San Francisco Giants: With Bill Neukom Out, Giants Fans Shouldn't Worry

The San Francisco Giants won on Wednesday afternoon, sweeping the San Diego Padres in their three-game series, the team's fourth straight win overall. That evening, I sat at my desk pondering what could have been had this team played better in August and what this four-game winning streak might have meant if that were the case.

Unexpectedly, I received a short, strange text from my cousin Mike that read "Neukom out? What is going on?" I immediately jumped into the Twitter-verse, found this link http://www.mercurynews.com/mark-purdy/ci_18895752, read the article by Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News and went into a slight panic mode.

Peter McGowan was the man who saved the franchise for San Francisco. He was also the man who, fair or not, presided over the black cloud of the steroid era in baseball for the Giants. When McGowan retired after the 2008 season, it was a nervous time for Giants fans. McGowan undoubtedly loved the Giants and had a passion for their history, for the ballpark and San Francisco; every Giants fan could relate to him.

The Giants were moving a perceived outsider into his role—a man who nobody knew or trusted and who constantly wore a bow tie.

Bill Neukom was from the Bay Area and had been an investor in the Giants for over 10 years at that point, but none of us knew him. Mr. Neukom very quickly gained the confidence of the Giants fans with his "Giants Way" mandate and, of course, in winning the World Series in 2010. Giants’ fans had become comfortable with him as the overall face of the franchise and came to trust him.

Now, the news breaks that he perhaps alienated the majority of the Giants ownership's Executive Committee and he has been forced out as president and CEO of the team. The Giants are holding a press conference with Neukom and Larry Baer today to announce this move in which Neukom will officially "retire" and Larry Baer will replace him as CEO.

As soon as I learned this, I was at peace with the shakeup at the top.

Larry Baer is the one constant in the public eye since the ownership group formed in late 1992 to wrestle the team away from the clutches of Tampa/St. Petersburg. He has seemingly served in every possible capacity in the organization, including his tireless work spearheading the project that gave the baseball world the jewel that is AT&T Park. 

In recent years, Baer has taken on increasingly bigger roles near the top of the organizational chart and, although no one saw this coming, his assumption of the CEO role is a sensible one.

Giants’ fans are probably wondering today what all of this will mean. Does it mean that the Giants will spend less, even though they are in fantastic financial shape? Does it mean there will be major changes in the operations of the team? Does it mean anything other than that there is a new face attached to the franchise, a face that has always been there anyway? 

No, no and no.

The Giants will not be the Florida Marlins, who won the World Series and then cut the payroll in order to pocket the extra income that a championship generates.

In fact, for the Giants, not much will change at all.

Larry Baer isn't new to this. He has been there right alongside McGowan and Neukom. I'm sure he will put his own mark on the team, but operationally I don't expect much, if anything, to change.

Even with the new-found fortunes, the Giants were never going to be a team that could just spend frivolously and absorb bad contracts. Case in point: Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand. While these two contracts didn't prevent them from ultimately being successful, they did restrict the ability of the team to spend on the right players if and when the opportunity presented itself.

Giants’ fans can expect the team to continue to be involved in free agency at the same level as before. Giants’ fans can expect the same level of importance being placed on a productive farm system. Giants’ fans can expect the same operating team to remain in place, constantly looking to improve. And Giants’ fans can expect that this move will not hinder or derail the track that the organization has been on.

Larry Baer is a Giant. 

He is gregarious, extremely talkative, engaging and as passionate about the health of this franchise and the product on the field as any Giants fan. I fully expect positive things to continue to happen at 24 Willie Mays Plaza under his guidance.