NEW YORK — Some much-needed World Series acumen is heading to Yankee Stadium.
While the Yankees didn’t acquire any big name players on Tuesday, they did introduce one of the most decorated executives in Major League Baseball history. Brian Sabean, the general manager who oversaw the San Francisco Giants’ three-championship run in the 2010s, is the Yankees’ new executive advisor to general manager Brian Cashman.
“It’s a little bit emotional and overwhelming,” said Sabean, who worked in the Yankees’ scouting department from 1985 to 1992. “It’s somewhat of a strange twist of fate, after 30 years, to rejoin the organization that I started in. A lot of memories are flashing back.”
After winning the trio of World Series rings in San Francisco, Sabean was the Giants’ executive vice president of baseball operations from 2015-18, and has spent the last four seasons as their executive vice president, focusing on strategic initiatives and evaluation. Following the 2022 season, he, Giants’ CEO Larry Baer and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi thought it’d be best for everyone involved to let Sabean’s contract expire. Once that happened and he was free to explore other options, his mind immediately went to Cashman. Sabean shed some light on what his job looked like while working with Zaidi.
“I was very involved with the amateur draft,” Sabean explained, while noting that he hopes to be more of a “utility tool” for the Yankees. “I’m really fascinated by how far the amateur game has come, especially in college and all these showcases around the country for high school players. That was something I really enjoyed a lot.”
Since Zaidi took over the San Francisco front office in 2018, Sabean saw himself getting increasingly marginalized. He mentioned wanting a bigger role, a pretty understandable ask for someone who guided the ship to three titles, and his comments about what happened could definitely be perceived as a shot at his ex-employer.
“I’m not sure. Obviously with new regimes there’s different group dynamics and wants and needs. It became what it was. I’m just so thankful that I’m relevant enough to get this opportunity.”
Sabean isn’t totally sure what the entire scope of his job will be in New York yet. He did say, unprompted, that he’s “all in” and will do “anything to help the Yankees win another World Series.” Calling himself a “link in the chain” for the Yankees’ late-90s dynasty — Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams were all drafted or signed by the Yankees while Sabean was part of the organization — the hope is that the 66-year-old can find some more hidden gems that propel the Yankees to glory.
“We were probably best in class at scouting and player development,” Sabean said of the Yankees’ think tank at the time. “To see it come to fruition was extremely gratifying.”
Sabean also noted that he and his family have been dealing with a private matter which made them want to live on the east coast, particularly Florida, where the Yankees have a vast baseball complex and hold spring training every year. Sabean said he will travel as part of this new role but expects to be primarily based in Florida.
The crown jewels of Sabean’s career — the 2010, 2012 and 2014 championship squads in San Francisco — were built on pitching and defense. The Giants famously have not had any player post a 30-homer season since Barry Bonds retired. While the Yankees do have the American League home run king on their roster, they’ve made a big deal about trying to become more well-rounded in recent years and not so reliant on power. Their main move of the offseason (apart from re-signing Aaron Judge) was bringing in starting pitcher Carlos Rodon, who was masterful in his one year with the Giants in 2022.
While he wouldn’t get into the specifics of what the Yankees need to get back into the championship ranks, Sabean’s philosophy about what makes a winning team clearly begins and ends on the pitcher’s mound.
“Pitching was our ace card,” he said of the success in San Francisco. “We developed a strong, young core of starters [Madison Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain] as well as a core four in the bullpen. Those four individuals [Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo] contributed to all four of our World Series and we won the games we were supposed to win.
You had to play baseball to beat us. We were an offense that was the sum of its parts. I don’t think any other organization had that firepower from the pitching side of things. If you look at our teams, we were very formidable. We were very tough to beat because of the pitching.”
While Luis Severino is the sole member of the Yankees’ starting rotation who was developed in their minor league system, the combination of him, Rodon, Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes are just as formidable as the homegrown staffs that carried the Giants. Clay Holmes, Jonathan Loaisiga, Michael King and Wandy Peralta are a pretty great quartet of relievers as well, so long as they’re healthy.
If Sabean has his way, Yankee fans will soon be talking about them the way people in the Bay Area talk about their beloved heroes from the previous decade.
