(Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images)
Every front office has a strategy for winning baseball games and making money.
The A’s like to mix developing young talent with cheap veterans to field a team. Once a player becomes too expensive to keep, Billy Bean either trades him or lets him go in favor of new, younger players.
On the flip side, the Yankees have the most money in baseball and like to spend it on the best available free agent talent.
The moment Jeff Kent left the Giants following the 2002 season, Brian Sabean and the San Francisco front office came to the conclusion that the clubhouse was not big enough for two superstars.
Thus, they decided that the best way for San Francisco to win and be profitable was to play “Seniorball.”
“Seniorball” is when a team surrounds one superstar, in this case Bonds, with classy, mature veteran players with the hope that it will be enough to win.
In the 2002 off-season, the Giants lost four of their starting nine position players (including their No. 3 hitter), as well as three of their five starting pitchers.
When was the last time you saw a baseball team with money come one game away from a World Series title then decide to revamp their entire roster the following season?
Many baseball analysts would argue that Sabean’s refusal add a second big bat to the line-up was the result of a selfish business move.
With Bonds' pursuit of Aaron’s homerun record the Giants would make money regardless, why spend big on another star player? This viewpoint is simply untrue.
Over the next several years, the Giants spent tons of money, just on the wrong kind of players.
“Seniorball” was a result of Sabean trying too hard to protect his slugger and it ended up costing San Fran dearly. Knowing Bonds was his meal ticket, Sabean did everything he could to look after him.
With all the negative press and treatment Bonds received for steroids use, the Giants felt that filling the roster with good clubhouse players with experience would better protect Barry than by adding another big bat.
The 2003 and 2004 seasons were a kiss of death for the Giants' long-term future. With the best player in baseball and Jason Schmidt leading the rotation, San Francisco won 100 games in ’03 and 92 in ’04 and the front office was convinced that they could win playing “Seniorball.”
Unfortunately, as good as Barry was, he was a 40 year old with knee problems, and as hard as Schmidt threw, he was a fastball pitcher entering his mid-30’s.
Sabean ignored this and continued to ink high priced, over-the-hill vets like Moises Alou, Armando Benitez, Omar Vizquel and Mike Matheny to contracts that were way above market value.
Sure enough, Bonds missed the entire 2005 season due to knee surgery and Schmidt’s numbers dropped dramatically from 2004. 2005 was Brian Sabean’s first losing season since taking over as the Giants GM.
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