Brian Sabean: Baseball's Best Bad GM

If you were to ask a true San Francisco Giants fan about Brian Sabean, you would likely get one of two answers: "Brian Sabean is a genius" or "Brian Sabean is a moron". The difference is simply when the question is asked.

Sabean's 14-year tenure has been filled with consistent inconsistency. Year-to-year there is very little way of knowing how the Giants will fare. Most of this is due to the strategy of the team's main personnel strategist. He has made great draft picks, bad signings, improbable trades, and puzzling moves. All-in-all Sabean is the perfect model of how a MLB general manager can just keep his job.

Let's examine just how Sabean has earned this moniker as "the best bad GM in baseball":

Brian Sabean is a Genius:

He acquired the average-hitting Randy Winn from Seattle in a minor deadline move in 2005. Winn proceeded to hit .359 the remainder of the season with 14 HR and 22 doubles, nearly matching his doubles total and doubling his HR total in half as many games

He drafted Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Buster Posey who are now the face of the franchise, Lincecum winning back-to-back Cy Young awards.

He kept Barry Bonds. arguably the best all-around player in baseball history, in SF despite failing to win a championship in his tenure.

He signed Aubrey Huff to a 1-year/$3 million deal. Huff has been the catalyst for the offense so far this year, hitting .312 with 20 HR and 66 RBI playing in all but three games.

Brian Sabean is a Moron:

In 2007, Sabean signed Barry Zito to a 7-year/$119 million deal with an $18 million team option for 2014 that has a $7 million buyout. Zito showed up with a different windup and five mph off his fastball. His first three years in SF were very forgettable: 4.56 ERA with 1 CG. Zito is much improved this season, but it is clear he will never be the pitcher they paid for.

In the midst of a pennant race in 2003, he trades for Sidney Ponson to try to give the team a kick down the stretch. As it turned out, the Giants managed a 100-win season despite Ponson, who went 3-6 for the Giants. They were ousted in the first round by the eventual champs in the Florida Marlins and Ponson's quite lackluster performance did little to help: 5 IP, 4 ER, 7 H.

Aaron Rowand was going into free agency following an All-Star season in Philadelphia in 2007. Sabean won the Rowand sweepstakes, drastically outbidding all comers with a 5-year/$56 million offer. Had Sabean paid any attention to Rowand's splits he would have seen a 20-point drop-off in Rowand's average away from Citizens' Bank and a near 100-point less OPS. Sabean either did not see these numbers or chose to ignore them and signed Rowand anyway. Rowand's home run totals from his first two seasons in SF were just one more than his last year in Philly and he has now become a very expensive fourth outfielder for the Giants.

To his credit, Sabean was never really regarded as a front office "Wiz". He's not in the same category as Theo Epstein, Billy Beane, or Rangers new main man Jon Daniels. But, his draft strategy is the new model for contending team: build on pitching and hopefully the hitting will present itself at the right time.

This season has fueled new life into Sabean, whose tenure seemed to be at the end of its rope. Draft pick Buster Posey has been a hitting machine for the Giants, leading the NL in hits in July. The starting pitching has been excellent, and the bullpen has held up at the end of games.

History has shown us, however, that sooner or later Sabean will make a regretable signing or trade that could set the franchise back a few years both in winning and payroll. Until that happens though, Sabean has saved his job for the time being. Giants fans are looking towards this young team to end their lengthy World Series drought in the next few years. However, some are still weary of the next trademark Sabean slip-up.