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.
New regime would be wise to keep Bochy. If they flop year one they have a face to put the blame on. Also help keep the clubhouse together in the transition.
Agreed; although Bochy has made some questionable moves this season, cobbling together a decent pitching staff and ERA against the injuries they suffered is a credit to him and Curt Young. Having said that, at some point the hitting coaches have to bear some responsibility along with the front office for why this team strikes out too much and misses too many RBI opportunities.
you can’t put it on the hitting coaches, you can only do so much with what they have – when you are looking @ so many emergency rookie callups, backups guys and guys at the downside of their productivity you can’t expect miracles from a first year hitting coach. If they get some new blood on the roster and things don’t change, you reassess that
This season we had the new hitting coach as bam bam was moved to replace wotus as bench coach… Replaced hitting coach and yet they still cannot hit. Not sure if possibly Powell medical issues at the beginning of the season could have maybe delayed him from being as hands on with the players. Regardless this offense has been weak for a long time, even the World Series teams were built on pitching and defense and had little offense.
That’s fancy talk for “We’re gonna bring back Hunter Pence, Gregor Blanco and Pablo Sandoval next year.”
Trade MadBum to the Braves for Newcomb, Touki & Pache
Only after Atlanta negotiates an extension of course
MadBum would never agree to that and if he would the Giants wouldn’t consider trading him for even a picosecond.
That would be a pretty dumb move to say no to that package. Pache is going to be legit
Bumgarner means way more to SF than that. If he were open to an extension the Giants would just keep him.
Sabean, is that you?
Pache is legit based on what? He walks less than Albies and has no power whatsoever
He is also 19 years old and far more developed than guys his age. And its not just him. Newcomb would be a nice get for them as well. Extend Bum or trade him. 1 or the other
My point was that steelerbravenation said that the Braves should trade for Madbum but make it contingent on an extension. I really don’t like it when people suggest this because it completely ignores the fact that the player is under no obligation to agree to any extension with any team and generally has no reason to do that. But if MadBum were willing to sign an extension, the Giants wouldn’t sign and trade him they would just keep him.
Pache’s niche is fielding. If he can be a league average hitter his defense and speed will make him a positive WAR player
@redrooster. Sorry that you can’t stand to see MadBum depart. No one is saying he has to agree to an extension, but if the Braves want to give up that package they’d likely want a negotiating window with him to work out a long-term deal. It’s not like the Giants would extend him and then trade him. He’d agree to an extension with another club as a condition of the deal being completed. Would allow the Giants to get back more for him than if a team was acquiring one year. Roy Halladay (Phillies), Johan Santana (Mets) and Dan Uggla (Braves) all agreed to extensions when they were traded. It helps the trading team get a better package.
That will never happen.
Bochy is one of the best managers in the game; HARD STOP. His failure with the current roster is more than understandable; it wasn’t that good to begin with, and then had injuries all over the place. That they hung in the playoff race as long as they did is a tribute, not a minus, to Bochy’s capabilities.
There’s issues in Frisco; Bochy isn’t one of them.
I agree, I just wanted to say no one from the bay says frisco or calls SF frisco.
Except for all the hipsters who live in the 7 square mile that is actually San Francisco, most assuredly call it Frisco. Not sure who you are or where you live but don’t comment if you don’t actually know. And if you live outside the 7 square miles, you don’t actually live in San francisco…
Lifelong resident here, 5th generation. You’re wrong.
Some evidence via the immortal Pulitzer Prize winning San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen: https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Don-t-Call-It-Frisco-3043060.php
Actually from the other coast….but the only disagreement I think about Bochy is whether he’s an average manager (who gets what the roster gives him) or a plus manager (able to squeeze another 3-5 wins out of what he’s got).
Anyone can think he’s average or plus….I have a hard time seeing anyone justifying a view that he’s a minus-type……
Bochy is a Hall of Fame manager.
Average managers don’t get into the Hall of Fame.
SF needs a healthy Panda…
That is seriously what you think the problem is?
What they need is to stay as far away from him as possible. Maybe put him on a one-way flight to Port-aux-Français?
He was about the best minimum salary backup any team can possibly expect.
.727 OPS with 9 homers and 40 rbi in 252 plate appearances as an infield backup while being paid league minimum is a very good player for your club.
His option should very well be picked up.
Being paid minimum is good. A .727 OPS (188th in MLB of hitters w/ 200+ PA’s), negative baserunning and negative fielding, isn’t good.
There are tons of guys the Giants could sign to league minimum Major League deals in the offseason that are better than Sandoval. What is their obsession with him and Blanco? Seriously.
As a Giants fan, I’m rooting for them to hire Kim Ng. One of the best minds in the game.
It’s already an improvement just having Evans gone. They have seen the light!
Three titles in five years—one of only two NL teams to do it—gives Team Sabean major street creds, especially with lifer fans like me who date back to NYG days. But there’s no denying that brand of Giant baseball succeeded for one reason—extraordinary “lock-down” pitching. It hid and compensated for the inherent offensive weaknesses that became violently exposed once the pitching retreated to good, not great. The fact is Sabean, Evans and company have run an organization whose last homegrown All-Star outfielder was Chilie Davis in 1986 and the last homegrown OFer to get more than 500 AB’s in a season was Marvin Bernard in 2000. Management’s inability to draft draft quality outfield talent is astonishing. Based on a broken clock’s ability to be right twice a day, you’d think they’d find at least one OFer with offensive spark in 32 years of drafting. How could a collective group of scouts choose so poorly for so long? Yet they continued to parade one “AAAA” OFer after another incapable of hitting major league pitching with any thump or consisteny which means year after year 1/3 of the lineup had to be filled via trades or free agency. And now that most of the pitching prospects are league average or worse the franchise is hoplessly stuck in a deep void, a dreadful catch 22 of average, aging vets, sky-high payroll commitments and no minor league collateral with which to barter. The new GM has an unenviable and daunting task ahead. But that being said, 2010, 12 and 14 make all of it so much easier to digest because 1954-2010 was a long, long time to wait. GO GIANTS!!!
Yep, from Adam Hydzu to Calvin Murray to Todd Linden to Gary Brown.
It’s been a pretty amazing run of failed former 1st Round OFers.
It’s not like the West is stacked or anything. Rockies have intriguing youth but limited time with Arenado and Blackmon is only getting older. D-Backs need a new hitting core. Dodgers will always be near the top. Padres seem like they could be stacked in a couple of years, as long as Tatis and Urias recover from injury. The Giants are the wild card of the group. No one knows how they are going to trend, because no one knows what the hell management is doing.
Dodgers will only be on top as long as they keep accruing massive amounts of debt. It’s no secret how they built their team. They are the modern version of the Yankees. Let’s not forget a few years ago when they spent a decade in the cellar…