In a badly needed move, The Process is now Vibes

SABR-minded front offices have asked fans to ignore wins and losses to focus on process. Buster Posey is asking us to consider the vibes. That’s a healthier approach!

“Trust the process” is an upper management slogan that has, rightfully, been exposed as sophistry here in the mid-2020s. For the Farhan Zaidi tier of executive, it has been a get out of jail card and while that kind of CYA isn’t going away, it must necessarily evolve, because fans have wised up. Buster Posey looks to be offering a new take on this classic dodge by shifting focus from numbers to vibes.

Previously, the San Francisco Giants had a player cultivation and performance process akin to assembling a gaming PC. Collecting a group of hitters who average out to x percentage of hard hit rate, y ratio of strikeouts to walk with z defensive ability and a pitching staff made up of high spin rate pitches and an average strikeouts to walk ratio of blank is, to me, no different from getting the right video card, RAM, hard disk space and speed.

It has been said many times this offseason: Buster Posey is building a player-focused operation. As Andrew Baggarly noted last week, the Giants are still searching for an identity. There has been a total vibe shift from frantic regression analysis-based decisions to “hey, let’s just go out there and have fun playing baseball.” That means vibes are the process.

And that’s where the power of low expectations comes into play. The Giants don’t have to win a lot to turn around perceptions. Just by seeming different they can change minds. I’m a big believer in organizations taking on the personality of their leader. While the ultimate personality of the Giants resides in Charles Johnson & Larry Baer, the day-to-day supplement to survive that pairing is Buster Posey, and I think that matters a great deal. Fans want to believe and Buster Posey wants fans to believe and he is making that happen by believing in The Power of Baseball.

While winning is the ultimate vibe, that’s not on the table. So, let’s look at the consolation vibes that might, in the aggregate, lead to positive outcomes for 2025 Giants.

Jung Hoo Lee is a vibe

This might’ve gone without saying, but I wanted to make extra sure. I mean, just look at him.

The sport sees it, too.

Swagger

Buster Posey brings a certain kind of swagger from a leadership perspective. Elder Millenial Justin Verlander does, too. But in terms of people/players who have the best chance of helping the Giants succeed on the field, it starts with Willy Adames. I mean, just look at him.

But there’s also the possibility that players like Hayden Birdsong, Kyle Harrison, and Heliot Ramos don’t have setbacks in their development this year and build off of their experiences last year and in that growing confidence they develop a swagger. Fans will follow right along, because it’d be hard not to feel good watching a team create new talent in real time.

That’s the promise of Buster Posey’s premise: by making the best of the situation, we’ll fall in love with what we already have in the fold. That is the top line summary of the championship era: homegrown winners.

Improving over time

I almost called this “learning on the job,” but that — to me, anyway — generates more of a trial and error image in my mind, as we witness growing pains and one step forward-two steps back behavior.

Like I mentioned above, seeing Birdsong and Harrison improve upon last season, improve as this season goes along — watching Grant McCray layoff pitches or see Bryce Eldridge debut… this is positivity built up over time. Free agency always provides that quick hit of dopamine, but it’s the steady build that deepens appreciation.

The Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Padres, Mets, Cubs, and Phillies all have high expectations; the Giants have none

It’s easier to crash with higher expectations than middling ones. The Giants have done “middling” one better — they’ve removed all doubt. This is a step back year. An evaluation year. A save money year. There are no expectations and there are no doubts. There is no anxiety about this year’s Giants team. Whether they win 83 or lose 95 — nobody will care and it won’t indicate any sort of progress or regression in the franchise’s development. It is a free spin. The center of a bingo card.

To the Giants’ credit, they’re not using that as an excuse to be the 2024 Chicago White Sox. They’ve merely shifted the pressure from playoffs to performance and rather than wait and see if the roster hits projections, they’re going to be active in trying to improve the players they already have. The last regime’s goal was to make the postseason every year. The Giants have helped themselves in this new era by not making that a top priority for 2025. Sure, the playoffs could happen, but that’s not the focus. The Process is now Vibes. Trust the Vibes.

Vibes are better, anyway. A team with good vibes can weather storms. A tough series? Eh, they’ll snap out of it. Struggling young players? Nah, they’ll figure it out. Vibes hold us to the present moment, which is a really good thing for mental health, actually. And Vibes require far less research and understanding of all the statistical measures used to make decisions.

So, tomorrow, when the first game is played, remember: vibes are better than outcomes.