Sabean-Bochy deal predictable, key

Share

In a move that will make both supporters and critics alike sing with joy, Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy received their belated contract extensions Tuesday.

Supporters, because it means that the architects of the current Giants baseball operation will be around for the next two years, with a club option for 2014.

And critics because, well, what else do they know but complaining that Sabean doesnt do things their way, or even explain it in a way they find tolerable.

And lets face it -- the second-best thing to enjoying your teams management is enjoying ripping your teams management.

The actual fact isnt really news. Ownership front man Larry Baer had said all along the deals would get done, and we can only assume that the announcement was made today because nothing stupid or criminal happened in college sports today.

At least not yet. College sports is on a roll.

But the extensions for Sabean and Bochy will be particularly useful both ways, because it shows that the ownership upheavals of the last three years at least havent unduly disrupted the baseball operation -- except, say, in the matter of how much money is committed year in and year out to the ball side.

And therein is always the biggest question with the Giants -- whether they want to play with the big boys, or be the best mid-range guys they can be.

Now we can eliminate the biggest of the big, for they are never going to spend with the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs or Phillies. In fact, the Cubs under their new ownership may never spend like the Cubs ever again.

But budgets are created not be general managers but by owners, which means that Charles Johnson, who has the most actual cash in the game after the ouster of Bill Neukom and some divestitures by the Burns sisters, has the final say on how much the Giants can spend, and Baer will doubtless be the one to bring that message to Sabean and Bochy.

It is clear that the Giants arent in the play for any big free agents, so the big splash Sabeans critics demand of him is a pipe dreamand well leave it to you to determine what kind of tobacco-based product is in the pipe.

No, Sabeans first duty will be to figure out how to keep the pitching staff paid and played, which we know. And the reaction to the fact that he will making that Job 1 for at least two more seasons will be the fun part.

Sabean has been the claymore mine for all things Giant for nearly two decades now, taking shrapnel for previous ownerships while figuring out how much credit to avoid. Hes hit and missed on his share, but what may be more maddening to his critics is not that he takes all the bullets, but that he doesnt even try to amuse them by talking in modern baseball buzzwords. He kicks tires and does due diligence, and doesnt do give-and-take with the audience.

As for Bochy, he deliberately talks in the painfully slow drawl that makes the ignorant think he isnt bright, when in fact he is not only a sharp baseball mind but can size people up in about a half-hour and knows what they will do in specific situations before they do.

Like all managers, he cannot predict outcomes of strategic moves ahead of time, but anyone who thinks he isnt a mastermind in the care and feeding of a pitching staff, from ace to mop-up inning-eater, is frankly a moron.

Either way, theyve earned their extensions, because theyd earned them a year earlier. But everyone gets what they want. Those who like the status quo get more quo, and those who like slagging them get to slag them some more.

And if that isnt the holiday season, Im not sure what is.
Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com.

Contact Us