Giants see Bochy as lock for Hall of Fame

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Bruce Bochy isn't sure what his next step will be after he retires from managing the Giants at the end of the season, but it's safe to assume that a trip to Cooperstown is in his near future.
"To me, he's a lock," Giants president and CEO Larry Baer said Monday. "The city of San Francisco is very proud of him, and as we go through the season we will obviously have tributes. But I think the ultimate tribute will be Cooperstown. To us, it's a no-brainer."
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As he prepares to enter his 25th season as a manager and his 13th with the Giants, Bochy's Hall of Fame credentials certainly appear to be in order. He is one of only 10 managers to win three World Series championships. The other nine already have plaques in Cooperstown.
Bochy, 63, currently ranks 11th all-time among managers with 1,926 career wins, and he's just 82 shy of tying Hall of Famer Leo Durocher for 10th place. In an era of frequent managerial turnover, Bochy has been one of the few constants. He will become only the 11th skipper to manage 25 seasons in the Majors and the fifth to do so in consecutive fashion.
"That's a pretty fast treadmill," said executive vice president Brian Sabean, who hired Bochy away from the Padres in October 2006. "Just to do it for 25 years, consecutively, is pretty amazing."

Bochy will have the opportunity to reach yet another impressive milestone this year. The Giants will need to win 74 games for Bochy to accrue 2,000 career regular-season victories. All 10 managers to reach that threshold now reside in the Hall of Fame.
With a 1,926-1,944 career record as a manager, Bochy would need the Giants to go 90-72 in 2019 to pull him up to .500. While the Giants are heading into the season with low expectations, many players now plan to use Bochy's impending retirement as extra motivation to ensure that his final year at the helm is a special one.
"Just the way he was talking to us today, you felt that we've got to make sure we do our part," left-hander Derek Holland said. "He's been doing a lot for us, getting us prepared, getting us ready for the season. Now it's up to us to really make things happen. What's even crazier is nobody is expecting us to do anything. That makes the story that much better."