We all have opinions about Brian Sabean. Some of them might even be fair and measured! But a good portion of the Giants' successes and failures have to do with other, less visible people in the front office. And according to a Giants press release, four of those people are getting a new title:
San Francisco Giants Senior Vice President and General Manager Brian R. Sabean today announced the following promotions of his senior baseball staff:
Dick Tidrow has been named Vice President and Assistant General Manager, Player Personnel.
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Bobby Evans has been named Vice President and Assistant General Manager (previously VP, player operations)
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John Barr has been named Vice President and Assistant General Manager, Scouting and International Operations.
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Jeremy Shelley has been named Vice President, Pro Scouting and Player Evaluation.
Let's see, Tidrow used to be vice president of player personnel; Evans used to be VP of player operations; Barr used to be special scouting assistant to the GM; and Shelley used to be the senior director of player operations and pro scouting.
You've heard all of those names before. They're good names to know if you're committed to deflecting every possible scrap of praise you could give Sabean. Lincecum? That's a Tidrow pick. Posey? Oh, totally John Barr. The Vogelsong extension? Well, Shelley came up with the idea to get him in the first place, and then Evans had the idea to extend him.
(Note: I'm just making that all up. But they're good names to know when you want to be weaselly in an argument!)
That's 66 combined seasons with the Giants up there, and they built two championship teams*, so it's all good news to me.
This will be followed by news of an extension for Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy, of course. So be prepared for that. I was actually just in the middle of a post about the inevitability of such an extension, and it's not like this news made me stop the presses. The Giants are keeping the brain trust together, and even though I can't speak to the exact baseball-related philosophies of everyone involved, it seems like a good idea.
*2010 and 2012