Brian Sabean

Brian R. Sabean (born July 1, 1956), nicknamed "Sabes", is an American baseball executive for the New York Yankees.

He serves as executive advisor to the general manager and senior vice president Brian Cashman.

Before coming to the Yankees, he was the executive vice president of baseball operations of the San Francisco Giants.

In 1978, Sabean was field manager of the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, a collegiate summer baseball team in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League.

He was an assistant baseball coach at Saint Leo University in 1979 and University of Tampa from 1980 to 1982.

He was promoted to head coach in 1983 and led Tampa to its first-ever NCAA regional tournament appearance in 1984.

Sabean began his involvement in Major League Baseball as a scout for the New York Yankees organization in 1985.

Sabean was promoted to director of scouting in 1986 and vice president of player development/scouting in 1990.

With the Yankees, he drafted or signed as amateurs the likes of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, J. T. Snow, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte.

Sabean joined the Giants in 1993, serving as assistant to the general manager and vice president of scouting/player personnel.

Sabean served one year as senior vice president of player personnel in 1995 before his promotion to general manager in 1996.

When Sabean replaced Bob Quinn in 1996, the team was in disarray, finishing last in the National League West with 94 losses.

Sabean is often credited for the team's turnaround, but his first major decision was very controversial at the time, trading fan favorite Matt Williams to the Cleveland Indians for José Vizcaíno, Joe Roa, Julián Tavárez and Jeff Kent.

Sabean received so much criticism in San Francisco for the trade that he had to defend himself in the media, declaring, "I am not an idiot."

He served as the team's general manager for eighteen seasons, from 1997 to 2014.

He succeeded general manager Bob Quinn.

The Giants had a winning record in thirteen of the eighteen seasons in which Sabean served as general manager.

Prior to his tenure, the team had suffered losing seasons in five out of six years.

He is a native of Concord, New Hampshire.

Sabean was born in Concord, New Hampshire, and attended Concord High School and Eckerd College of St. Petersburg, Florida, playing with former major leaguer Joe Lefebvre at both schools.

In 1997, the Giants won their first N.L. West title since 1989, finishing with a 90–72 record, the first of eight straight winning seasons.

This eight-year stretch was one of the more successful in Giants franchise history, with the Giants averaging 92 wins per season.

During these years, Sabean's strategy was to trade away young prospects for veteran position players while developing the organization's pitching talent.

Sabean traded away many prospects that never materialized into major leaguers in exchange for experienced major leaguers during late season pushes toward the playoffs.

These trades have included All-Stars Jeff Kent, Jason Schmidt, Robb Nen, Kenny Lofton, Andrés Galarraga, Ellis Burks, Joe Carter, Roberto Hernández, Wilson Álvarez, and José Mesa.

The trade looked better in hindsight as Kent tallied over 100 RBIs in each of six seasons with the Giants and was named National League MVP in 2000, while Williams was traded again after one season with the Indians.

Sabean also signed free-agent centerfielder Darryl Hamilton and traded for first baseman J. T. Snow, and bolstered the pitching staff with a midseason trade with the Chicago White Sox to acquire three pitchers.

After the Giants narrowly lost the 2002 World Series, Sabean was forced to dramatically retool.

The Giants lost several key players, including Jeff Kent, Reggie Sanders, Jay Witasick, David Bell, and Aaron Fultz to free agency.

Sabean signed veterans José Cruz Jr., Neifi Pérez, Edgardo Alfonzo, and Ray Durham to replace some of the free agents the Giants lost.

He also traded away fan favorite Russ Ortiz (to the Braves for Damian Moss) and Liván Hernández, the losing pitcher of Game 7 of the 2002 World Series.

Sabean hired Felipe Alou to replace fan favorite Dusty Baker who became the manager of the Chicago Cubs.

Despite these major roster moves, the Giants won 100 games in 2003.

Sabean was named Executive of the Year by the Sporting News in 2003, the first time a member of the Giants organization had received that award since Al Rosen in 1987.

The trade of Moss and Kurt Ainsworth for Sidney Ponson, which Sabean arranged late in the 2003 season, was criticized by some Giants fans and columnists.

Ponson returned to the Orioles after only a few months on the Giants, during which he posted a 3–6 record and 3.71 ERA in the regular season, and one poor start in the postseason.

In addition, as time went on, Sabean's trade of Francisco Liriano, Boof Bonser, and Joe Nathan for A. J. Pierzynski at the end of the 2003 season drew more criticism.

He signed Michael Tucker to a free agent contract just before the deadline to declare arbitration making him an obvious inclusion for a team that would otherwise have passed in the Kansas City Royals, this cost the Giants a compensation draft pick that would not have been sacrificed had Sabean waited a few more hours to sign Tucker.

Pierzynski remained on the Giants for one year, while Nathan developed into one of baseball's premier closers.

Liriano became an All-Star in 2006, his rookie season, though he suffered injury later that year and would not be a productive starter until 2010.