Tim Flannery leaving Giants

According to a post on Tim Flannery's Facebook page, the Giants' third base coach is retiring and ending his career on a high note:

Hey friends.

I thought you should know that today,officially, I have stepped down as the 3rd base coach of the 3 time World Champion San Francisco Giants. I talked to Brian Sabean, and Bruce Bochy this morning ,and shared some tears together. Without getting into this too deep, I just want you to know my family, and I have been talking,and praying over this for many months. The grueling grind, the schedule, the demands have taken a toll, and I feel it is the time to step off the highway and heal. This baseball life is a blessing, but collateral damage comes with it. After winning our 3rd World Title, (and I have no dreams of managing), I just didn't know what else I could give as a 3rd base coach, especially at the level I demand myself to perform at.

Well, this has been a weird 24 hours.

It's possible that a different play here, or a different play there, and we'd remember nothing from this postseason but the weird decisions to send Buster Posey over and over again, as if he would run into his own rule and create a Higgs boson. Instead, we'll remember the years of service, the wild yelling at runners as he ran down the line, before peeling off back to his box like an F-15 breaking away from formation.

We should also remember him as one of the very best third base coaches we'll ever watch. I don't want to get too hyperbolic after surprising news, but I've watched a lot of third base coaches over the years. They're all awful. That is, they will all make you pull your hair out. It's the unfortunate nature of the game. Barry Bonds makes an out 40 percent of the time, and he's a danged legend. If a third base coach gets 10 percent of his runners thrown out, he's fed to a pack of starving, bitey weasels.

Flannery got his runners thrown out less than other third-base coaches. I don't have stats to back that up. Just a hunch when comparing him to the Wendell Kims and Don Zimmers of yore. He was a part of the Giants' World Series runs, an indelible personality that third base coaches never get to be for other franchises. He was a trusted confidante of Bruce Bochy, and I don't think that can be overemphasized. He'll be missed. I don't know who will take his place, but he'll be worse. Just the odds.

Best of luck to Tim Flannery on the next stage of his life. His considerably less hectic life.

Next up, Willie McCovey announcing that he's going to spend more time at O.co Coliseum to honor his A's legacy. That's just how this week has gone.

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