San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin speaks with media members in the dugout during spring training at Scottsdale Stadium on Thursday, February 15, 2024 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — When the Giants board a charter flight back to the Bay Area after Saturday's final spring game, the team will look a little different than it did the past four years under coach Gabe Kapler.
We're not talking about adding Blake Snell, Matt Chapman, or Jorge Soler. In addition to more than $300 million in free agency brought in this offseason, the Giants are reinstating the travel day dress code that was absent in Kapler's ultra-lax clubhouse.
Athleisure is over. It has professionalism.
Suits are not required, but sweatshirts are also prohibited.
“We're not bankers. We don't have to wear suits,” said manager Bob Melvin. “But I don't think you want to see a sweatsuit when you get off the plane and check into a nice hotel.”
The revamp has similar motivations to other changes Melvin has implemented this spring, such as lining up on the field for the national anthem to reflect preparation for the first pitch. However, the director was not involved in this. Veteran players held a meeting to set standards for team attire.
“We're a big league team. We always have to look professional,” said Wilmer Flores, one of the players who never loses his fashion sense. “It's nothing new to me. I always wear nice clothes.”
“I think it's good to have some rules and guidelines,” added outfielder Michael Conforto. He was even more surprised that after signing with San Francisco before last season, there were no rules regarding attire on travel days. “I have all these custom suits. I just couldn't wear them.”
As for the Mets, Flores said a full suit and tie is always the norm on the road. As new generations replaced the old guard, the game became more welcoming. This also includes their fashion choices or lack thereof.
By the end of Conforto's tenure in New York, the rules against dress shirts and jeans had been relaxed. But there are still rules, he said.
“It's pretty common around the league for teams to do something when they go on the road,” said Conforto, who opted for a gray sport coat with a plaid pattern. “Maybe we lacked a little bit of consistency. But at the end of the day, I think our failures last year were on the field. Drawing the line from what we weren't doing off the field. Whether or not we can do it, I think it comes down to a lack of preparation and execution.”
Just ask Flores. His attitude towards his work attracts as much attention from his colleagues as his high style. His outfit of choice for his flight home from Arizona was a custom-made gray blazer with a hood, paired with black skinny jeans and black boots.
“Playing well starts on the field,” he said. “How you conduct yourself off the field, what you do when you're not playing. I mean, we're getting paid, so we should have a professional attitude.”
Fashionable Flores appreciates any excuse to raid her closet.
“I don't go to weddings anymore,” he said. “I have a lot of clothes that I want to wear. If I don't wear them during the season, when will I wear them? I think it's nice. I like it.”
Asked which of his teammates it will be the biggest adjustment, Flores looked around the room. He couldn't name just one person. “There’s a lot of guys,” he laughed.
The message Melvin espoused during the first team meeting of camp this year revolved around personal responsibility.
There were three basic rules. Punctuality, playing hard, and a sense of responsibility. The players took it as a natural next step and developed their own style off the field.
“It's very simple,” Conforto said. “There are not many rules, just some very clear rules.
“As for the dress code, we have our own enforcement. Punctuality is important in general: meetings, the national anthem, bus times. …Veterans here, we all do it. We’ll make sure we’re doing what we’re supposed to do, and we’ll work with each other if the veterans aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do.”
Two more pitchers will be cut.
Right-handers Spencer Howard and Blaine Enloe were each reassigned to the minor leagues on Saturday morning, bringing the number of players to 41 for the Giants' three exhibitions against the Athletics and Triple-A River Cats. .
Howard and Enlow were both competing for the last spot in the starting rotation or a big role in the bullpen, but this move leaves Mason Black, Dalton Jeffries, and Landen Loop potentially taking those spots. I arrived.
Howard, 27, started four games and posted a 1.87 ERA, eight strikeouts, five walks, and one hit per batter. Enloe, 25, appeared in four games as a reliever and started one game, pitching three shutout innings against a Dodgers lineup that included Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman. He finished the spring with a 3.27 ERA, 12 strikeouts, two walks, and two hits over 11 innings pitched.
“Starter-wise, Spencer is going to be the next wave for us,” Melvin said. “Enlow was really great. When you look at the needs early in the season, you're actually always going to need a guy who can throw multiple innings out of the bullpen. He's done really well for us.”
Pay attention to
—C joey bart (Hamstring) After missing one at-bat in Friday's split-squad road game with tightness in his right hamstring, he could return to action Sunday in Sacramento. “I think it was more of a drag to tell the truth,” Melvin said. “When I spoke to him this morning, he seemed a little dehydrated yesterday.”
— Similarly, OF austin slater (elbow) is also tentatively scheduled to return to the lineup Sunday. Slater, who was experiencing pain in his surgically repaired right elbow, was scheduled to play DH on Friday, but he sustained a scrape. He only appeared in 12 at-bats this spring and appeared in just two games.
— Scheduled to make his first start against the Reds and Whites at LHP on Sunday blake snell Melvin said there will be at least one more ahead of him before the Giants put him in the rotation. With the usual four days of rest, Snell could make his first start on April 3, the final game of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium.
— RHP jordan hix It begins Sunday against the River Cats. The Giants have not announced their pitching plans for Bay Bridge's two exhibition games.
