Front-office reshuffle offers intrigue

Sabean’s promotion to give him time for more live scouting

SAN FRANCISCO — With Bruce Bochy now extended through the 2019 season, nothing should change in the Giants dugout for the foreseeable future. As for the front-office reshuffle that elevated top baseball execs Brian Sabean and Bobby Evans, it remains to be seen how that will shake out.

For Bochy, 59, it’s just a straightforward and no doubt lucrative extension. He already was under contract through 2016 as the club’s field manager, and if he fulfills the terms of the additional three years he received, he will become the longest-tenured manager in the club’s San Francisco history and second in franchise history to legendary New York Giants manager John McGraw. Bochy is entering his ninth season with the Giants, one year shy of Dusty Baker’s record 10 years at the helm in San Francisco.

It’s the front office role changing that will offer the most intrigue, and it might take some time to determine if it’s as dramatic as it sounds. Sabean, who has been baseball’s longest-tenured general manager after taking the job in September 1996, will relinquish his position to longtime assistant Evans, while another organizational mainstay, Jeremy Shelley, will join incumbents Dick Tidrow and John Barr as one of the club’s three G.M. assistants.

While Sabean will retain veto power over all Giants transactions, Evans will head day-to-day baseball operations and free up Sabean to get back to more live scouting as well as plot and oversee a long-term blueprint he hopes assures the franchise success well into the future.

Sabean, 58, will assume the title of executive vice president of baseball operations and probably undertake the most drastic role change. He said the reorganization has been in the works since the end of the 2014 season.

“What I’m excited about is Bobby’s more than ready,” he said. “We’ve continually put more and more on his plate as the years have progressed, and he has come through with flying colors with every assignment. He’s more than ready to be a G.M. I’ve said it on a number of occasions, I’m very frustrated that the outside world didn’t recognize that, so I’m extremely proud that I could pass the torch.”

Sabean said it will allow him to pursue and implement his own vision of the future for the club’s baseball side.

“I won’t be married to a day-to-day major league schedule,” he said. “To stay current in today’s game, you have to run out internationally at the spur of the moment. You have to be involved firsthand in developing your own opinions on your own players through the minor league system, including who to trade and who not to trade.

“Now I’m going to be able to go out and see those games firsthand, whether it’s a free-agent-to-be or more so a player for the July trade deadline. My love, my passion, is scouting young players, and I hope to get out and see some players for the draft. The mechanics of this are very simple. When I’m here, I’ll certainly be in reach, and I hope it ensures us going into the future more quality control, more us getting ready potentially for a worldwide draft.”

Sabean said tapping into the international market, particularly if Cuba opens up, is a high priority.

Evans is beginning his 22nd season with the Giants and has long been Sabean’s most important ally in all facets of the organization, particularly in terms of negotiating contracts. Over the past four seasons, he was instrumental in working out long-term deals for Giants core stars Buster Posey, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner.

Of his promotion, Evans mused, “I’m not sure why they chose to do this in an odd (-numbered) year, but I’m sure it was well thoughtout.”

Shelley, a Concord native, has operated largely behind the scenes in the Giants front office but has been with the club for 22 years.