The Giants once sent away Matt Williams in a trade so famous that it was later named after him. Yet, with all the changes being made to the coaching staff, Andrew Baggarly told Tolbert & Lund on Wednesday afternoon that the Giants could once again see Williams in their uniform in the near future.
“On the hitting side, it’ll be really interesting to see what they do,” Baggarly said. “I’ve sort of wondered, this is just me speculating and I don’t have any hard evidence for this, but I’ve seen Matt Williams around the team a lot, especially in the last month or two of the season. Of course, he’s doing stuff for Comcast (NBC Sports Network), but I wonder if he could be a fit for hitting coach or be on the staff in some capacity. That might be an interesting way to go.”
Williams played the first 10 years of his major league career in San Francisco. Although he went on to play another seven years between the Cleveland Indians and Arizona Diamondbacks, Williams was a four-time All-Star with a .264 batting average during his time in San Francisco, and led the majors with 43 home runs in 1994.
However, the Giants struggled to keep up and shortly after being hired as general manager, Brian Sabean decided to trade Williams after finishing 71-91 in 1996. Although Sabean received heavy backlash for his decision, in the end it proved to be the best decision for the team, as the Giants received future MVP Jeff Kent in the deal.
After his playing days, Williams managed the Washington Nationals from 2014-2015 and went on to serve as the third base coach for the Diamondbacks.
Nonetheless, with the World Series underway, the Giants need to figure out their coaching staff before the offseason officially begins. Last season made it apparent that the Giants have multiple question marks on their roster, and they don’t want coaching decisions taking their attention away from free agency. Whether that means Williams will be hired as hitting coach or not, he remains a viable candidate for the job.
“So I don’t know,” Baggarly said. “I think they’re turning over every rock and going through interviews right now and they’ll like to keep that as close to the chest as they can. I suspect they’ll try to get this done first because you don’t want to be going through this process when everybody hits free agency then obviously you’d like your attention to be there.”
To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and skip to 7:15 for Baggarly on Williams.