The San Francisco Giants have won two World Series titles in the past three years, but they do not look like a championship contender this season. A win on Thursday night against the San Diego Padres was only their third in the last 17 games, leaving them with a record of 41-50. Former Giants first baseman JT Snow has an interesting take on where the problems may be stemming from.
Snow, who now works as an assistant to the general manager in San Francisco, worries that the team has gone too mainstream.
“What I see sometimes is the Giants have a great marketing train and these guys are well-marketed and they’re out there in commercials and they’re selling hats and books and we’re seeing them in all kinds of different things,” Snow said, via CSNBayArea.com’s Matt Steinmetz. “But you need to re-focus and baseball comes first. These guys are baseball players, and they’re not media stars.”
More specifically, Snow feels that social media plays a role in distracting players of this generation.
“The blogging, the texting, the tweeting … that stuff wasn’t around when I played, and we were concerned about showing up to the ballpark and playing hard for three hours and giving everything we had – going home and coming back the next day,” he said. “Now there are so many other distractions. There’s so much media, there’s the internet, there’s every channel and talk show.
“You have to say ‘No’ sometimes and you have to remember why you’re there and the reason you’re in the big leagues.”
Snow could be right. We know sites like Twitter can get players into trouble and serve as a distraction, but my guess is the issue with the Giants is more about complacency. It’s hard enough to stay hungry after winning your first World Series ring, let alone doing it again two years later. The Giants may not have as much talent as they had in past years, or they may simply not want it as much.
PS: Chad Gaudin’s recent Las Vegas debacle probably hasn’t helped.
