Former San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced that the 2019 season would be his last with the club back in February, and he does not appear to be interested in other managerial vacancies for 2020:
Several clubs have reached out to Bruce Bochy about their managerial vacancy, including the #Padres, who offered him a job, but Bochy says will take the year off before deciding whether he wants to return in 2021. He will be a #SFGiants special assistant during the 2020 season.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 18, 2019
The Giants were thought to be sellers leading up to the July deadline, but Bochy helped San Francisco climb back into the Wild Card race when they went 16-3 over the first 19 games of July.
Indeed, the club elected not to trade franchise icon Madison Bumgarner and lockdown closer Will Smith in the hopes that the team would remain in contention. However, the team went 22-32 over the final two months of the season and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year.
Although the Giants were eliminated from the postseason early in September, a number of players speculated that Bochy would consider managing elsewhere (via Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic):
Yes, absolutely, they see Bochy as a candidate to manage again.
“I mean, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t, to tell you the truth,” right-hander Jeff Samardzija said. “Obviously it’s been tough for him to come to the realization that it’s the last time he’s doing some of these things he’s done hundreds of times. The last week will be really tough for him.
“But there’s a lot left in the tank. He enjoys coming to the park every day, and he loves this game so much. It’ll probably come down to how much personal time does he want and how much time off can he handle.”
Bochy is one of the most successful managers in Giants history. He led San Francisco to a trio of titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014, and he is regarded as one of the best veteran skippers in the game.
There might be more gas left in the tank, but Bochy will take the 2020 season off before deciding whether or not he would like to manage again.
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