There wasn't much drama involved with the Giants decision to re-sign general manager Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy, each of whom got two-year deals with options for 2012 on Tuesday. It was widely assumed that they would be back once the team established itself as a contender at midseason, and it was reported a couple weeks ago that it was a fait accompli.In fact, managing general partner Bill Neukom said the decision "was fairly easy. The team played so well and the results were positive. It was clear the direct affect of the work and leadership of each of these people toward that record "
Should it have been easy?
By all accounts, Bochy is a solid manager, one who is well-respected by his peers and his players. He seems to get good years out of good teams, and rarely do you hear much griping about his teams underachieving. In fact, there is not question that this year's Giants team at least met its potential. This was a bad offensive team that won 88 games on pitching alone.
Which brings us to the man who put this team together. Did Sabean, the GM with the longest tenure with his current team, deserve to get a new contract?
A few years ago, when the Giants were contending every year, Sabean was thought to have one of baseball's sharpest minds. Then Barry Bonds got old and retired, and the Giants suddenly weren't so good any more. They had an organization that was built for the short-term, because of Bonds, and once he was gone Sabean couldn't exactly change the direction on a dime and suddenly roll out a Tampa Bay Rays-like stable of young talent.
At least Sabean has shown more of a willingness lately to let the Giants young players have a shot. He opted against acquiring a hitter like Adam Dunn or Bobby Abreu or Orlando Hudson last winter because he wanted to save room for young players like Fred Lewis, Emmanuel Burriss and Travis Ishikawa. As it turned out, none of those guys panned out. You can criticize Sabean for making poor evaluations on those players, but at least his heart was in the right place. Any of those free agents might have turned out to be the next Michael Tucker, who is the poster boy for Sabean's habit of signing second-rate free-agents past their prime as short-term fixes.
The Giants still need to get some offense somewhere over the winter, and it's not going to be easy. The free-agent market is thin (Matt Holliday and Jason Bay) and the Giants don't really have the organizational depth to make a big trade. Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey are the only blue-chip prospects left now that Angel Villalona's future is in question.The Giants best hope is that Sabean can accurately judge the market and sift out the difference between the Russell Branyans and the Edgar Renterias, getting good value for his dollars.
His boss thinks he can.
