Our annual buffet is about to begin, a baseball feast laden with something for every taste. Have a preference for National League tradition? Or for the designated hitter? For a tried-and-true lineup with favorites you've come to know? Or for a mix-and-match smorgasbord with a different daily offering? Moneyball? Or moneyed ball?

No other baseball market can offer the selection, diversity and range of tastes that the Bay Area does. The A's and Giants are built entirely differently, operating with completely different philosophies.

But, the men who present the daily product - the chefs, to push a tortured analogy a little further - appear to have more similarities than differences.

Bob Melvin and Bruce Bochy are cut from the same managerial apron. Both are among the most respected men in the game: Swap their roles and they probably could do just fine with each other's team. Both are former backup catchers. Both are adept bullpen managers. Both put their players first, keep their business behind closed doors, have easy and accommodating manners, but can be as demanding and tough as anyone in the game.

And both work well with their general managers. The balance of power is decidedly different in those relationships: Bochy has more say in how he uses the players that Brian Sabean provides him; Melvin is expected to execute the game plan that Billy Beane envisions. But, in both cases, the balance of power is shared easily.

Is there a philosophical difference between the two managers?

"You try to manage your team according to the personnel you have," Melvin said. "Your philosophy depends on the type of player you have. There isn't one you adhere to."

Each team operates in different ways, when it comes to how they're shaped, which dictates how the managers do their jobs. The hurdles the A's and Giants encountered this spring illustrate their differences.

Since the franchise moved to San Francisco, the Giants have been a team based primarily on star power and marketing. A team that likes to trot out the same eight players every day, have a set rotation with maybe a little wiggle room in the fifth spot. Bochy, along with Sabean, tends to rely on tried and true players, sometimes to a fault (Aubrey Huff comes to mind). The Giants like to sign their players to long-term deals and turn them into stars. They don't build a lot of team depth into the equation.

So when Marco Scutaro is hobbled for most of the spring and becomes a question mark heading into the season, it's a major problem.

"It's tough, it's why your depth is so important," said Bochy, though most observers would ask, "What depth?"

A few miles away, the A's were dealt a blow when they learned that Jarrod Parker would undergo a second Tommy John surgery and the presumed Opening Night starter would be lost for the season. Devastating to be sure.

Melvin quickly pointed to the team's pitching depth as the savior of the situation. And why not? The Bay Area has witnessed the revolving door with the A's and has learned not to get too invested in any particular player. Before Parker's injury, Melvin talked about depth as his team's greatest asset.

"That's the way we're made up, that's the way we have to be made up," Melvin said. "We don't have the highest payroll. We don't bring in nine position players that play every day and pay them a bunch of money.

"So we try to match up a position. If one guy has a certain strength, we try to identify a guy who has a strength on the other side. We have guys that are versatile. That's the way we do things here."

From the time he took the job in June 2011, only two players remain, Coco Crisp and Daric Barton. Crisp is the closest thing the non-star-system A's have to a proven major-league star. Barton is a long-time Beane favorite, the ultimate patient batter as opposed to a free-swinging player like Pablo Sandoval, who probably would not have a spot on a Beane-constructed team.

For Melvin, managing the A's is far different from his past managerial jobs. When he managed the Mariners, it was more similar to what Bochy does.

"My first year in Seattle, (it) was run the same nine guys out there and identify when a guy needs a rest," Melvin said. "So it's a lot different. My job is to acclimate to the personnel we have, not the other way around."

Melvin thinks that the A's philosophy has benefits other than getting the most bang for the buck. It has helped the team chemistry.

"Everyone is involved, everyone feels like they're contributing, that they belong, that they have a role," he said. "It's not just feeling they're going to sit on the bench for seven or eight days."

The A's and the Giants are very different teams. Not long ago, their differing philosophies extended to the way the manager was viewed. The Giants generally have liked strong managers, who are the team focal point and voice. Beane, famously, dismissed the importance of a manager.

That's not true anymore. Beane has finally figured out that he couldn't hire just any old short-order cook to prepare a fine meal. Now both teams have master chefs. One more reason to give our diverse baseball market five stars.
