SAN FRANCISCO — At AT&T Park, the first day of the offseason traditionally is spent trying to craft a message that will be dispersed to the media during a Tuesday press conference. This year, team officials are having completely different kinds of meetings.
The Giants already have started the process of reaching out to potential candidates to lead the baseball operations department, team president and CEO Larry Baer said Sunday, but they still don’t anticipate a quick resolution.
“We’re not going to rush it,” Baer said. “I don’t want to get into timelines because you just don’t know.”
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For now, Baer still is working closely with Brian Sabean, who has served as vice president of baseball operations since departing the general manager role. While meeting with members of the local media Sunday, the two offered a few new details about the ongoing search.
Baer said names will not be made public, and he doesn’t anticipate using an outside search firm, although a company might be hired to handle some logistical issues. He wouldn’t commit to having a new architect in place by Major League Baseball's GM meetings in early November, but ownership is hopeful the search will be wrapped up by then.
While the Giants have been coy about the title that’s up for grabs, they did indicate that a new head won’t come in alone. Perhaps a vice president of baseball operations will be hired, and that person then will bring in a new GM. Sabean said that, if he were the one on the other side of this, he would expect to come in with two or three other people.
“That’s common sense,” he said.
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What does that mean for those remaining? Baer and Sabean again talked about how many good people are in the organization, although it’s been a stressful couple of weeks for many in the front offices. Several officials on the baseball ops side talked last week about how they’re hopeful a new boss will take the time to evaluate each individual instead of just cleaning house. That likely will be the process. The majority of the team’s coaches, scouts and baseball people are under contract through 2019.
When the firing of Bobby Evans was announced last week, Baer said he wanted a “next-gen” hire. On Sunday, he talked of finding a “great baseball mind.”
“I don’t think it’s, ‘What is your exact plan for 2019?’ ” he said. “I think, flowing from a great baseball mind, will be the right approach, short-term, mid-term, long-term.”
The search is expected to be an exhaustive one, and the Giants have received plenty of interest since announcing their intentions. Per sources, at least one former MLB GM already has been contacted about interviewing. For now, Baer is relying mostly on connections made by Sabean and Bochy over the years. They believe they have a strong list forming, and Sabean knows what type of candidate he prefers.
“If you’re asking me, personally, it would be a combination of my skill set and maybe Bobby Evans’ skill set,” he said. “So it’s somebody that’s strong on both sides of the house and has been able to matriculate learning from both sides of the house.
“I’m sure Larry is going to bring in the most qualified but well-rounded person he can find. I do not see that he’s interested in somebody that’s centric one way (whether scouting or analytics) or the other. It’s going to have to be a balancing act.”