its not that he is incompetent - in fact, he's been a pretty good GM over the years and at times, an excellent one.  The problem with Brian Sabean is that he is a jerk.  And that rears its ugly head every time he is questioned.  Sabean does not take any responsibility when things go bad.  Ever.     Moreover, when challenged, even slightly, he lashes out.  And the result ain't pretty.  He did so again in his interview  Wednesday.  In so doing, he gratuitously threw both Brett Pill and Brandon Belt under the bus.  First, he says this about Pill:   
""He's had a nice year statistically. I think he's got a base-hit swing. But how much damage within that swing he could provide, I'm not sure. If we all were sold with any of those guys, they'd already have been up here trying to help us."  Wow.  Translated - he's a AAAA guy.  Now that may be true.  But why say it.  How bout - Brett's had a great year in AAA and we look forward to seeing if he can help us in the future.  We did not feel he was ready right now."  Then he takes out Belt:  ""We've seen his ups and downs -- Belt is far from a finished product or an established major league player yet," Sabean said."And he's playing of late, and he's showing one of the reasons that he had to go back to the minor leagues. He's also showing flashes of helping us, and he has helped us win a couple games."  Unbelievable.  How bout this instead:  Brandon has shown flashes of the player we know he will be.  Its a learning process and he's been forced by circumstances to be up somewhat sooner than we would have liked.  It's unrealistic to think he'll be the savior.  That is too much pressure to put on a young player.  But we really like what we see. 

As I said - Sabean's biggest problem is he's a jerk.  And it truly comes to light when anyone has the temerity to suggest that he may have been less than perfect.