff. That opened the door for Tingler to look elsewhere, and reunite with Tony Vitello. They were college teammates at the University of Missouri.
Tingler joined the Foul Territory Podcast and was asked about how the Giants plan to compete with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He hit on all the key points:
“We got real guys around there. It’s [Willy] Adames, and [Matt] Chapman, and [Rafael] Devers. You’re firing out Logan Webb and Robbie Ray…. We know we’ve got a ton of work to do, but we’re excited for the opportunity”
Jayce Tingler
I think Tingler hit on all the key points. He recognizes that the team has a talented core, but that the roster needs some work. Tingler was asked about the Giants in the context of the Dodgers’ success, and it’s easy to try to oversell at that point.
The former San Diego Padres manager did not do that. Instead, he touched on Los Angeles’ success while shifting the focus to the Giants’ roster.
Perhaps, the quote that got the most attention from this bit was “this isn’t a rebuild.” I did not understand why Tingler felt the need to say that without context. They have committed a lot of money into this roster, so if this is a rebuild, they are not doing a good job of it. However, when you listen to the bit, it comes from the standpoint of him believing the Giants already have a good core.
They do have a good core. They need to build around that, and they need the results to start matching the talent. It is a good starting point that Tingler recognizes this.
