Giants looking to add a high-profile executive

SFGRTB said:

Per Buster Onley: Olney: Leon gives Boston a new Tek solution behind the plate

I don't have insider but saw a synopsis on Twitter. Basically The Giants want to replace Bobby Evans and have Sabean go back to his old role, the one he took in 2015, with less day-to-day activity and more scouting.

This isn't really surprising, I guess, that Evans would be the scapegoat here, even though I can't really fault him that much. I feel like many of the moves he made were sound at the time, but just about every one backfired.

The worst move was Matt Moore, undoubtedly, but so far that hasn't really reached A.J. Pierzynski levels of bad. The Longo trade could be pretty bad. Mike Leake, Cueto, Shark were all pretty solid deals at the time that I don't necessarily blame him for. Melancon was debatable (I didn't like it, but conceded that it had to happen at the time). Belt and Crawford extensions were automatic.

He did great in the Nunez trade and the Will Smith trade.

Frankly if I absolutely had to take one move back from him, it would be the Longoria trade. Yes Matt Moore was really bad but it's not going to hangstring us for the next 4 years like Longo will. The rest were deals that had to happen and unfortunately didn't work out, and in fact probably ended up as the worst-case scenarios.

Also, it's unfair to pin it on one guy. Bobby Evans wasn't going rogue here or anything.

Oh well, maybe this gives them a chance to bring in a fresh mind and hopefully a major forward thinker. My worry is that they bring in someone like that, but operate under the status-quo, and therefore waste this person's talent.

If they bring someone on, I want to see them get a lot of power and say over everything, not just a mouthpiece for Sabean and his archaic processes. Bring in someone like Farhan Zaidi from the Dodgers and have him hire someone else to be the GM. Kind of like the Cubs power structure where they have Theo as the president and Jed Hoyer as the GM. Although in this scenario Sabean is probably the president.

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Pattersonca65 said:

Happens when things go south. I happened to catch Larry Baer's interview on KNBR a couple of weeks ago and he was emphatic that the result this season was unacceptable and there would be significant change coming this offseason. This might be part of it.

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SFGRTB said:

Yeah to me it's just like how much do these changes really help if you're still keeping the over-arching methods the same, more-or-less? For example the coaching staff had a pretty big overhaul last year and they preached that they were entering a new, more analytical process. Now it's not like I expected it to change over night, but what really changed all that much? It was still Bochy's show.

So I have the same feeling with the front office right now. You fire Evans, who from what it sounds like has been one of the more progressive and analytical-based voices in the F.O., because you have to blame someone (and there's no denying that many of the moves have backfired) but if you keep Sabean and the majority of the front office, what changes?

I wouldn't mind a philosophical change at all, rebuild the front office with new blood. Someone like Zaidi or David Forst from the A's or Matt Ferry of the Yankees. The problem is anyone for the job is probably going to have Sabean looking over their shoulder. IMO, they should go all-in. If you fire Evans, clean house. Otherwise it's just a lateral move.

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SFGRTB said:

And there's the official news:

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LHG said:

It is purely a scapegoat move if they fire Evans. How does, at you mention, getting rid of the guy who is probably the closest to what they need, and keeping old school guys like Sabean and Bochy help anything? From my perspective, Evans made the moves he made due to a directive from the ownership - Don't rebuild, just retool. He has a limited farm system from which to trade and limited money to spend. Some of those moves were predictable (Samardzija, Longoria) while others were worse than expected (Cueto's injury, Melancon's injuries and ineffectiveness). I don't blame Evans. If the ownership thinks getting rid of him and cleaning the house of coaches, again, will make any difference, we are going to probably be enduring a few more years of this nonsense than maybe even I expected.

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SFGRTB said:

Thank god

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SFGRTB said:

I totally, 100% agree. Evans hands were tied and he did the best he could given the directive. The blame falls on many in the front office, including Sabean, John Barr, and others.

I'm fine with seeing Evans go if it's part of a large overhaul (some of the beat writings are suggesting that is going to be the case), I'll be pissed if someone is brought on just to do Sabean's bidding (like Ned freaking Colletti)

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LHG said:

As long as Sabean is in charge, which will essentially be the case as long as he remains with the organization, can there ever be any real change?

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BeerMe said:

Sfgrtb- Matt Moore ain’t worth a crap now but he pitched out of his mind in the NLDS vs the Cubs. If the Giants won that game, who knows, Matt Moore could have been a legend in SF. Sometimes going for championships (Wheeler for Beltran) don’t pay off but I appreciate them trying.

I think the Giants were ahead of the curve in building around starting pitching and shutdown bullpens and now all the teams are trying to emulate that, along with power hitting. I don’t know what I’m trying to say but I think we need some new blood in there.

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BeerMe said:

Give me someone from the Braves organization, they’ve got it figured out

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SFGRTB said:

Also, 2019 is almost certainly going to be Bochy's last season now. It's typically best to hire a GM before a coach, but Boch is a special case. He'll play out his contract then ride off into the sunset

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LHG said:

Are you sure Bochy is safe?

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