Giants fans on Twitter have questions, and Chronicle beat reporter Henry Schulman has answers. Time for the Giants mailbag.

@askidJudy: Since Bruce Bochy will retire at the end of this season, has the front office started to compile a list of possible managers as his replacement?

President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said on the day of the announcement he would develop a list during the season. And trust me, his phone already has blown up with vultures not waiting for Bochy to cut his retirement cake.

The list is not known, other than bench coach Hensley Meulens, but there are clues from whom Zaidi and his former Dodgers boss, Andrew Friedman, interviewed when they had their lone manager hire and selected Dave Roberts.

The other finalists were Gabe Kapler, Bud Black and former Angels outfielder and Nebraska head coach Darin Erstad, who pulled out before a second interview declaring his love for the Huskers.

Former A’s manger Bob Geren also was interviewed then hired as Roberts’ bench coach. Others reportedly interviewed were Kirk Gibson, Dave Martinez (since hired by the Nationals), Ron Roenicke and Tim Wallach.

Kapler and Black are managers now, too. Erstad presumably still bleeds ’Husker Red. Geren is possible, although A’s fans might love that choice — for the Giants.

You can bet all the candidates will be comfortable with metrics and out-of-box thinking. Willingness to work closely with the front office also is a plus.

If Zaidi follows the Kapler road — he was the Dodgers director of player development before the Phillies hired him away — current Dodgers special adviser Raul Ibañez might be considered.

@RobairValentine: I know #letpablopitch has been fun, but if he is the Giants’ second-best tradeable piece, is he unlikely to pitch again, even in a blowout?

If Bochy needs to use Pablo Sandoval on the mound, he will.

The word “tradeable” is loaded. Who’s the most tradeable Giant? Mark Melancon is tradeable, but only if the Giants take on a lot of money. Reyes Moronta would be extremely tradeable given his age and lack of service time.

I presume you’re talking about Madison Bumgarner as the most tradeable piece, but potential Bumgarner deals are fraught with roadblocks, not least his partial no-trade clause. Moreover, the Giants will be under huge pressure to get a massive haul that teams might not want to deal for a rental.

Sandoval might be more tradeable because the return expectations are not as big and he’d cost only the prorated big-league minimum. Any contender who needs a guy who can play the corners, hit like Sandoval and improve their clubhouse would be foolish not call the Giants.

@EvanBott: Have teams ever considered moving up a game start time in the face of weather? I know the fans and TV folks would be very inconvenienced. Is that enough justification to risk not getting in a full game?

It has been done, but mostly for a significant weather event like a hurricane when it’s clear the game cannot be played and there is enough notice to get enough employees to the ballpark to open it.

As we’ve seen, even “100 percent chance of rain” isn’t always that with garden-variety storms. Changing the time when storms are so unpredictable is not practical.

@kingofthewest16: Is Abiatal Avelino going to get a look anytime soon? With Yangervis Solarte gone and seemingly no one to back up Brandon Crawford at short, is he going to be looked at, or is he a September callup?

Avelino is on the 40-man roster, and he opened a lot of eyes with his shortstop play, so we probably will seem him at some point, maybe before September. He is getting the lion’s share of starts at short.

I imagine he would get the call first over Ryan Howard, who was just promoted to Triple-A. Donovan Solano got the call over both of them and can play short.

@pantone165: Any stories about players not having/getting last-minute passports? Do the Giants take care of this for players?

Every so often a player forgets to bring his. Most recently, Ryan Braun had to miss the two-game Brewers-Blue Jays series in Montreal after spring training. His loss. Montreal is a great city and that is a wonderful annual exhibition.

The Giants have a very good executive in charge of travel named Bret Alexander (also in charge of the clubhouse) who told me before the Giants went to Toronto that he pestered every player, almost daily to remember his passport. He said anyone who forgot would get the “glare of shame,” and you don’t want to receive that!

Every player remembered.

I have heard of traveling secretaries who collect passports from the players days before the trip so he can check their names on a list and hold onto them until the flight. I guess Bret did not feel the need to do that.

@Steve5131: Re the Giants’ revolving door. Clearly it’s about lack of talent, but the question is how long does it take to make a real assessment? Seems like a really short string. Why bother bringing them in if they’re not going to get 150 at-bats?

Two things are at play: the desire to win (whether that comes from ownership, the front office or both) and the need to find players better than they have.

They didn’t know if they could make a Kevin Pillar trade when they decided to make Connor Joe and Michael Reed the Opening Day corner outfielders. Just like they didn’t know if Stephen Vogt would be ready to catch in a big-league game in May when they traded for Erik Kratz.

Zaidi admitted to some evaluation misses, but if he feels a player he can get is better than a player he has, he’s going to make a move. Teams hoping to rebuild and win at the same time — which is a novel approach — can’t always afford to provide 150 at-bat tryouts.

It stinks for the players, which is one reason that some in the clubhouse are not happy with Zaidi, but he said he thinks about making the team better every moment of every day, and the Giants hired him trusting his judgment to do just that.

@groom_denise: What about shortstop development in the minors to replace Brandon Crawford. Who do we have with that defense potential?

The Giants’ best shortstop prospect is one of their top overall prospects, Marco Luciano. He is 17 and playing for one of the two Giants entries in the Arizona League.

I can’t say specifically how his defense projects, but here is one clue: When the Giants signed him out of the Dominican for $2.6 million, you did not hear scouts and analysts say the dreaded words, “He might profile better on a corner or in the outfield in the majors.”

Luciano’s manager, Alvaro Espinosa, told Baseball America that Luciano is working hard on his defense.

@struckalex: How you doing, Hank? Everything going good?

Can’t complain. Well, I can, but nobody wants to hear it.

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle.com