Giants will take time in search for next GM

Team President Larry Baer and executive vice president Brian Sabean have begun informal conversations with potential candidates to become head of baseball operations and chart the Giants’ future, a job they might not fill ahead of the general-manager meetings in November.

“We’re not going to rush it,” Baer said before Sunday’s game. “I don’t think it will be particularly quick because I’m sure there will be candidates from teams in the playoffs and teams that are not in the playoffs. That will allow for folks to do their jobs with their organizations.”

More significant, Baer said the Giants do not plan to dictate a timetable for contention or major decisions such as trading or keeping Madison Bumgarner, but will listen to what the candidates have to say.

“The most important thing is a great baseball mind,” Baer said. “I don’t think it’s, ‘Say, what is your exact plan for 2019?’ Flowing from a great baseball mind will be the right approach, short term and long term.”

Sabean, who is helping Baer find his replacement as the top baseball decisionmaker, did say Bumgarner’s future would be “heavy in the equation, and I’m sure that will come up in the interviews.”

Baer, Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy are tapping into their networks of baseball friends and colleagues to help identify candidates.

Sabean, asked how he would define a “great baseball mind,” said. “I don’t know that Larry can find it in one person, but if you’re asking me, it would be a combination of my skill set and maybe Bobby Evans’ skill set, somebody who’s strong on both sides of the house.”

Sabean’s background was scouting and development. Evans, who was fired as general manager last week, was a savvy contract negotiator who also ran an analytics operation more vast than the Giants publicly acknowledge.

“I’m sure Larry is going to bring in the most well-rounded and qualified person he can find,” Sabean said. “I do not see him interested in somebody who’s centric one way or the other.”

One slice of the near future seems clear: Current management views Buster Posey as the 2019 catcher when he returns from offseason hip surgery, with Opening Day possible.

“There’s been no discussion about him playing any other position,” Sabean said. “He’s our franchise player and he wants to catch.”