I've established that the lion's share of the blame for the disappointing 2011 season for the Giants should fall on the players. Had the hitters performed at levels that most people expected them to, things certainly would have been different. I explored the idea perhaps it was Manager Bruce Bochy who was at fault for not getting the most out of his players. There's some merit to that, but general consensus is that he was dealt too tough of a hand for much of the blame to fall on him. Given that Brian Sabean dealt Bochy his hand, how much blame can we put on Sabes and the rest of the front office?
I never believed that managers and GMs could have "good years" and "bad years". Until this year. Last year, Sabean killed it. He signed Huff, picked up Burrell, nabbed Cody Ross, and traded for Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez. All of these moves had SIGNIFICANT impacts leading to the 2010 World Series Championship. This year, it was quite the opposite. He gave Huff too much money. Calling Tejada a dud would be much too nice. The same goes for Orlando Cabrera. Nobody knew what the hell to do with Brandon Belt. By season's end, Jeff Keppinger (another attempt at a minor upgrade for prospects) saw his OPB dip to .300. Finally, Sabean gave up the system's top prospect in Zack Wheeler -- in a season in which the Giants finished 8 games out of first place. Sure, Beltran performed admirably when he was on the field. But his total contribution while with the Giants? 1 Win Above Replacement (WAR), according to Baseball Reference. The fact is, one player really can't make that much of a difference over 2 months. Especially one who gets injured, and Beltran was a known injury risk. Not to mention a risk to clubhouse chemistry. Taking away Shierholtz's starting job in right clearly had an effect on him. Beltran should have been relegated to left for defensive purposes alone, and to cause less of an overall disruption.
All in all, Sabean had a bad year this year. I don't think it's because he did anything differently than he normally would. It's not as if he's a player adjusting his mechanics. But in a career filled with good moves and bad moves, chances are that some of the good ones will cluster together (as in 2010), and some of the bad ones will as well (2011). Here's to hoping for a rebound in 2012.
I have one suggestion to start: the Giants front office needs to do a better job of marketing themselves. Not to fans--they've got that down pat. I'm talking about marketing the Giants to the rest of baseball. Players and agents. Get people to want to come here. I'm sick of hearing how bad of a hitter's park this is. I remember seeing stats a couple years ago showing that AT&T park was neither a pitcher's park nor a hitter's park. It was in the middle. Since then, it has probably drifted towards a pitcher's park. But let's get real: the reason for that is because opposing hitters come in here and have to face the Giants' pitching. And the Giants' hitters are, well, Giants' hitters. Get going on some PowerPoints to convince Beltran to stay. Show Jose Reyes what sort of numbers he could put up here. Focus on the gorgeous weather we have in September and October. If players don't want to play here, put together a better goddam sales pitch. I'm sick of that excuse.
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