Start with the plate discipline numbers. The Giants' walk rate this season sits near the bottom of the NL, which means hitters are expanding the zone, chasing, and getting themselves out. That's partly a personnel problem. It's also a hitting coach problem. When a lineup-wide pattern shows up that consistently, it reflects an approach — or the absence of one.

On the mound, the bullpen's strand rate has been a disaster. Inherited runners are scoring at a clip that suggests the pitching staff isn't being deployed by matchup; it's being deployed by habit or desperation. A 70-plus percent inherited runner scored rate doesn't happen by accident — it happens when the wrong arm is in at the wrong count against the wrong bat, repeatedly.

The front office will tell you this is a transition year, that Farhan Zaidi built for the long haul, that the young pieces are developing. Check the payroll commitments against what's on the field right now. The Giants are spending mid-market money and getting bottom-third results. That's not a rebuild. That's a misallocation.

The community checked out weeks ago — a celebrity sighting at Oracle Park is apparently bigger news than what's happening between the lines right now. Hard to argue with that prioritization. There's not much between the lines worth watching.

This team needs to stop pretending the players are the only ones failing. The coaching staff sets the approach. Right now, the approach isn't working.