Brian Sabean gave an interview to Baggs on the The Athletic and had some rather inneresting things to say starting with him "being more involved" at the major league level this season. I don't have a subscription to The Athletic, so am dependent on the summary in MLBTR, but this clearly sounds like a demotion for Bobby Evans and a re-assuming of direct control of some sort by Sabean, although Evans will still be "retaining wide authority." MLBTR's interpretation includes an impression that Sabean will somehow be working closely with Bruce Bochy to "re-establish a winning culture." Then there is this quote from Sabes: "I'll pay respect to how (Evans has) operated the last 3 years, but my experience has been called upon and ownership and (CEO Larry Baer) want this as an initiative starting with me and we are going to carry it out as best we can on an everyday basis."
Wow! Them's some words to chew on right there! The questions just come flooding out:
Why are we hearing about this in an apparent 1 on 1 interview with Baggs?
Why are we not seeing a word of any of this from either Chris Haft or Alex P?
Why aren't we hearing it from Larry Baer himself?
What exactly does a GM do day-to-day to foster a winning attitude once he's assembled the team, other than the occasional trade or decision about a minor league callup? Does this suggest there was friction between Bochy and Evans on a day-to-day basis? Does this have anything to do with the whispers of clubhouse discord that started leaking out last year? One player was anonymously quoted as saying players felt like they "couldn't do anything right" with the implication it was in Bochy's eyes. Was it really in Bobby Evans' eyes? Were Bochy and Evans giving discordant messages to the players?
Brian Sabean has always tended to talk in riddles and circles, but does this sound like he really knows what he is supposed to do himself? If Sabes is vague about what he will be doing, does Bobby Evans have any idea at all what decisions he can and cannot make?
Stay tuned on this one, but I smell TROUBLE!
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Tim Lincecum threw a showcase for MLB scouts and reportedly looked to be in great shape and humped his fastball up to 93 MPH. The Giants are in he market for an inexpensive SP option. Does the 93 MPH drive Timmy's price out of reach for the Giants? Would they go above the CBT threshold for a reunion with a player who is still an incredible fan favorite? I'm guessing they would if they thought it would put a thousand or two more butts in seats every 5'th day for even part of a season and Timmy would definitely do that if he pitched half decently.
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I'd love to get him back, but we can't afford him.
ReplyDeleteI would think, if he signed it would be heavily incentive offer!
ReplyDeleteHe cannot expect to be offered a guarantee of more then a Mill or so; until he proves it in game.
Richard In Winnipeg
Touching 93 probably isn’t high enough to get him an MLB guaranteed deal. Giants should be in the running if they want to be.
ReplyDeleteHe only threw from a windup. Because his stretch is 89?
ReplyDeleteDid he really go from "can't get a bite" to Giants "can't afford" him?
If he's effective, there's $5MM from Dyson and Sandoval.
Sandoval is at the minimum, so he's not adding anything extra to the payroll that a rookie wouldn't. That is, dumping Sandoval would not solve any payroll issue.
DeleteHow much could they save if they let Dyson go? Is that even an option they have?
ReplyDeleteThe only way the Giants can not pay Dyson is to trade him to a team willing to take on his approximately $4M contract.
DeleteI don't hear this said very much but I'm of the strong opinion that Timmy should make a move to the pen and I think that could successfully prolong his career. We've seen what he did from the pen during the 2012 run and how good he was. I think a team maybe even the Giants can utilize the Freak from the Pen!
ReplyDeleteJ(SF)
People keep pointing to 2012 to say Timmy would be great out of the bullpen. That was an extremely small sample size. Other small bullpen stints have not worked out so well for him.
DeleteTouching 93 out of the pen is bad. Reports are he took a long time to warm up.
DeleteI just can't see Lincecum being a starting pitcher ever again. Touching 93 doesn't mean touching 93 in inning 3. Agree with the poster above; at best, he's a specialty arm from the pen. I have followed the Giants for decades, mostly with keen interest, but no Giant player rekindled my love of the team like Timmy, so best of luck to you, dude!
ReplyDeleteThis makes no sense. He’s have to touch 97 to work in the pen.
DeleteDo Lincecum and Sandoval represent improvement?
ReplyDeleteIf it comes to that, it's definitely hoping to catch some lightening.
Well, I do subscribe, and the main message I would take from the interview is exactly what the article headline is: "Giants ownership directs Brian Sabean to reassume day-to-day responsibilities".
ReplyDeleteThe claim is that this is not "purely" about Evans but more about widespread failure that led to the 98-loss season. So, reading between the tea leaves, Evans was demoted, as you noted (hence the Sabean reassume day-to-day responsibilities), but it was not all about Evans alone. The article also noted that a Sabean interview with USA Today while scouting rankled some of the ownership, because he apparently was seeking to separate himself far from the MLB team. So it seems like a reaction to Sabean wiping his hands of the whole thing, in that interview, and reminding him that he still has a job to do beyond scouting.
Yeah, I had noticed that it was exclusive to Baggarly. Frankly, I find that Baggarly is the fairest among the media in writing about the Giants. I find the Chronicle, Mercury (post-Baggarly but pre-Crowley, who has less of a track record there; but I was not impressed by his work with KNBR previously), and NBC Comcast to be more on the negative side, nudging fan reactions to be unhappy, like they want to foment fan disgruntlement. I don't expect homers, and Baggarly can be negative at times too, but I think he's been mostly fair, while it varies towards the negative with the others.
Since it was an exclusive, they don't really have anything to report upon, other than to quote Baggarly. Basically advertise for Baggarly. Ratto did write a column on the article, with a link to the original article. But I found the news to confirm my spidey sense that something was happening, because Sabean had mostly been in the shadows in previous off-seasons, but he not only showed up for the press conferences, but he also was being quoted regarding the team.
Regarding what a GM might do to fire up a team, Baggarly noted a meeting Sabean held with the starting staff in late 2010, when he read them the riot act, upon which they had that historic streak of games where they held the other team to 3-4 runs or under. But it sounds like Evans will be doing what he was doing before, for the most part, but that Sabean will be handling all the day-to-day interactions with Bochy, and the buck will stop with him now, instead of Evans (hence why I agree with you that he was demoted). And he's there to light a fire under the team, under the players.
Whoa! Giants agree to terms with Tony Watson. Good move if they didn't go over the CBT. Maybe Bochy can work his bullpen magic if everyone is heathly.
ReplyDeleteLG
Timmy hasn't been good in a long, long time.
ReplyDeleteShooting stars shine brightly in memory - they don't re-rise to flash across the sky and amaze.
YMMV, but I'm happy to wait for 2020/22/24 when he walks out to thunderous applause with the rest of his WS teammates.