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We’re 150 minutes from the trade deadline, but last night, SB Nation sent out the latest FanPulse survey results, so let’s take a look at a moment in history that might not soon exist at 1:01 pm Pacific.
In case it’s unclear from that image, for the second week in a row, voters’ confidence in the team’s direction was up above 80%. Last week, it was 85%, this week it was 84%. Meanwhile, voters’ confidence in Bruce Bochy went from 93% to 95%, his pre-seasons rating.
What does all this mean? The Giants’ winning run has got a lot of people excited, and possibly for reasons beyond the winning itself. They’re doing it with a lot of players who aren’t household names and the roster seems to be a constant work in progress. But for all that programmed instability and roster churn, winning soothes fan anxiety.
This is proving an old point from an old book, Moneyball: fans root for laundry.
In last week’s comments, voter GoodTimer remarked,
When I vote about the direction the Giants are headed, I am not just thinking about this year.
I’m thinking about the long-term direction including next year and beyond. Am I alone in this?
A collection of spare parts working together to create a 17-3 run suggests the front office has some idea of what it’s doing and the ensuing idea that voters are reacting to that perception makes a lot of sense. Will this faith extend to whatever happens today at the trade deadline?
As our own Kevin Cunningham put it:
Whatever Farhan Zaidi does today will color opinions about him for the next few seasons. Good luck dude.
— Kevin J. Cunningham - SF Giants Lunatic (@sflunaticfringe) July 31, 2019