Brian Sabean

Yankees Appoint Brian Sabean Executive Advisor To Brian Cashman

By Darragh McDonald | January 3, 2023 at 12:30pm CDT

The Yankees announced today that Brian Sabean has been appointed executive advisor to senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman.

This is a homecoming for Sabean, as he began his career in Major League Baseball with the Yankees. He was hired as a scout back in 1985, later earning other titles such as director of scouting and vice president of player development/scouting. He was with the organization as they drafted and signed the young players that would later form the core of the club that won four championships from 1996 to 2000. In relaying today’s news, Joel Sherman of The New York Post recalls a statement Cashman made about the teams of the ’90s. “The underrated heroes of the dynasty are Bill Livesey and Brian Sabean,” Cashman said.

However, Sabean was no longer with the Yankees when those trophies were lifted. He joined the Giants in 1993 as assistant to the general manager and vice president of scouting/player personnel. He would later be promoted to general manager in 1996. The Giants finished 68-94 in that year but went on to post winning records in each season from 1997 to 2004. They dipped below .500 for a few years but later returned to success in a big way, winning the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

After that third title, Sabean was given the new title of executive vice president of baseball operations and seemed to move away from the day-to-day business of running the club. Bobby Evans took over as the general manager and stayed in that role through the 2018 season. At that point, he was reassigned and Farhan Zaidi was hired as president of baseball operations. As those transitions were taking place, Sabean seemed to have moved into an advisory/scouting role.

The Giants released a statement about Sabean’s hiring to reporters, with Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area among those to relay it on Twitter. “The San Francisco Giants would like to extend its deepest gratitude to Brian Sabean for his enormous contributions to our organization and wish him the best of luck in his new position with the New York Yankees.” The statement goes on to list the club’s aforementioned accomplishments during his tenure, before finishing thusly: “We truly believe he’s a Hall of Fame worthy executive in every sense of the word and wish him, his wife Amanda, and his entire family nothing but the best in the future. He will always be a Forever Giant.”

In the past few years, he has been connected to front office jobs with the Marlins and Mets that didn’t come to fruition, but he will now return to where his career began and rejoin the Yankees.

Front Office Notes: Mets, Angels, Rangers

By Steve Adams | October 29, 2021 at 12:21pm CDT

The Mets’ front office search has become a rather prominent storyline in baseball at the moment, as several notable executives have either removed their names from consideration or been denied permission by their current clubs to interview. Despite those struggles in pursuing rival GMs and presidents, SNY’s Andy Martino reports that the Mets are not considering some of the rumored former baseball ops leaders who are no longer running a department. Former Giants president Brian Sabean, former Marlins president Michael Hill and former Astros president Jeff Luhnow are not currently being considered, per Martino. Rather, current Mets president Sandy Alderson is still actively seeking permission to interview the No. 2 and No. 3 executives with various clubs as the Mets seek a new baseball ops leader.

Some more front office notes from around the game…

The Angels have hired Tim McIlvaine away from the Brewers to fill as their new scouting director, Kiley McDaniel and Alden Gonzalez of ESPN report (Twitter thread). McIlvaine, who was previously the Brewers’ assistant director of scouting, worked extensively with current Angels vice president of amateur scouting Ray Montgomery when both were in Milwaukee. Montgomery was one of the first hires by under new Angels GM Perry Minasian last offseason. The Angels removed former scouting director Matt Swanson from his post last week but offered him a position elsewhere in the organization. Swanson was hired by former general manager Billy Eppler and has overseen the Halos’ past five drafts.
Josh Bonifay is returning to the Rangers organization as their new farm director, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. Bonifay had been the Phillies’ farm director for the past three seasons but was removed from that role and offered a spot on the team’s pro scouting staff for next season back in August. The son of former Pirates general manager Cam Bonifay, Josh has spent more than a decade in baseball operations, mostly in the Astros organization, but was also the Rangers’ field coordinator and a member of the Major League coaching staff with then-manager Jeff Banister in 2017. Bonifay has also spent time as a minor league coach and manager, a minor league field coordinator and was the Astros’ hitting coordinator in 2018 before being hired by Philadelphia.

Brian Sabean Reportedly Interested In Mets’ President Job

By Darragh McDonald | October 22, 2021 at 7:35pm CDT

Former Giants general manager Brian Sabean is interested in the Mets’ open president of baseball operations position, according to a report from Deesha Thosar of The New York Daily News. She says that he is looking for a new challenge and is “going stir crazy in San Francisco with essentially nothing to do” and would move to New York “in a heartbeat” if given the chance. It would be a semi-homecoming for him to come to New York, as he was a scout with the Yankees before joining the Giants.

Sabean was the general manager of the Giants from 1997 to 2014 and was an integral part of their magnificent run of play in the last decade, which included three World Series championships in five years, as they got to spray the champagne in 2010, 2012 and 2014. In 2015, Sabean was promoted to executive vice president of baseball operations, with Bobby Evans becoming general manager and largely taking over the baseball decision making. In late 2018, Farhan Zaidi was hired as the Giants’ new president of baseball operations, with Sabean staying with the organization in an advisory capacity and doing some player scouting.

At the end of the 2019 season, there was some speculation that Sabean was being considered to join the Marlins organization to replace Michael Hill as that club’s president of baseball operations, though he ended up staying in San Francisco.

The fact that Sabean has such a lengthy track record would fit somewhat with previous reporting about the qualities the Mets are looking for in their next president. They have also been connected to experienced front office members such as Theo Epstein, Billy Beane and David Stearns. All three of those options appear to be dead-ends for the Mets, though, leaving the post open. However, the 65-year-old Sabean is also different than those three in some respects. Stearns is 36, Epstein 47 and Beane 59, making Sabean older than all three and significantly older than Stearns and Epstein. They’ve also all been actively participating in running baseball front offices in recent years, as opposed to Sabean, who has seemingly been operating in a fairly limited role for about seven years now.

Thosar’s report says it’s unclear if the Mets have reached out to Sabean. It’s also unclear if they’re willing to change their preferences to include someone like Sabean in their search. Although, considering that they keep crossing names off the top of their list, they may have to make adjustments to their preferences at some point.

Thosar also suggests that this could be a two-for-one deal, with Sabean’s hiring being followed by Bruce Bochy being brought in to take over the manager’s chair, which was recently left vacant when the Mets declined their option on Luis Rojas. Bochy was hired to manage the Giants in 2007, during Sabean’s time as general manager, and stayed through the 2019 season. He was recently rumored to be in consideration for the Padres’ open managerial position. Bochy is 66 years old and would buck the trend of teams hiring younger managers, though that trend has also been countered by the recent hirings of Tony La Russa (77) and Dusty Baker (72).

West Notes: Angels, Maddon, Giants, Sabean, D-backs, A’s

By Connor Byrne | September 26, 2019 at 1:15am CDT

Angels manager Brad Ausmus has only been on the job for a year, but the club “would consider” firing him to hire Joe Maddon after the season, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (subscription link). That would require the Cubs to move on from Maddon, whose contract is up, while the Angels would likely need to make the 65-year-old a substantial offer. The first part of that equation looks like a real possibility, but it appears the second would pose a problem. Angels owner Arte Moreno likely doesn’t want to pay two managers, per Rosenthal, who adds it’s very doubtful he’d be willing to match Maddon’s current salary of $6MM. Notably, though, there is quite a bit of history between Maddon and the Angels. He spent 31 years with the organization in a variety of roles before his managerial career began with the Rays prior to the 2006 season.

Recent speculation has linked longtime Giants executive Brian Sabean to the Marlins, but the 63-year-old told Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle that he isn’t going anywhere. Although Sabean’s contract is about to expire, he and the Giants are in talks to keep him in place for what would be his 28th year with the organization in 2020. “We’re in the process of sorting that out as we speak,” Sabean said. “I’m quite sure my Giant career will continue in some form or fashion. I’m not interested in looking to go anywhere else. We’ll see how it develops in the next month or so.” While Sabean was at the helm of the Giants’ baseball department during all three of their World Series wins this decade, he has taken on a lesser role since the team hired Farhan Zaidi to steer the ship last offseason. Sabean spent a large portion of this season scouting, which is his passion, Schulman notes.
The Diamondbacks have shut right-handers Luke Weaver and Zac Gallen down for the season, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. Weaver sat out all of June, July, August and most of September with forearm and UCL injuries, but he made a successful two-inning return last weekend to cap off his 2019. He and Gallen, whom the D-backs acquired at the trade deadline, figure to slot in near the top of the club’s rotation in 2020. Fellow righty Taijuan Walker could join them if he overcomes the arm problems that have essentially shelved him for two straight seasons. Walker could, however, take the ball for the first and only time of the season in Arizona’s finale on Sunday, Piecoro relays.
The Athletics just designated catcher Beau Taylor for assignment for the second time this year, but that doesn’t mean his days with the organization are over. On the contrary, chances are “good” that the A’s will try to re-sign Taylor in the offseason, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Judging by the glowing reviews of Taylor that prized young catcher Sean Murphy and manager Bob Melvin offer in Slusser’s piece, he clearly has the respect of the A’s players and coaches.

NL East Notes: Freeman, Braves, Phillies, Marlins

By TC Zencka | September 14, 2019 at 11:04am CDT

Nick Markakis returned to the Braves lineup Friday night after a seven-week layoff. The Braves were able to “ease” Markakis back into action with a cupcake matchup against Max Scherzer, against whom he’s rolled to a .323/.375/.423 line in 65 career at-bats. Not bad production against one of the best pitchers of his generation. Three innings into his return, the Braves faced a fresh injury scare. Freddie Freeman left yesterday’s game with elbow soreness, per The Athletic’s David O’Brien. Freddie Franchise aggravated a bone spur while making a defensive play, but his removal was precautionary, and the Braves don’t expect him to miss any time. Freeman himself classified the injury as day-to-day, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. He’ll be back in the lineup by Sunday at the latest. Let’s see what else is happening in the NL East…

Phillies manager Gabe Kapler’s decision-making has been under the microscope of late, and it could result in his dismissal, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (subscription required). Kapler’s competency in managing the bullpen was called into question as recently as last week, per The Athletic’s Meghan Montemurro, and as far back as game number three of his managerial tenure in Philly. With one year remaining on his contract, expect Kapler’s employment status to remain top-of-mind in Philadelphia for the foreseeable future. GM Matt Klenak’s job is safe, but even with a contract that runs through 2022, he may feel the pressure to find and install the right guy to lead this team, if indeed ownership has doubts about Kapler.
Meanwhile in Miami, Don Mattingly may have priced himself out of a job. Rosenthal suggests finances could be a primary motivator in deciding whether to return Mattingly to his role as Miami’s field manager beyond 2019. Regardless of performance, keeping Mattingly at his current price sounds like a no-go for the cost-conscious ownership group. Perhaps of even more consequence, there are rumblings that Michael Hill will be removed from his position as President of Baseball Ops, a title he’s held since a being promoted from GM in 2013. Hill has been with the organization since 2002. Scuttlebutt has long-time Giants front office frontman Brian Sabean as a potential replacement, while current Marlins VP of Player Development and Scouting Gary Denbo has be increasingly relied upon of late. Notably, both Sabean and Denbo have ties to Derek Jeter’s early days with the Yankees.

Giants Notes: Front Office, Bochy, Holland

By Jeff Todd | September 26, 2018 at 11:24am CDT

The Giants’ recent front-office shakeup is designed to “bring a new approach to Giants baseball,” CEO Larry Baer explained in the wake of the firing of GM Bobby Evans. As Kerry Crowley of the Mercury News writes, longtime exec Brian Sabean will be in a key role in making a new hire, though the incoming baseball ops head will report directly to Baer. The CEO says he’s looking for a “next-gen” executive — a statement that could perhaps be interpreted in several ways but nevertheless offers an interesting hint as to the organization’s intentions.

Notably, the top hire likely won’t be the only one. Baer acknowledged that any new baseball ops leader may want to bring in some of his or her own people. And Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that there’s actually already an expectation of creating a two-tiered structure. The Giants, he says, are looking for both a VP of baseball ops and a general manager.
Giants skipper Bruce Bochy, meanwhile, says that the upper management changes don’t impact his preference to continue in his job, as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. Bochy is only under contract through 2019, but he says that “lame duck” status won’t be an issue heading into his 13th season on the job. Clearly, he’s also not concerned that the club’s competitive outlook is at best uncertain. The fact that Bochy will remain in place adds an interesting dynamic to the front office situation, though the veteran skipper says he’s committed to meshing well with whoever steps in. Potential baseball ops hires may prefer to choose their own manager, though it’s also not hard to imagine that many will feel comfortable with the highly respected Bochy for at least one campaign.
Whoever ends up taking over the baseball operations department will face a number of challenges, along with questions on existing players. The pitching staff, in particular the bullpen, has some potential trade candidates. It also has one potential candidate to be re-signed in Derek Holland, who has turned in a bounceback year and is set to return to the open market. Through 168 2/3 innings, the southpaw carries a 3.63 ERA with a career-high 8.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9. The 31-year-old says he’s interesting in continuing his career with San Francisco, as John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, and Bochy adds his endorsement. At this point, though, it’s anyone’s guess whether that will be of interest to the new top decisionmakers.

Giants Notes: Front Office, Bochy, Belt

By Connor Byrne | September 15, 2018 at 6:16pm CDT

Although the Giants are mired in their second straight poor season, expectations are that both executive vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy will return in 2019, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. General manager Bobby Evans may not be as fortunate, though, as Nightengale reports that he’s on the “hot seat.” Evans, previously San Francisco’s assistant general manager, took over the GM role from Sabean in April 2015 as part of a series of promotions. The Giants were the reigning World Series champions at the time, but their results have been disappointing since then, even though they’ve been among the game’s highest-spending teams.

More from San Francisco, which has dropped 11 of 12 this month to fall to 10 games under .500:

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt’s season may be over. Belt underwent an MRI on his sore right knee, and if the results aren’t to the Giants’ liking, they’ll shut him down for 2018, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group was among those to report. Belt has been dealing with knee issues since late July, when he landed on the 10-day disabled list and missed two-plus weeks. The 30-year-old’s OPS has dropped nearly 100 points since he returned from the DL (from .842 to .756), which may be thanks in part to his knee. Between Belt’s injury and the fact that the Giants have nothing to play for as their season nears an end, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them put Belt on ice until 2019. Belt remains a key cog for the organization, as he’s due another $48MM on the five-year, $72.8MM extension the Evans-led Giants awarded him in April 2016.
While it appears Bochy will return next year (something he’d like to do), at least one member of his staff won’t. The club dismissed strength and conditioning coach Carl Kochan on Thursday, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports California. Kochan had been in his seventh season with San Francisco, and his firing is just the first of multiple changes that could occur. The Giants are evaluating “all levels of the organization” at this point, Pavlovic writes.

Giants’ Leadership Addresses Organization’s Plans

By Jeff Todd | August 25, 2018 at 1:37am CDT

With it becoming increasingly apparent that the Giants won’t be mounting a late run at the postseason, the team’s top organizational figures have spent some time giving their impressions of the current season and the future outlook. CEO Larry Baer chatted with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic (audio/subscription link), while president of baseball operations Brian Sabean spoke with John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Both men made clear that they don’t see the ballclub as being in the midst of a massive transition. “I don’t characterize it as a rebuild,” said Baer. Sabean, the club’s top baseball decisionmaker, said much the same: “We’re used to winning. We don’t feel we’re in a position, as a result of that, to have, quote, a complete face-lift.”

At the same time, there was certainly an acknowledgement that change will be needed. Sabean noted that the front office will “have to probably be ready to make some tough decisions.” And Baer acknowledged that, in applying what he described as Sabean’s “win and develop” approach to staying competitive while building for the future, it may be necessary to “”lean more toward the development” side of the fence.

If there’s a clear plan, it’s not clear from these interviews just what it is and how it’ll be implemented. When asked whether he expects to acquire a big-money player — which Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle argued today could be pursued even if the club otherwise doesn’t really expect to contend — Baer said it’s just too soon to know. His top baseball ops mean, though, said the club “still want[s] to put the most productive product on the field that we can,” which seems to keep the door open.

Certainly, it’s tough to see how the Giants would manage to embark upon anything like a true rebuilding effort with so many hard-to-move obligations on the books. That wasn’t necessarily the case last winter, when several veterans on long-term deals held greater trade value than they do now.

While the decision to push for a return to contention in 2018 hasn’t resulted in a postseason trajectory, that doesn’t mean the organization regrets it. Sabean says there was value in having “distanced ourselves from how last year went.” Both men suggested that the organization is pleased with having unearthed some young talent, too.

Of course, expectations were that this roster would struggle to keep pace in the division, just as has occurred. Some might have been higher on the Giants heading into 2018 had the team landed Giancarlo Stanton. In Baer’s estimation, the organization failed to convince the slugger to waive his no-trade protection to come to San Francisco mostly because Stanton was already frustrated with “the process” the Marlins undertook to try to deal him. Anyway, Baer says, the near-term payroll space that would have been locked up by Stanton was “re-expressed” in veterans Andrew McCutchen, Evan Longoria, and Tony Watson — a fact that actually left the club “very content” this spring, Baer says.

Longoria’s contract now looks to be another underperforming asset, further clogging the future balance sheets after the club so diligently stayed below the luxury tax line this year. But those are the risks it takes to acquire or keep established veterans. And the Giants obviously believe in their approach, having seen it result in three recent World Series titles.

It seems that, most broadly, the organization will back off the throttle in some respects — McCutchen could certainly be traded in the coming days, for example — but will otherwise push forward with its tried and true methods of roster building. Certainly, there’s every indication that Sabean and skipper Bruce Bochy will remain in their posts, with Baer telling Kawakami that the pair has an unmatched pedigree and expressing confidence in them with one more season left on their most recent extensions.

Brian Sabean “Will Be More Involved” In Running Giants In 2018

By Jeff Todd | February 15, 2018 at 11:21pm CDT

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.

West Notes: Athletics, Giants, Mariners, C. Seager

By Jeff Todd | September 19, 2017 at 10:59am CDT

While the Athletics still face an uncertain path to finally landing a new ballpark, the club’s announcement of a target site has gained some support from the business community, Kimberly Veklerov of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. It certainly seems as if there’s some public relations jockeying going on as the ballclub attempts to ramp up its efforts. As Veklerov notes, some of the initial political response was less than fully supportive. And as the Chronicle further reports, there may be some environmental concerns with the site under consideration.

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