Why Not Getting Manny Ramirez Saved Brian Sabean's Job as Giants GM

(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Since the end of the 2006 season, San Francisco Giants' general manager Brian Sabean has found himself on the hot seat.

In that time span, the Giants have not won more than 76 games, and have consistently been a non-factor in the National League West.

To make matters worse, it doesn't help Sabean's case that every team in the division has made a playoff appearance in that time span except for the Giants.

It has been a long seven years since the Giants were one inning away from winning a World Series title, and the fans haven't been too happy about it.

The Sabean era has been characterized by questionable trades (his most famous one was trading Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser and Francisco Liriano away for a tumultuous one year with AJ Pierzynski), head-scratching free agent signings (Dave Roberts and Barry Zito for $126 million and Armando Benitez), and passive management (Sabean and owner Peter Magowan looking the other way on the steroid-heavy locker room scene, despite getting notice from trainers that there was steroid use going on).

And the relationship between Sabean and his fans didn't get any rosier when he signed a two-year extension after the 2007 All-Star break, despite the team floundering in the basement of the division.

In many fans' eyes, it was almost as if Giants owner Peter Magowan was simply accepting mediocrity. It was the kind of move that exhibited the mentality of losing franchises like the Kansas City Royals and Washington Nationals, not a storied one like the Giants.

Sure, Brian Sabean had done a lot to turn around the Giants in his tenure.

He made the gutsy move of trading away franchise figure Matt Williams, and it paid off. They went from last to first place in 1997, and the player they received in the deal, Jeff Kent, became an MVP.

However, those days when it seemed Sabean could do no wrong in the late 90s and early 2000s faded after 2005. Giants teams were frustrating to watch. Guys who were supposed to be the centerpieces of the franchise, like Benitez and Matt Morris, flopped in their tenures in San Francisco.

And the worst part? So many of Sabean's moves put the organization back. Young guys didn't get the chances they needed to succeed at the Major League level because 40-year-old players had such strangleholds of a majority of the positions.

And they weren't starting because they were necessarily better players, either. They were starting because these aging veterans were the ones getting paid the most, and we couldn't afford to have them sit the bench.

With Sabean's contract ending in 2009, many Giants fans felt this was the last year of the Sabean era. Unless something dramatic happened, we all figured with the constant criticism of Sabean in the media, and his fan support fading fast, Magowan would wise up, and try something new in the front office.

And then something dramatic happened: Manny Ramirez became available.

With the Yankees signing both CC Sabathia and Mark Teixiera to $100–plus million contracts, and Ramirez and Boras swatting down Dodgers offers like Dikembe Mutombo in the 1995 playoffs, the opportunity was there for the Giants to step in and make an offer.

All that was needed on the Giants' end was that extra year in the contract Manny wanted, and the Giants would have the slugger in the lineup they've sorely missed since Bonds' departure after the 2007 season.

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