Brian Sabean, the long-time top baseball operations executive for the Giants, tells Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (subscription link) that he “will be more involved” at the major-league level during the coming season. There’s no substitute for reading the piece in its entirety, but we’ll cover some of the broad strokes of the story here as well.
Sabean, the organization’s president of baseball operations, had largely turned over regular management of MLB affairs to GM Bobby Evans when both received new titles at the start of the 2015 campaign. While that first campaign ended with a title, the ensuing years — and, in particular, the past season and a half — have fallen well shy of expectations.
According to the report, the new direction was established by the upper echelons of the organization’s leadership. In his comments to Baggarly, Sabean largely seems to confirm what had become apparent to an extent with his increasingly visible role over the offseason: the architect of the Giants’ three World Series rosters is back in the control room. That said, Evans is going to continue in his GM role while “retain[ing] wide authority,” as Baggarly puts it.
Notably, Sabean emphasized collective decisionmaking in his comments. And he seemed to suggest that he’ll be focused in large part on working with manager Bruce Bochy and reestablishing a winning culture that seemed to wane in 2017. Just how things will work out in practicality remains to be seen, but Sabean says he anticipates a smooth transition and certainly has plenty of experience working regularly with this familiar leadership group.
Still, he also left little doubt as to his marching orders:
“I’ll pay respect to how [Evans has] operated the last three years, but my experience has been called upon and ownership and [CEO Larry Baer] want this as an initiative starting with me and we’re going to carry it out as best we can on an everyday basis.”
It will be difficult, no doubt, to suss out the practical impact of the Giants’ tinkering. Still, there’s no denying that the organization has sought a variety of avenues this winter to turn things around after losing 98 games in 2017.
True, the major names remain the same at all levels. Along with Sabean’s move back downstairs, though, the coaching staff underwent a broad overhaul. And the MLB roster now features two notable, highly-respected veterans in Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria who will surely be expected not only to contribute on the field but also to bring some gravitas to the clubhouse.
As he has previously, Sabean expressed satisfaction with the moves the club was able to make while still staying shy of the luxury tax line. Thus far, the organization has also steered clear of denting its ability to put together a compelling draft class this summer, when it holds second overall position as a consolation prize for the dreadful 2017 season.
Whether the team’s bets from this winter work out remain to be seen, of course. McCutchen and Longoria have shown signs of being past their primes. Giving up young talent such as Christian Arroyo could sting. There are benefits to staying beneath the luxury line and maximizing the draft resources, but prioritizing those factors surely also carries the risk of not doing quite enough — particularly with strong competition in the rest of the NL West.
It does seem clear that the team has positioned itself to win if things break right and has done so without fully mortgaging the future. But tough questions could still arise with a tepid start (is a sell-off warranted?) or a solid one (should the team add and go over the luxury tax line?). No matter how it unfolds, Sabean will again have a primary role in the everyday process.
JoeyPankake
Best news I’ve heard all day. Not a single trade Evans made inspired much confidence, although I did like the fallback signings of Samarjadizja and Cueto instead of just one Greinke.
sfg415sfc
Hmmm… I don’t agree about the Shart and Cueto being a good fallback after losing out on Greinke. That’s right… I called him The Shart
Geebs
Then you don’t know much about baseball
bigkempin
Shark has had 2 solid years as a mid rotation arm and will live up to his contract. Cueto had 1 Cy caliber year and a horrible year. 2016 Cueto makes it a good contract, 2017 Cueto makes it a terrible contract. Only time will tell….
liamsfg
A bounceback year for Cueto makes 2017 worth it….
That opt-in.
tpompo
Someone should tell the royals the bad news about their championship.
BlueSkyLA
A winning culture. Does that start with yogurt or yeast?
Not a dig on the Giants, just on the generic corporate speak we seem to hear everywhere now.
sfg415sfc
Blue, nah, they are probably referring to 3 WS Championships since 2010 when they refer to a return to winning culture. You know, where as you can say the Dodgers losing every single post season they appear in as choking culture. Not to dig on the Dodgers. You’re my boy blue
Kenleyfornia74
You can talk about choking and cultures all you want. The gap between the Dodgers and Giants organization is pretty massive at the moment.
Deke
Being honest. As a Giants fan I agree. Tell me one outfielder for SF that would make the starting OF for the Dodgers? Ummm none. Maybe Cutch. LA also has better depth.
Now having said that. When SF won the WS those times they never had the best team on paper.
jekporkins
Yeah, this is true. As a Giants fan I’m incredibly jealous of what the Dodgers have built. I think the Giants have finally seen the light and are rebuilding their minor leagues.
In the end, though, all that effort and spending has gotten the Dodgers zero championships at this point. Do you consider the Buffalo Bills run in the early nineties to be a success even though they never won a Super Bowl?
pustule bosey
It is impressive what the dodgers are now vs what they were but the way they got there is in a lot of ways not fair and only a team like the dodgers or marlins with an investment group rather than an individual owner can. They used the power of money over years to take a terrible team and ride the edges of the rules to buy their way as many advantages as they could whether it is FO personnel, intl spending, comp picks, filling holes by buying bad contracts, etc – When you have an investment group you can spread the losses further and it doesn’t hurt as much so those down years before they started winning and as they built towards the division championships they were able to stick to a plan that not many other teams could.
arc89
The problem is the Giants had a great run and won a couple championships because they have a great manager and things fell their way. Instead of enjoying the great run some fans demand for them to continue it without a rebuild. No team in baseball has been better the last 8 years but age catches up to them. Sabean acts like he will bring them back but it will take lots of luck and players playing above their capable play. So instead of building for another long 5-8 year run they are grasping at straws for maybe 1 or 2 years to sneak into the playoffs.
LADreamin
The Giants are not poor. I don’t think it matters between one person or a group, both teams have a ton of money either way.
gilgunderson
The Giants are also owned by an investment group and not one individual owner, either. That’s how it’s been since Bob Lurie finally got bought out in 1992.
BlueSkyLA
The point being, the entire culture argument is based entirely on what has happened in the past and that predicts nothing about the future. If anyone knew what makes a wining culture, wouldn’t everyone do it? The reality is nobody does know how to capture this squishy concept and those who claim it are really just admitting that they don’t have a clue about what separates winners from losers.
pustule bosey
the giants have a split ownership but the dodgers are owned by a leteral investment group – that is to say any burden of cost is leveraged over thousands of people not a couple- the current dodger ownership is a corpration listed as specializing in :
Investment banking
Capital markets
Investment management
Merchant banking
Wealth management
Insurance
Exchange-traded funds
Unit investment trusts
bastros88
this comment is true If this were 1988
jekporkins
I can see things ‘falling your way” once, but they won three championships in five years. They spanked the Tigers and the Rangers in the World Series. They just had a good team that was built to win playoff games. Why can’t people just admit this and move on?
I don’t think fans were demanding they continue winning at all – most I talk to were hoping for a rebuild. I think the Giants can’t have a losing team in that stadium at this time. They have a massive project across McCovey Cove they are building and need a winning team to bring attention and revenue in for it. They also had a ton of contracts that were not close to being finished and most were untradeable (Cueto, Melancon, Belt, Pence, ironically Span) so they thought they might as well go for it. If and when it fails they can try to trade these pieces, since those listed above can only play better than they did last year.
You know what? It worked. People are excited for the season to start and I’m cautiously optimistic they will make a run for the wild card.
Geebs
Why be a troll for the sake of being a troll?
Daryl125
Both. And about 4-7% ethanol.
OverUnderDone
If only an MLBTR error could make it so…
willthethrill
Count me in to coach First base too!
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
I hope the Giants finish with between 70 and 80 wins every year until 2040
09giants
I wish that the dodgers hadn’t actually won a title since 1988…oh wait, they haven’t
rememberthecoop
And boom goes the dynamite!
bastros88
damn!
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Not a Dodgers fan and I’m right there with you on that one
wiggysf
When was the last time the Padres were good?
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
2010. Let’s see how good the Vagiants are in 2020.
NVSportsCards
IMO, the Giants have an atomic bomb in the form of Madison Bumgarner. If they were to trade him in July or next Winter, he’d net a Herschel Walker-esque return.
By trading Bumgarner and being willing to exceed the Luxury threshold next year, the Giants could be right back in the mix, in 2019. That’s not to say that they are sunk for 2018. I actually think they are fielding a strong team this year. However, in case of emergency, the trade of Bumgarner, alone, could put a whole new team on the field as soon as 2020.
I really think this is the current scenario that Sabean is working with. Win now or trade Bum.
cxcx
Nah Bum will only have a year of control left next winter, look how atomic Machado was (though granted Bum is better.)
If he is dominant this season and it’s this deadline and a bidding war…then yes it’s conceivable.
Adams, Sheffield, Florial, Frazier would make for a nice, juicy package.
thegreatcerealfamine
Hahaha never gonna happen but keep dreaming…
NVSportsCards
Yes, next Winter, he only has 1 year of control, which is why I bring up July..of this year. Now listen, I’m a Giants fan and I don’t like this option at all. But he is realistically the only thing of value the Giants have.
Sure, they can keep trading away the likes of Ramos, Beede, Shaw and Duggar. Trade them one by one for a patch-work of mid/high priced veterans, while Posey, Belt and Crawford’s contracts wind down.
OR, (again, this is just in case everything goes wrong), they can trade ONE man for the equivalent of a whole new team, who will be ready, just as the timing is right for Shaw, Beede, Duggar and Ramos to join the team fulltime.
bronxbombers
Of course it’s a nice package it’s 4 of the top 5 prospects in a top ranked fArm for a year and a half of bum way too much you’re dreaming.
BSPORT
I would send them today for Bum
thegreatcerealfamine
Glad you don’t work for the Yankees!!!
AmericanEducated
Not saying your thinking is wrong.., but bum is the reason they have 3 titles recently.
2014 bum is the world series. And in 2010 as a 20 year old rookie in game 4 WS he pitched 8 innings of shutout ball on the road..
As a Giants fan i choose to live and die with bum. Even though im only in my forties, i could be hit by a bus tomorrow, i want bum on my team because in the postseason he is the best ball player maybe ever… so he must stay a Giant.
NVSportsCards
Yes, he is the reason for 3 rings, but he’s also going to cost $30 million a year to keep him. At some point the Giants have to make a play to field a contending team, without chasing the Dodgers down the $250 million dollar rabbit hole. Bum accomplishes that in one trade.
saintchristafa
It’s trade Bum or end up like Detroit 2016-2022
pustule bosey
Sucks but I agree that it is the smartest move unless something changes radically like either contending this year in a big way or somehow the farm miraculously turns around and he is worth building around
stymeedone
Detroit was in the world series 3 years after being the worst team in baseball, last time. Their farm is in better shape this time.
Bocephus
“I want bum on my team because in the postseason he is the best ball player maybe ever” you do mean for the Giants?
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
You do realize that trading Bum doesn’t mean you can’t re-sign him after 2019, right?
NVSportsCards
The only reason the Giants trade him, is because they come to terms with the fact that, for whatever reason, they aren’t going to commit potentially $180 million to him, long term.
If they trade him, they aren’t resigning him. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be all for it. It’s a shrewd move, but it’s not the type of move that fits the MO of Brian Sabean.
Jean Matrac
As much as I love Bum, he isn’t the reason for the Giant’s 3 WS titles. No one player is. Posey’s MVP season in 2010, was a huge factor. Matt Cain was the ace of the 2012 team, not Bum. Sandoval’s 3 HRs against the Tigers, along with Romo striking out Miguel Cabrera to close out the series were all factors. Just like Kershaw, the greatest pitcher of the generation, hasn’t been able to win it alone for the Dodgers, Bum didn’t win it alone for the Giants.
justin-turner overdrive
No one will take that clubhouse cancer though.
Real funny how Puig gets all the negative press but madbum has been so much more of a negative influence to his team. He doesn’t even fly with his own team!
There’s not a bigger polar opposite of a team player than Madison Bumgarner, and the league lowkey knows it. He might not even be able to get a job when his contract ends, just because he’s not worth the hassle.
aussiegiants53
That is the biggest load of dribble I’ve heard in a long time… you’re saying he might not even be able to get a gig if he goes to FA? How many drinks you have tonight mate??
jdgoat
That’s obviously not true, but he does really seem like a d-bag
saintchristafa
Drop 5 plausible reasons as to how Bum is clubhouse cancer? I’m not a Giants fan, but does you me or anyone have any real idea of what goes on in the clubhouse?
claude raymond
JTO, forget any compliment I’ve ever given you. Compare him to Puig?
Every thing you said was a load of crap and I think you know it.
WarrenSpahn
Bum is god
AmericanEducated
Not saying your thinking is wrong.., but bum is the reason they have 3 titles recently.
2014 bum is the world series. And in 2010 as a 20 year old rookie in game 4 WS he pitched 8 innings of shutout ball on the road..
As a Giants fan i choose to live and die with bum. Even though im only in my forties, i could be hit by a bus tomorrow, i want bum on my team because in the postseason he is the best ball player maybe ever… so he must stay a Giant.
justin-turner overdrive
Nope. Posey and Posey alone is why they have 3 titles. If the Rays draft Posey, the Giants are still stuck on zero titles in SF, facts facts facts
jekporkins
Fact.. Posey is a great player. Fact. Posey hit .243 in the postseason. Fact. Bumgarner is 8-3 with a 2.11 ERA in the postseason, and single-handedly won them their last World Series game.
Fact: If KC, Colorado, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Seattle or Detroit had drafted Kershaw in 2006 the Dodgers would still have zero championships since Reagan was in office.
Jean Matrac
Citing Posey’s PS hitting is clear evidence that you don’t understand the role a catcher plays and how big a factor he is in winning. Not to mention his 2 HRs in the 5th and deciding game against the Reds, which is probably the biggest factor in them even getting to the 2012 series.
That being said, no one player, as great as Posey and Bum are, is the sole reason for anyone winning the WS.
saintchristafa
I don’t know where this idea of one player being the ONLY reason why teams win championships. I thought this was a baseball thread, not the NBA.
Let’s be realistic. They needed Bum and Posey to win the WS, but that’s not all they needed
julyn82001
The panda is back… Sandoval will have a better year… Things will turn for the Giants…
gilgunderson
Thankfully he’ll be a bench player. Hopefully a positive contributor, but won’t be the end of the world if it doesn’t work out.
reflect
Guy whose job it is to run the team says he will run the team in 2018.
OK.
Jean Matrac
Ah, to live in a world like yours where everything is black or white.
reflect
Good job forming a totally random sentence with no connection to my comment.
ttinsley1434
Lol!
Paul_25
Giants fans just calm down and wait for the farm to develope. We never get any top prospect since Posey and Bum. But find easy to develope Matt Duffy, Brandon Belt, Pablo Sandoval, Joe panik, and Brandon Crawford. None were top prospects. We get Heliot Ramos in 4-5 years see what he developed into. This year we have 2nd pick so the farm should get a nice infusion of talent. Just enjoy 2018 and hope for 90 wins. Bullpen should be better with health melancon and smith coming back. Health in staring pitching Bum and Cueto missed time last year.
Giants will not trade Bumgarner. If they want to stay under 197 mill cap. That means they will spend like crazy next year and try and compete. The Giants want to spend money. I hope they go hard after Kershaw next year take him away from Dodgers. Imagine a Kershaw and Bumgarner at the front of the Giants rotation. He must be sick of losing every season and last season so close to WS. He watched Bumgarner win a WS at age 20. Must get to him.
Kershaw come to Giants in 2019. Always have a spot in the rotation for you. Best combo ever Kershaw and Bumgarner.
Kenleyfornia74
Matt Duffy is not good. Pablo came up 10 years ago. Only Panik is a resonable argument for the Giants developing a non top ranked prospect into a good player. And Kershaw will never go to the Giants lol
WarrenSpahn
I went to the Giants when I was 43. Kershaw could too someday
claude raymond
15 of the 25 players on the World Series roster of 2014 were home grown. Last year the giants were MLB.com’s 2nd ranked Home Grown team. 15th this year because of bad 2017.
Belt
Crawford
Romo
Wilson
Duffy
Panik
and more were not top 100.
15 of 25 in 2014 Home grown.
Have knowledge, Kenley, next time you sling ur “we can’t win a World Series” whiny, clueless drivel.
Maybe ur team needs MORE home grown talent than they’ve had. Maybe the Giants should be your model. Hey, didn’t Sabeans protege, Ned Coletti, leave the giants a few years ago to become the dodgers GM. In fact, he did, and he got the ball rolling on what became the current Dodger Home grown system.
So there you go, the current state of the Dodgers ability to develop talent can, in fact, be attributed to trying to repeat what the giants did.
I used the word trying, because we all know the dodgers are still heading into their 30th anniversary of their last title. At least they got to the Series last year. But even the giants have lost more World Series (89, 2002) than the dodgers have lost since 88.
Hang in there, Kenleyfornia, maybe you’ll lose another Series to tie the giants in that post88 category.
Kenleyfornia74
LOL you get so triggered when someone drops a truth bomb on you. Difference between us is i dont get all defensive when you say “no world series wins since 1988”. I know we have failed and i know its ben a bad skid. I never said they didnt have a good farm system years ago. Im talking about recently in the PAST 5 YEARS. Romo, Posey and Brian Wilson came up almost a decade ago buddy. Get a clue. The Giants farm system has been mediocre recently and thats the reason for their massive fall since 2014. Joe Panik is the best the system has produced RECENTLY. Thats pretty bad. Hopefully your response isn’t “we produced Bumgarner, Posey and Romo” again.
claude raymond
The farm system was poorly ranked through out the World Series run. Poorly ranked for many years. You think u dropped a “truth bomb”?
Heres another fact. Dodgers hire ex giants in hopes their WS success rubs off on other Dodgers—uribe, Wilson, Romo.
Face it man. Talk all the crap you want. But I’m the end, there’re no truth bombs, just crap
claude raymond
*in the end
Kenleyfornia74
Im not talking even about hypothetical rankings. This is a fact at this point. Giants farm system has been pathetic based off the guys they brought up to the big leauges recently. Based off your comments you see the world through and orange and black pair of glasses and anything that goes against it is wrong to you. Keep thinking the giants will be able to get something out of some guy no one has heard of
claude raymond
Maybe you don’t read well. I never argued their farm system has only RECENTLY been rated poorly. They’ve been rated poorly for a long time. You’re arguing that they were once great and are now rated bad. I’m arguing they’ve mostly been rated bad for a long time—even when they were winning WS.
My argument is that I don’t put much stock in the top 100 BECAUSE of the fact that there have been Giants that that didn’t rate high but had success in the majors. AND they’ve had highly rated players (Brown, Anderson,etc) that flopped.
So to conclude, the giants get good rankings in the top home grown team list, but poor farm system rankings. Therefore, the top 100 list that is a major component of the farm system ranking is kinda invalid.
You don’t speak any truths, you’re just a good talker. I just know enough to call BS.
Paul_25
Claude Raymond don’t forget Jeff Kent and Jason Schmidt also went to the Dodgers lol get our washed up players and pay good money for them.
Jean Matrac
“Only Panik is a resonable (sic) argument for the Giants developing a non top ranked prospect…”
So Crawford isn’t a good player? Belt? And saying Matt Duffy isn’t good is basically saying most of the players in baseball aren’t good, since, with a career wRC+ of 100, Duffy is a league average hitter.
I’ve noticed, when the subject of the Giants, or any of their players, comes up, you lose all objectivity.
Kenleyfornia74
Its been 7 years since Belt and Crawford came up. I wouldn’t classify that as recent. Duffy was a good player in 2015 but had a big regression since and has not been able to stay healthy. Again im not saying this to just mindlessly hate on the Giants farm system. I said their poor farm has been the reason for their decline since 2014 and this guy acted like it was blasphemy
claude raymond
“This guy” wrote something that you misread. I’ll state again, the ratings are not very reliable. How’d Mark Appel turn out. Gorkys was once ranked 62nd.
All those players from years ago that helped win 3 WS were also on the team last year. So read carefully, I call you on ur ORIGINAL criticism of the giants inability to DEVELOP good unranked players outside of panik. P my answer was that panik is one of many.
I don’t care that you don’t like the giants. It’s not “blasphemy” for you to show that. I’m just calling you on your lack of a good argument. Hell, Kenley, I’d rather argue with a Dodger fan than listen to all the bandwagon Giants fans whining about the Giants.
Jean Matrac
It’s funny to hear Dodger fans talking about the bad Giant’s farm system. I guess the Giants, as well as a lot of teams, could have a lot more talent, had they been able or willing to spend so freely that they would have had to shell out almost $150M in luxury tax penalties like the Dodgers.
Kenleyfornia74
Oh yeah Bellinger, Seager, Verdugo, Buehler were all acquired through big international spending. Even the Dodgers 2 biggest international spending prizes were lesser guys who really anyone could have signed (Urias and Ruiz). Giants passed on Bellinger 3 times. They passed on Buehler for Bickford. They passed on Stroman for Stratton. It has nothing to do with international spending which the Giants have been able to do too. Lusis Fox
claude raymond
You know Kenley I do USUALLY like ur posts. This one is excellent.
dandan
The last Giants World Series Championship was 2014. Evans’ first campaign as GM in 2015 did not end in a title.
claude raymond
He’s still the GM. Many teams if not most have what equates to 2 GMs. Evans draft picks are the entire management teams agreed on choices. And they have drafted late in the rounds since 2011 because they won titles.
And why is no one commenting on the fact these recent picks were good enough to close the deals on the Longoria Cutch trades. Arroyo, Crick, and Reynolds. Clearly valuable enough to help garner top players. Hell, good enough to get teams to pay parts of Longoria McCutcheon salaries.
semut
“…both received new titles at the start of the 2015 campaign. While that first campaign ended with a title…”
——————————-
And which title was it that the Giants won in 2015?? Finishing 13 back from the expanded wildcard?