Bochy eager to start anew with Evans’ replacement
Bruce Bochy has managed in the big leagues for 24 years and worked with just four general managers, all with different backgrounds, different ideas and different agendas. Now, Bochy awaits No. 5. “We don’t know who that person is now,” the Giants’ 63-year-old manager said Tuesday, a day after the team fired GM Bobby Evans and announced it’ll hire someone from outside the organization to run baseball operations.
“He’s going to be the guy who will be making the decisions. You understand that and whatever he wants to do. On the field, my job’s to make it work.”
CEO Larry Baer said there’s no rush to find a replacement and that Brian Sabean will run the show until the newcomer comes aboard, preferably sometime next month, with the GM meet-
ings on the docket in early November.
Bochy, who guided the Giants to three World Series titles but oversaw the past 2½ seasons of subpar baseball, said he’s open to the team’s next phase, whatever that might be, and plans to be flexible, as usual, when working with whomever will be hired.
Moving forward with a contract that expires after next season and with no extension talks, Bochy said his lameduck status is not a concern.
“Not for me, and I don’t want them to have that on their plate, either,” Bochy said. “I told them that. I’m signed, and I’m good right now. Let’s just concentrate on what we need to do, and that’s make this team better. I have zero concern about it.”
Randy Smith, once the youngest GM in history and the son of longtime baseball executive Tal Smith, hired Bochy as the Padres’ manager for the 1995 season, and Kevin Towers, a former minor-league pitcher, replaced Smith a year later.
Sabean, deep-rooted in scouting, brought Bochy to San Francisco, and Evans, Sabean’s longtime assistant who worked his way up the Giants’ organization, assumed Sabean’s GM role in April 2015.
The new boss might not have the GM title but still will work closely with Bochy.
“All of us know we’ve got to get better,” Bochy said. “We’ve got to change some things. It goes with the territory in our game. Whether it’s on the player side, coaching side, manager or even front office, it’s a tough part of the game, but it’s what you’ve got to deal with.”
Baer said the newcomer would implement a “blueprint for the future” with a blend of analytics and scouting. The Giants won their championships mostly by emphasizing the latter but have been catching up on the former.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Giants, whose strategy of acquiring high-priced players (often on the down side of their careers) hasn’t worked, follow an industry-wide trend of hiring someone analytics-based and perhaps Ivy School-educated.
Baer is fond of how Andrew Friedman (Rays, Dodgers) and Theo Epstein (Red Sox, Cubs) have taken over organizations with innovative ideas and succeeded on many levels.
A’s GM David Forst, who helped build a playoff team with the majors’ lowest seasonopening payroll, has a contract that ends after next season. Because the Giants’ job technically is a promotion — in Oakland, Forst reports to Billy Beane; the Giants’ new hire would report to Baer — it would be bad form for A’s ownership to deny an interview with the Giants.
Baer said he’s open to hiring a woman, and few majorleague executives are as widely respected as Kim Ng, a former assistant GM with the Yankees and Dodgers who works for Major League Baseball. Jean Afterman, a Yankees assistant and the game’s highest-ranking female employee, could be a candidate. She’s from San Francisco and went to Lowell High School, Baer’s alma mater. Many names have been floated, including from teams that have excelled emphasizing analytics: Rays, Cubs, Astros, Braves, Indians and even the Dodgers.
Meantime, no matter who’ll be hired, Bochy said he maintains his passion to manage.
“Have I never lost my fire?” asked Bochy, repeating a question. “Well, ask a couple of guys last night in the dugout. If I (lost my fire), I would not be here. I love what I’m doing. I’d love to have another shot at the postseason. Like I said, I thought the plan was pretty good. Unfortunately, we had to deal with a lot.”