SF Giants Press Clips Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018

San Francisco Chronicle Giants fall to Padres; Holland wants to return, but who’ll make the call? John Shea

Derek Holland said he wants to return to the Giants next season, but the team’s decision apparently will be made by someone who’s not yet in the organization.

On the day general manager Bobby Evans was fired, Holland made what was probably his final start of the season and gave up three runs in five innings in Monday’s 5-0 homestand-opening loss to the Padres.

“I was just blessed with the opportunity to be here,” Holland said when asked about Evans, not comfortable discussing front-office changes in his first year with the team. “We wish we would’ve done a lot better. These guys come every day playing to win. There’s no doubt about that.”

Regardless of who replaces Evans and takes over baseball operations, it seems the Giants would have interest in retaining Holland, who’ll be a free agent. The lefty leads the staff in starts, innings and strikeouts.

“You look at how well he’s pitched, sure he’s in the mix,” manager said. “He should be proud of what he did this year. He’ll have some options, and hopefully, we’re one of them.”

Bochy said he spoke with Evans on Monday and “thanked him for all his help. Twenty-five years here, it shows you the continuity we have here in San Francisco. He did a lot to help out in different areas. I know he wore some different hats and did a lot for the organization.”

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The Giants’ players knew of Evans’ firing before the game.

“I mean, it sucks,” said shortstop , also saddened by the recent dismissal of strength and conditioning coach Carl Kochan. “Anytime you lose somebody who you’ve become close to over the years and has been around as long or longer than you have, it’s tough. ... Obviously, it’s part of the game, but it’s tough to see somebody like that in the front office or someone behind the scenes as a strength coach (get dismissed) when we as players aren’t producing on the field.”

A relatively tiny crowd watched the worst teams in the NL West. The energy level wasn’t high, though , who began the final week of his Giants contract as the leadoff hitter, got nice ovations and went 2-for-4.

The Giants were shut out for the eighth time, and San Diego’s Bryan Mitchell (6.16 ERA in his first 10 starts) worked 82/3 innings and exited with the bases loaded before Kirby Yates whiffed Austin Slater to end it.

San Francisco Chronicle Giants; Brandon Crawford saddened by Bobby Evans’ firing John Shea

When Brandon Crawford was drafted out of UCLA in 2005, Bobby Evans kept in steady contact with the shortstop during contract negotiations. When Crawford was called up to the majors in 2011, it was Evans who made the congratulatory call.

“I go as far back with Bobby as anybody in the Giants’ organization,” Crawford said before Monday’s homestand opener against the Padres. “I had a lot of good talks with Bobby.”

They resumed their relationship throughout Crawford’s eight seasons in the majors, and the three-time Gold Glover was bummed Monday to hear of the general manager’s firing.

News of Evans’ departure came a week and a half after strength and conditioning coach Carl Kochan was fired.

“I mean, it sucks,” Crawford said. “Any time you lose somebody who you’ve become close to over the years and has been around as long or longer than you have, it’s tough.

“Same thing for Carl. I had Carl as my strength coach in high-A in ’09 and then in 2010 in Triple- A. We basically went through the whole system together. That’s always tough.

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“Obviously, it’s part of the game, but it’s tough to see somebody like that in the front office or someone behind the scenes as a strength coach (get dismissed) when we as players aren’t producing on the field.”

The Giants, 72-84 and buried in the a second straight year, are playing out the final week of the season at home. They’ve lost 16 of 20.

“You can’t pinpoint anybody for being at fault for a losing season,” Crawford said, “but ultimately it comes down to us as players performing better. It’s too bad people in their positions are losing their jobs.”

Evans, who often spoke glowingly of Crawford, had a hand in building the Giants’ three World Series championship teams, two of which Crawford was the shortstop.

CEO Larry Baer confirmed Bruce Bochy will remain the manager next season and Brian Sabean will remain in the front office, both of whom are signed through next season, just like Evans.

Baer said Evans will be replaced from outside the organization by someone who’ll run baseball operations.

San Francisco Chronicle Giants remove Bobby Evans as general manager Henry Schulman

In a move that comes as no surprise at the end of a second straight losing season, the Giants are removing Bobby Evans as general manager.

The organization is expected to ask Evans to stay in the organization, but it’s not clear if he would stay or seek employment elsewhere. Evans, like executive vice president Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy, is signed through 2019.

Bochy and Sabean are expected to keep their jobs.

The Giants are searching outside of the organization for a general manager, sources said. If Evans stays, his role could be determined by that hire.

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Evans, who rose through the ranks after starting with the Giants as an administrative assistant in 1994, was promoted from assistant general manager to general manager as the 2015 season began. He had been an assistant for nine seasons.

The Giants won a National League wild-card berth in 2016, but lost 98 games last year and carried a 72-84 record into the season’s final week.

The Giants made several significant roster moves during Evans’ tenure that largely have not panned out, including the combined $220 million of contracts given to starters Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, and the four-year, $62 million deal for closer Mark Melancon. All have missed significant time with injuries.

Evans also traded third baseman and prospect Lucius Fox to the Rays for pitcher Matt Moore, a deal that helped the Giants reach the 2016 playoffs but ended in Moore’s trade last winter.

After taking the majors’ best record into the All-Star break in 2016, at 57-33, they have gone 166-224.

Toward the end of last year’s 64-98 season, Giants President Larry Baer directed Sabean, the former general manager, to take a more active role in building the roster for 2018.

San Francisco Chronicle Giants fire Boby Evans as GM; Bruce Bochy, Brian Sabean will return Henry Schulman

Bobby Evans, who played a significant behind-the-scenes role in building three World Series championship teams before the Giants promoted him to general manager in 2015, was fired from that job Monday with a week left in a second consecutive losing season.

Former general manager and now executive vice president Brian Sabean will keep his job and help Giants President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Baer find Evans’ replacement from outside the organization.

Baer said the new hire will “have the authority to run baseball operations,” while Sabean “will remain a valuable resource to all of us.”

Baer also confirmed that Bruce Bochy will return as manager in 2019, the final year of his contract.

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Sabean and Evans also are signed through next year. Evans remains in the organization for now but said in an interview he is free to seek employment elsewhere and not sure if his replacement will want to keep him.

Evans said he got a sense of what was to come during conversations with Baer and Sabean before the Giants left on their final trip of the season, but said, “you’re never really prepared, of course.”

Evans said he had not delved into the “analytical” aspect of the club’s decision to fire him, particularly whether he thought he was being scapegoated, but rather was thankful for his 25 seasons with the Giants. He also understands the move.

“If we don’t put ourselves in a postseason opportunity every year, we don’t feel like we’re doing enough,” Evans said. “I think that’s how we all feel. Ultimately as general manager, you have to take responsibility for the results. Our results, especially the last two years, do not reflect what the team goals were.”

Though he praised Evans’ 25 seasons with the Giants, including nine as assistant general manager and four as general manager, Baer said he and other owners believed it was time to seek a “next-gen general manager” who can bring fresh ideas to the office suite at 24 Willie Mays Plaza.

“With all the championships and success here, the last thing I would ever say is we’re disappointed with what our track record is,” Baer said. “But in every organization, there’s a time to bring in new leadership, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Baer said the search has just begun and need not be rushed because the club still has Sabean’s expertise on which to rely as early offseason decisions need to be made.

The new hire will report directly to Baer, just as Evans did as GM from 2015 through ’17, after which Baer directed Sabean to retake a more active role in the decision-making following a 98- loss season.

Sabean and Evans had worked together with the Giants since 1994, which made Monday’s moves emotional.

“We’ve never been involved in doing something like this,” Sabean said. “It really does pull at your heartstrings, so to speak.”

Evans is the only official who will lose his job in the wake of the team’s decline, but Baer would not say Evans was solely to blame, instead describing the need for fresh ideas.

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“People will say ‘new school versus old school, analytics versus scouting,’ and I think the new next-generation general manager is able to do both, and we will bring both into the mix,” Baer said.

“It’s been an incredible run, an incredible journey, and it’s time to create a blueprint for the future.”

The Giants are finishing their second straight losing season. They tied for the worst record in the majors last year at 64-98 and are 72-85 after Monday night’s 5-0 loss to the Padres.

Since the 2016 All-Star break, the Giants are 166-225, and many of the moves that Evans orchestrated backfired.

The club signed three pitchers — Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija and Mark Melancon — for a combined $282 million. All three have been beset by significant injuries.

Evans also engineered long-term extensions for and Brandon Crawford, plus last winter’s acquisition of Evan Longoria, leaving the Giants with a core of aging, expensive players.

Evans also traded young third baseman Matt Duffy and Lucius Fox, a prospect to whom they gave a $6 million bonus, to Tampa Bay for pitcher Matt Moore, who helped the Giants reach the 2016 postseason but was traded after a disastrous 2017.

At the same time, Evans and his staff found significant bargains over the years, including pitcher Dereck Rodriguez and utilityman Alen Hanson last winter, who are expected to help the Giants in the future. With others such as Steven Duggar and Andrew Suarez, Evans is not leaving the cupboard of youth bare.

Evans defended himself and the front office against the notion that they fell behind by not embracing analytics the way other teams have.

“We are not behind the times analytically,” he said. “We’re also not dismissive of the value of the scouts. We’ve been a strong blend and remain a strong blend of the best information and resources available.”

Similarly, Sabean dismissed the idea that the Giants failed to adapt to fast-arriving changes, in particular, the surge of power. He does not expect the formula that delivered the three World Series titles to change with the new head of baseball operations.

“We can get into revisionist history and we do that constantly among ourselves,” Sabean said. “The long and short of it is, we have had success through pitching, defense and timely hitting,

6 and quite frankly with the nature of the ballpark, we might be in a tall order for another way of doing business.

“I don’t see this organization, no matter who comes in, to turn ourselves into the Broad Street Bullies or the Yankees. It’s not possible in this park. In this park, you have to play baseball and have professional hitters.”

San Jose Mercury News Brandon Crawford: GM Bobby Evans a casualty of Giants performance on the field Jeff Faraudo

SAN FRANCISCO — Brandon Crawford, one of the few Giants veterans on hand Monday night, lamented the firing of general manager Bobby Evans as a casualty of the team’s sub-par performance the past two seasons.

“Obviously something like that is part of the business side of baseball, but it kind of sucks that somebody like Bobby or somebody kind of behind he scenes like (strength coach) Carl (Kochan) loses their job because we didn’t perform as players on the field. Something like that’s always tough.”

Evans, in his 25th season with the franchise, was relieved of his duties and is scheduled to be reassigned within the organization. Kochan was fired 10 days earlier.

On the heels of a 98-loss season in 2017, the Giants are 72-85 after Monday’s 5-0 loss to the San Diego Padres.

ADVERTISING “Change is tough,” manager Bruce Bochy said after the game. “You have relationships . . . it’s that time of year. We’ve gone through a lot. It’s never easy, but it’s part of the game.”

Bochy said he had the chance to talk with Evans and thanked him for all he contributed to a run that included World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

“He did a lot to help out in different areas, wore a lot of different hats,” Bochy said.

Crawford said he’s known Evans since the Giants drafted him out of UCLA in 2008.

“I talked to him when I got drafted and was working out a contract to play professional baseball. I was on the phone with him all the time,” the 31-year-old All-Star shortstop said. “Got as close as I can to someone in the front office.”

Derek Holland, the Giants’ starter against the Padres, came to the team as a non-roster spring invitee. He said the news before the game was not a distraction once the first pitch was thrown.

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“I’m fairly new here. I don’t really know what to say,” Holland said. “I was just blessed for the opportunity to be here. I thank them for that.”

San Jose Mercury News Giants’ bats silenced by Padres Jeff Faraudo

Scoring runs continues to be a struggle for what is left of the Giants.

With only four of eight opening day position players still in uniform as the final week of the season began, the Giants lost 5-0 to the Padres on Monday night, falling to 4-17 for the month of September.

The Giants have averaged just 2.6 runs in those 21 games, topping five runs just once.

The day after the Padres lost 14-0 to the Dodgers, the NL West’s last-place team got a near- complete game from right-hander Bryan Mitchell, who had won just once all season and entered the game sporting a 6.16 earned run average.

The Giants (72-85) got runners to third base in both the fourth and fifth innings but managed just six singles off Mitchell through eight innings.

Brandon Crawford led off the ninth with a double down the right-field line and two walks loaded the bases with two outs, sending Mitchell to the clubhouse. Reliever Kirby Yates struck out Austin Slater to end it.

The crowd at AT&T Park appeared substantially smaller than the announced attendance of 35,428.

San Jose Mercury News Giants shake up: Evans dismissed, Sabean’s role changes, Baer focused on ‘netx-gem’ GM Kerry Crowley

SAN FRANCISCO–As their second straight losing season comes to a close, the Giants don’t have any plans to perform an autopsy.

The ownership group has already mourned the end of the franchise’s golden era. The Giants plan to embrace the next generation, and in doing so, they’ll leave behind general manager Bobby Evans, a key pillar of their glory days.

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Giants CEO Larry Baer announced Evans was dismissed from his role Monday as part of a wide- reaching organizational shakeup expected to continue in the coming days. The search for a new general manager will begin immediately and vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean will assist with the process.

“We needed to take a fresh approach with baseball operations,” Baer said. “We’ve had a very successful group here a long time, but we’ve got to bring a new approach to Giants baseball and take a look outside.”

ADVERTISING Evans had one year remaining on his contract, but the Giants relieved him of his duties in the final days of another frustrating season. Since the 2016 All-Star break, the Giants have posted a 166-224 (.425) record and will finish with a sub-.500 mark in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2007-2008.

After the Giants clinched their third World Series title in 2014, Evans took over day-to-day operations as the general manager while Sabean was promoted to his current role. Evans reported directly to Baer, but after a 98-loss season in 2017, the organizational structure shifted and Evans reported to Sabean.

Baer and Sabean said the chain of command will once again change this offseason, as the new hire will have full control of baseball operations and report to Baer.

“I’ve really been in a global position, quality position, best practices chair since ‘15,” Sabean said. “There’s really no transition. Whoever comes in at the behest of ownership, Larry is that person, I’ll work through any problem or any interest of the organization like I have since ‘15.”

Like Sabean, Evans has been with the organization for more than 20 years and played a critical role in building three World Series rosters. The Giants plan to offer Evans a new role, but it’s unclear whether he is willing to remain with the franchise.

Baer and Sabean will collaborate to hire Evans’ replacement, but the new leader will not have the authority to select the Giants’ manager in 2019. Bruce Bochy, the longest-tenured manager in the National League, will enter the final year of his contract and is expected to return for his 13th season with the Giants.

While Sabean does not plan to take a hands-on approach to baseball operations, his presence on the search committee gives him the authority to help select a candidate whose vision for the future of the Giants aligns with his own.

“We have had success through pitching, defense and timely hitting and quite frankly, the nature

9 of the ballpark might be a tall order for any other way of doing business,” Sabean said. “I don’t see this organization, no matter who comes in and takes over and who manages in the future, turn ourselves into the Broad Street Bullies and become the Yankees.”

Baer said the franchise is looking to hire the “next-gen” baseball mind who will bring a fresh approach to baseball operations. Though the Giants have not begun considering candidates, the hire will likely have the opportunity to add to the front office, which could put jobs belonging to current members of the organization in jeopardy.

“I think there will be a top person accountable,” Baer said. “I think it’s fully possible this person could ask to bring in some associates or colleagues. That’s possible, I don’t know.”

Evans’ dismissal is the first high-profile move for a Giants franchise that must make drastic changes if it hopes to contend in the immediate future. Baer has indicated the organization has no plans to consider a full-scale rebuild, which means a new leader of baseball operations will be tasked with turning around a roster with inherent flaws.

Since the end of the 2014 season, many of Evans’ marquee free-agent signings have failed to live up to expectations. The Giants spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars to bring in starting pitchers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija prior to the 2016 season and committed $62 million over four years to land reliever Mark Melancon before 2017 and all three pitchers have had multiple stints on the disabled list.

Several trades failed to dramatically improve an offense that has ranked among the worst in baseball for the last two seasons, as Evans sent fan favorite Matt Duffy to Tampa Bay in 2016 before acquiring Evan Longoria and Andrew McCutchen in an effort to boost the Giants’ offense heading into this season.

MLB.com Holland’s shaky loss belies solid season Chris Haft

SAN FRANCISCO -- Derek Holland 's sweet season met with a potentially bittersweet ending Monday night as the Giants absorbed their fifth consecutive defeat, a 5-0 loss to the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park.

Holland (7-9) worked five innings and allowed eight hits, matching his second-highest total of the season. Manuel Margot and Franmil Reyes rapped RBI singles in the second and third innings, respectively, before Jose Pirela homered in the fourth.

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Overall, however, this was a season of redemption for Holland, who helped stabilize the Giants' starting rotation while injuries sidelined , Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija , the club's projected top three starters.

Holland and the Giants weren't certain whether this was his final start of 2018. Factors such as allocating innings to some of the team's younger pitchers or whether the weekend series against the Dodgers has postseason implications will determine whether Holland makes another start, pitches in relief or remains idle.

"If I get another appearance, out of the 'pen, starting, whatever it is, I want to go out on a better note," Holland said. "That could have been my last start. I'm not really sure. It's not the way I wanted to go out, but at the same [time], I did achieve a lot this year."

After posting a 7-14 record with a 6.20 ERA in 29 appearances with the Chicago White Sox last year, including 26 starts, Holland revived his career with the Giants. Despite entering Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, the left-hander made the season-opening rotation and remained in it, except for a brief stint in the bullpen in July.

"For myself, bouncing back from last year was a big thing. Obviously these guys gave me the opportunity. I wanted to make sure that I could show people, one, I'm still healthy and, two, I can still pitch."

Holland certainly proved both points with his statistics. He leads the Giants in starts (30), innings (168 2/3) and strikeouts (167). Keeping the score close is every starter's primary concern, and Holland accomplished this, too. Monday marked his first defeat since the All-Star break over a span of 12 starts.

"That kind of blew me away," Holland said. "I didn't know that until I heard about it. It just shows that these guys had my back the whole time. The defense made a lot of great plays and they did it again today."

Holland insisted that general manager Bobby Evans' decision to step down from his position , which was announced shortly before the game, was not a distraction.

"We have to worry about what's going on out there on the field and try to focus on that," Holland said. "We're trying to finish strong. Obviously the news is something that caught us off- guard, but it didn't play a factor in today's game."

Eligible for free agency this offseason, Holland has repeated that he'd like to re-sign with San Francisco. Manager Bruce Bochy indicated that he would welcome his return.

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"These are things we'll talk about," Bochy said. "He's in the mix. ... He should be proud of what he did this year. He'll have some options, and hopefully we're one of them."

SOUND SMART Brandon Crawford 's ninth-inning double was the 198th of his career, passing Jack Clark for the 13th highest total in the Giants' San Francisco history (since 1958). Brandon Belt ranks 12th with 199.

HE SAID IT "I thanked him for all his help. Bobby and I spent even more time together the last couple of years. He's always been around and very helpful. Twenty-five years here -- that shows you the continuity that we have here in San Francisco. He did a lot to help out in different areas. I know he wore some different hats here and did a lot for the organization. So I was glad I had a chance to talk to him before he left." -- Bochy, on general manager Bobby Evans, who stepped down from his position Monday

UP NEXT Chris Stratton will try to finish his season on an upbeat note on Tuesday when he confronts the Padres at AT&T Park beginning at 7:15 p.m. PT. The Giants are 13-12 in his starts but have lost in eight of his last 10 outings. San Diego will counter with left-hander Robbie Erlin , who's making his sixth career start against the Giants.

MLB.com Bobby Evans steps down as Giants GM Chris Haft

SAN FRANCISCO -- Clearly stating that the Giants must take a more contemporary approach toward assembling the ballclub, the team announced that general manager Bobby Evans had stepped down Monday and will be assigned to a different position within the organization.

Evans' departure from the GM's job likely means that the Giants, who reveled in their reputation for emphasizing traditional methods of player development and evaluation while winning the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014, will hire a replacement who's more open in embracing contemporary analytics.

Giants president Larry Baer confirmed that manager Bruce Bochy will return for the 2019 season. So will executive vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean, the primary architect of the Giants who said that he will remain in a "global position" while the new GM will

12 report directly to Baer.

A significant change in the team's hierarchy has appeared inevitable for weeks. Fans turned to social media and sports talk radio to express their increasing frustration with the club, which was 4 1/2 games out of first place as late as July 25, but has compiled a 20-34 record since then.

That unhappiness spread to the boardroom. Sabean cited the "ownership group," a collection of investors that consists of 29 men and women according to the club's media guide, while discussing the decision to have Evans vacate the position he had held since April 3, 2015.

Both Baer and Sabean said that the club will look outside of the organization for Evans' replacement. In this case, the Giants aren't just changing employees. They're changing philosophy.

"I think we're looking for someone who's sort of a 'next-gen' general manager, if you will. Somebody who's going to be head of baseball ops," Baer said. " ... People will say 'new school vs. old school,' people will say 'analytics vs. scouting,' and I think that the new, next-generation general manager is able to do both, and will bring both."

Baer said that no timetable had been established for hiring a GM. But with free agency beginning shortly after the World Series, common sense dictates that the Giants would prefer to have their new executive in place by the end of October.

The organization has demonstrated a tendency to hire former Giants to fill key positions. But the remark about hiring from outside, mentioned by both Baer and Sabean, would seem to discourage adding a familiar face or making an internal promotion. Otherwise, scouting director John Barr, who was responsible for drafting six-time All Star catcher , might be in line for the job.

Due to Sabean's background in the Yankees' player personnel department, the Giants have long been viewed as a haven for members of that organization seeking a job. The Yankees' lone conceivable candidate for the Giants' opening would be Damon Oppenheimer, New York's vice president and director of amateur scouting.

An obvious candidate would seem to be Ned Colletti, who served as Sabean's assistant until he became the Dodgers' GM following the 2005 season. Insiders have insisted that Colletti, who moved from the GM's position to a senior adviser's role after the 2014 season, had a standing offer to return to the Giants at any time with Sabean's blessing. But if the club seeks a GM who fits the popular stereotype of being a sabermetrics whiz in his early-to mid-30s, Coletti is unlikely to be considered.

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Plenty of potential candidates fit Baer's description of the type of well-rounded GM who understands traditional as well as modern baseball concepts.

Some clues regarding the identity of the Giants' next GM come from the list of reported candidates linked to the Mets' opening for the same position.

Possibilities include Mets assistant GM John Ricco, Diamondbacks assistant GM Jared Porter, Rays senior vice president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, former Red Sox GM , Dodgers senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes and Cubs senior vice president of player development Jason McLeod.

This week will conclude the Giants' third consecutive disappointing finish under Evans' watch.

In 2016, Evans' first full season as GM, the Giants entered the All-Star break with a 57-33 record, the best in the Major Leagues. But the Giants slumped in the season's second half and had to win six of their last seven games to reach the Wild Card Game, in which they defeated the Mets. The Giants then dropped the Division Series, 3-1, to the Cubs. That confrontation featured a shocking collapse by San Francisco's bullpen, which allowed four ninth-inning runs in a 6-5 Giants defeat.

The Giants proceeded to sign free agent closer Mark Melancon during the following offseason. But he developed a right forearm injury and never was effective as the Giants lurched to a 64- 98 finish. This year, the Giants were 72-84 at the time of Evans' departure as GM.

Any change in the GM's office by itself would represent a significant shift for the Giants, whose front-office and on-field personnel have demonstrated a continuity that's unmatched in the Major Leagues.

Since the final month of the 1985 season, the Giants have had four GMs (, Bob Quinn, Sabean and Evans) and four managers (Roger Craig, , and Bochy). has been on the big league coaching staff for 21 years. was San Francisco's pitching coach for 18 years until he was relieved of his duties after last season.

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NBCsportsbayarea.com Giants will need to catch up in game that has ‘changed and evolved’ Alex Pavlovic

SAN FRANCISCO -- For years, the Giants have talked about how everything done by the front office is a collaborative effort. They shared in the credit and the blame, and when the team lost 98 games last season, Larry Baer, Brian Sabean, Bobby Evans and Bruce Bochy sat side-by-side two days after the final game and tried to explain what happened.

Eventually an axe had to fall, though, and on Monday afternoon, it was Evans , the general manager, who was let go first . In the aftermath, Baer, the president and CEO, said ownership and Sabean will look for a “next-gen” person to lead the franchise.

So, what exactly does “next-gen” mean in this case?

“The game has changed and evolved a lot,” Baer said. “We’ve had a lot of consistency here, which I think has served us really well, and a lot of stability, but nothing goes forever. We have to have somebody that’s going to present the blueprint for the next five to 10 years of Giants baseball. It’s time to have a fresh look at that.

“We’ve had a tremendous cycle here starting in 2010, 2009, really. But you always have to re- pot. Next-gen is finding someone who can put a great blueprint on this franchise given the ballpark and given the amazing fan base.”

If the Giants are to be successful, next-gen will mean finding someone who can catch up to the current generation of baseball executives. The outgoing regime won three World Series titles, but since the last one, the game has shifted. The Giants have fallen behind. Offenses now are built around homers, and this team won’t have a single player even hit 20 of them. While Sabean again mentioned the ballpark Monday, there’s no good explanation for how this same lineup can’t display power on the road.

The Giants made a next-gen type of hire when they brought Alonzo Powell in as hitting coach after a stint with the slugging Astros, but the new head of baseball operations will need to find players Powell can mold. This current roster will finish last or second-to-last in the NL in homers. The first questions for any prospective hire should be about building a lineup that can handle AT&T Park, and perhaps the next set should be about doing so in part with international players.

Even after opening a new academy in the Dominican Republic, the Giants still are woefully behind. When was the last time they developed their own international star? Well, it’s been a while since ’s debut.

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For as much as the Giants have done in recent years to address their gaps in analytics, they still are behind others, too. All you need to do to figure that out is walk past the old visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. It has been turned into an office holding the analytics people working for a team that is about to win a sixth consecutive NL West title.

The Giants are aware of the gaps, and they believe their farm system will be in much better shape under . But they haven't done enough. The develop-while-contending model broke down at some point, and it has led to a purge.

Baer said an increased emphasis on analytics and international signings is part of what he means by next-gen, but he said there still will be a blend.

“If you look at the really successful franchises, I wouldn’t say they’re all analytics and they’re not all scouting-based,” he said. “You need to have good people in both areas and a leader who will come in and appreciate both and lead the organization into the future.”

The search for that leader became public Monday, and there’s a lot at stake. The next-gen hire will shape the next decade of this franchise, and while it will be a sought-after job, it’s one that also comes with plenty of work to do.

The Giants have fallen behind. It’s been clear for two years, and on Monday, it was acknowledged.

NBCsportsbayarea.com Bobby Evans dismissal hard to swallow for Giants clubhouse Alex Pavlovic

SAN FRANCISCO — About 20 minutes before players took the field for batting practice on Monday, the man who signed so many of them got in a car and headed home to tell his family he was no longer the general manager of the Giants.

Ownership relieved Bobby Evans of his duties in the afternoon. Hopefully an executive who lived and breathed Giants for 25 years took a night off from watching them. The team lost 5-0 to the Padres, getting shut out by Bryan Mitchell, who entered with an ERA that started with a six.

Before the game, manager Bruce Bochy met with Evans one final time.

“I thanked him for all his help. Bobby and I spent even more time together the last couple of years but he’s always been around and been helpful,” Bochy said. “Twenty-five years here, that

16 shows you the continuity we have in San Francisco. He did a lot for the organization. I was glad I had a chance to talk to him before he left.”

There have been rumors for weeks, and when strength coach Carl Kochan was let go, the clubhouse became all too aware that two poor seasons on the field would lead to plenty of changes. Still, this was hard for some to swallow.

Evans put this team together and believed in the group, and his fingerprints are all over the roster. He negotiated with free agents like Mark Melancon and Tony Watson, signed non-roster invitees like Dereck Rodriguez and Derek Holland and traded for players like Will Smith and Sam Dyson. When Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt and others got their extensions, Evans was the point man on the other side. When young players were called up this season, Evans was often on the other end of the first call they received.

“Obviously something like that is part of the business side of baseball, but it kind of sucks that somebody like Bobby or somebody behind the scenes like Carl loses his job because we didn’t perform on the field,” Crawford said. “That’s always tough.”

The Giants have now let go of their strength coach and general manager this month. More changes are expected.

“Change is tough,” Bochy said. “You have relationships with everybody. It’s that time of year.”

NBCsportsbayarea.com Giants shut out against Padres to kick off season’s final homestand Alex Pavlovic

SAN FRANCISCO — Bryan Mitchell struck out seven in 8 2/3 strong innings, Jose Pirela had a homer among his three hits, and the San Diego Padres defeated the 5-0 Monday night.

The Giants lost their fifth straight game hours after the team announced the dismissal of general manager Bobby Evans. The move comes amid a Giants team freefall.

San Francisco is four years removed from winning their fourth World Series championship in five years, and in the last week of its second consecutive losing season.

The Giants are 4-17 in September, and 166-225 since taking a 53-73 record (best in the majors at the time) into the 2016 All-Star break.

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Mitchell (2-4) walked just three in what was by far his best start of an uneven season that included a stint on the DL with right elbow impingement.

In his last start on Sept. 17, he gave up four runs in five innings in a 4-2 loss to the Giants.

The 27-year-old right-hander came to the Padres in an offseason trade with the that also brought Chase Headley.

Mitchell had never thrown a complete game in his 19 previous career starts. He’d walked 40 in 64 1/3 innings going into Monday.

Mitchell was within a pitch of what would have been his first career complete game, let alone a shutout.

But with two on and two out in the ninth, Mitchell walked Gorkys Hernandez on his 118th pitch.

Andy Green then summoned Kirby Yates, who struck Austin Slater for the final out.

Jose Pirela homered off Giants starter Derek Holland (7-9) to lead off the fourth. His fourth homer gave the Padres a 3-0 lead.

Pirela has 26 hits and 13 RBI in his career against the Giants, more than against any other team.

Franmil Reyes had two hits and two RBI, and Wil Myers had two hits and two runs scored.

Francia Mejia doubled with one out in the top of the second and scored the game’s first run on Manual Margot’s single.

Reyes singled in a run in the third and Hunter Renfroe singled in a run in a two-run sixth inning off Ty Blach.

Holland gave up three runs on eight hits and two walks in five innings.

DIALED IN

The Padres have 19 home runs and 171 hits at AT&T Park since the start of 2017, more than any other visiting team over that stretch.

UP NEXT

LHP Robbie Erlin (4-7, 4.33 ERA) is 1-3 with a 5.64 ERA in eight appearances (five starts) against San Francisco. RHP Chris Stratton (10-10, 4.88) is 2-3 with a 4.70 ERA in five games (four starts) against San Diego.

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The Athletic Giants delve into an offseason shuffle and get shut out by Padres, but there are still unfinished stories Shayna Rubin

The biggest news of the day simmered below the stage when Bruce Bochy spoke with media prior to Monday night’s game — general manager Bobby Evans’ firing with six games left in the season kicked off what should be a heavy offseason for the Giants before the season even ended, officially.

But these final home games can’t just be painted over. For however bored you may get watching the 85-loss Giants lose the most meaningless games that can be played in a season — like their 5-0 loss to the 94-loss Padres Monday night — it’d be wise to keep your eyes open, soak up what’s left and see a couple more times players you may want to sear a little more into your memory, no matter how jaded your enthusiasm and dimmed your nostalgia has become.

Hunter Pence was penciled into the leadoff spot and played right field for Monday’s game. Bochy was asked if Pence would be starting there for the rest of this final homestand.

“I’m going to be answering questions like that all week, huh?” Bochy grinned.

This is all to say that it’s time to prepare for the expected: 35-year-old Pence, whose five-year, $90 million contract is up after this year, could be playing his final handful of games as a Giant. Instead of delving into the departures behind closing curtains, Bochy got to sing praises for a player for which he’d sung many during his right fielder’s most irreplaceable days as both the team’s dugout reverend and on-field inspiration.

“As a manager, you look for leadership,” Bochy said. “He has such a love for the game, passion for the game, he’ll get a chance somewhere.”

Pence has articulated that he wants to play another year, even opting to play winter ball to find ways to keep himself up to task.

Even amid the slowest offensive season of his career — he hasn’t been able to drive the ball and his .219 average and .570 OPS are career lows by a wide margin — Pence still shows flashes of his unrelenting self.

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Pence collected two hits Monday, the highlight of yet another listless effort from the Giants’ offense. He chopped a pair of ground balls that got far enough away from the Padres gloves to provide the space for Pence to leg them out. Despite his rapid decline, Pence’s spirit still shined. And it looks like this Padres series could be the last few times he’ll get to run out to his friends up in the right field arcade.

Perhaps Pence’s light shone a little brighter against a dark background. The offense around him collected seven hits Monday and went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Padres starter Bryan Mitchell — who walked into AT&T Park with a 6.16 ERA with the Giants hitting .317 against him this year — was one strike to Gorkys Hernández away from a shutout.

Mitchell would settle for an 8 2/3-inning scoreless, breezy win. His effort also handed the Giants yet another stark reminder of the kind of play that’s landed the team two-straight losing seasons. The kind of play that’s thrown behind-the-scenes staff like strength coach Carl Kochan and front-facing names like Bobby Evans — and, the year before, tenured coaches like Dave Righetti — from the hot seat into the flames in milliseconds.

“I mean, it sucks,” Brandon Crawford said. “Obviously, it’s part of the game, but it’s tough to see somebody like that go in the front office or behind the scenes as a strength coach when we as players aren’t producing on the field.”

News of Evans’ firing struck a chord with Crawford, who’s known Evans for 10 years. Evans was the guy on the other end of every meaningful call Crawford has gotten as a Giant: news that he’d be drafted by his favorite childhood team in 2008, his call-up in 2011.

Most of the others that had Evans on the other end of the phone through their most prized memories as Giants? Not in the clubhouse. Mostly injured. But the news hit the team hard. Crawford didn’t get to thank Evans before he left the ballpark Monday — he has Evans’ number, of course, he’ll reach out — but Bochy did.

“(He spent) 25 years here,” Bochy said after the game. “It shows you the continuity we have here in San Francisco. He did a lot to help out in different areas. He wore a lot of hats here and did a lot for the organization.

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“Change is tough, you have relationships with everybody.”

Monday’s seismic changes leave open the direction of the organization as a whole, sure, but also blur the outlooks for someone like Derek Holland, who was — despite a brief stint in the bullpen — the most present and improved member of the starting rotation this season for the Giants.

On Monday, Holland most likely pitched his final game this season with the Giants. He wasn’t sharp — allowing three earned runs and walking two in five innings — but dressed in his typically quirky post-game garb (tonight, a T-shirt with a penguin in a flannel) he left the ballpark also wearing a 3.63 ERA for the year.

That’s a 0.95 ERA decrease from his 2017 with the White Sox, in which he totaled a 4.58 ERA. He also leads the Giants in starts and, as Holland pointed out, he didn’t lose a second-half game until Monday’s.

All that from a minor-league free agent signee who first hopped onto the rotation as an emergency addition when Madison Bumgarner broke his pinky late in spring training. A lost season for the franchise also saw the revival of Holland’s career.

He made sure to credit Nick Hundley and Curt Young for assisting in his renaissance. Despite the uncertain abyss that formed in the upstairs offices at 3rd and King, Holland didn’t hesitate when answering if he’d like to return.

“Oh yes, yeah,” he said. “Definitely.”

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The Athletic Firing squad: Giants have avoided this for more than three decades, but the axe falls on GM Bobby Evans Andrew Baggarly

The Giants are great at team reunions. They pull off the loveliest on-field celebrations. They traffic in nostalgia, and the next fix for their fans is always right around the corner. Even before the three World Series titles, the past was kind of their thing.

Firings are different. They are about the present and future. They are an acknowledgment that the status quo isn’t working. They send a clear message that the current path provides no confidence of prosperous times ahead. And there is nothing warm or fuzzy about them.

Even when the Giants made changes over the years to their front office and coaching staff, they took great pains to come off as the kinder, gentler baseball organization. Some other teams will cushion the blow by saying a manager or a GM is “relieved of their duties,” as if the club was doing them a favor by lifting a weight off their shoulders. The Giants always took it one step further.

No, little Timmy, pitching coach Dave Righetti wasn’t fired last year. He’s frolicking on a nice farm upstate, as happy as can be, scouting minor leaguers as a special assistant.

The Giants will not lead the major leagues in home runs this season. They will not lead the major leagues in ERA this season. They will lead the league in special assistants, though.

Can you point to the last time the Giants capital-F fired a manager or GM with anything remaining on their contract? Think back. It wasn’t Felipe Alou or Dusty Baker. Those men cleaned out their offices (and, getting to the important stuff, their wine cabinets) after their contracts expired. Same with Roger Craig.

The last time the Giants fired a manager before he could write out another lineup card, or a GM before he could check the next day’s waiver wire, it was Sept. 18, 1985, and it was a double execution. Poor Jim Davenport took the fall — along with the man who hired him to manage, GM — for a 56-88 club with three weeks to play in the season.

NINETEEN EIGHTY FIVE. More than three decades ago.

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I looked it up a few years ago, and I won’t bother to update it now, but I can tell you for certain that every team has fired at least one manager since then. The Marlins probably fired one in the time you’ve been reading this column. We’re talking about hundreds of personnel changes in all other 29 organizations.

So in that context, Monday was a pretty darn remarkable day in Giants history.

They capital-F fired their GM, Bobby Evans, effective immediately. Evans had a year remaining on his contract, and while CEO Larry Baer made mention of finding him a different role with the organization, there was no immediate pillow talk of making him a special assistant.

The other capital-D details, in case you haven’t heard them by now: Bruce Bochy will return in 2019 to manage out the final year of his contract, with his future beyond that to be determined; executive vice president Brian Sabean will assist in the search for a new GM, with an eye toward making a hire as soon as possible; that new GM will not report to Sabean but directly to Baer; Sabean will resume the emeritus-status “quality-control” role that he began when Evans was promoted prior to the 2015 season.

Reading between the lines: Sabean isn’t quite being pushed out the same way Evans is. But he’s definitely being moved to the side. Ownership is demanding a reimagined front office — a “next-gen” GM, as Baer put it on Monday. And this is but the first of several personnel announcements in the days to come. This much I can tell you without reservation: there are a lot of nervous folks scattered throughout the organization.

There wasn’t much question that the Giants would remove Evans from his position. But the timing for a front-office housecleaning was going to be interesting, especially with another year on Bochy’s contract. There was no conceivable way the Giants would send away their most accomplished manager since John McGraw with a year remaining on his contract. There was no way they would hire a new GM and give that person freewheeling authority to make that call before ordering the office furniture.

Now that we know the Giants are actively searching for a new GM, who will that person be? Well, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that former assistant GM Ned Colletti would be a

23 favorite, and then Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle shot that out of the sky. I did hear a couple years ago, when Colletti’s tenure with the Dodgers officially ended, that there was mutual interest in a reunion with the Giants. But, while Colletti might be a decent fit as a placeholder to work alongside a quacking Sabean and Bochy, he hardly checks the boxes of a “next-gen” GM.

Here’s one name to keep in mind: .

No, he wouldn’t be a GM candidate. But there’s a reason that Baer showed up for the Giants’ series in St. Louis last weekend, and it isn’t because he is addicted to toasted ravioli. Do not be surprised if the Giants find a way to hire Matheny in some capacity, with a potential route to take over the dugout bench in 2020.

And who was Matheny’s bench coach for a time in St. Louis? None other than David Bell, who is the Giants’ current farm director – and probably destined for a larger role.

There will be plenty of ink spilled and bandwidth wasted in the coming days on whom the Giants might hire (and please be careful with your gender-specific pronouns, by the way, because former Yankees and Dodgers executive Kim Ng continues to be the most qualified candidate still waiting for her shot).

Let’s take a moment, then, to examine whether Evans is a convenient scapegoat or whether he deserved his fate.

The Giants had a $200 million payroll this year. The value they received in wins over replacement from that roster is $70.2 million. Compare that to the A’s, who had an actual payroll of barely $80 million and received a value of $234 million according to Fangraphs.

If you’re part of an ownership group, and someone presents those numbers to you, then … yeah. Someone is going to be held to account.

The Giants had injuries, sure, and I know I’m recycling this line, but there’s no better way I can think to describe it: complaining about injuries to an older roster is like complaining about cigarette smoke in a casino. It comes with the territory.

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I won’t provide a full download of Evans’ accomplishments and missteps in his four seasons as GM, because he took many, many marching orders from ownership and also because the Giants front office makes decisions in a very collaborative way. It’s hard to say what moves were driven by him, or what missteps belong to him.

But there were missteps, to be sure, and that’s putting aside the Matt Moore trade or the Austin Jackson misevaluation. Earlier this season, the Giants burned an option on left-hander Ty Blach when they absolutely, positively didn’t have to. That was a bungled, mismanaged situation that might cost them down the road. That cannot happen to a GM in the modern era, and that one falls in Evans’ lap.

Evans is the one who referred to himself as a “knucklehead” for failing to push harder to trade for Mark Melancon in 2016, and then watched his bullpen implode in Game 4 of an NL Division Series against the Cubs. The move the following winter was as predictable as it was unimaginative: the Giants signed Melancon to what was a record-setting contract at the time for a relief pitcher. It … hasn’t worked out.

Unimaginative might be the best word to describe the Giants front office over the last few seasons. They have no shortage of shrewd baseball minds. They find gems like Dereck Rodríguez. From a scouting perspective, they remain one of the sharpest groups in the big leagues.

But from a transactional perspective, when is the last time the Giants were part of a three-team trade? When is the last time they made a move that was truly inspired? It’s like half the league’s GMs are sitting at the cool kid’s lunch table, sharing gossip and secrets among them. And the Giants are sitting by themselves.

Maybe the Giants need a GM who can sit at the Ivy League table and be more collaborative. Maybe they need a GM who isn’t so tethered to the current players. The Giants have always zeroed in on character as part of their analysis, especially in the Evans era. But perhaps they haven’t given enough weight to, you know, actual baseball talent.

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That’s a problem. Because when you’re a baseball executive, you’re only as good as your players.

The Athletic Giants fire GM Bobby Evans — Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean will remain Shayna Rubin

The news felt inevitable but hit suddenly Monday afternoon before the Giants’ final homestand of this disappointing 2018 season. Bobby Evans was fired as general manager with a year remaining on his contract, Giants CEO Larry Baer announced.

Evans’ departure is perhaps the most significant jolt in what is expected to be a major shakeup in a franchise that’s struggled to keep pace with the power-swinging, bullpenning, youthful flow the rest of baseball is riding to the top.

But Baer also said that executive vice president Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy will remain in their positions into next season.

If anything, Evans’ departure was Baer and Sabean’s acknowledgment that the methods through which the Giants climbed to success in the earlier part of this decade will not cut it. The franchise needs a fresh approach. Quickly.

“We’re looking to regroup and bring in a blueprint for the future,” Baer said. “And I want to emphasize with all the championships and with all the success here, the last thing I would ever say is we’re disappointed with what our track record is. It is time. Every structure in the organization, there is a time to bring in new leadership, and that’s what we’re doing.

“We’re looking for someone that’s sort of the next-gen general manager. … People will say new school versus old school, people will say analytics versus scouting, and I think today’s general manager is able to do both and bring both to the mix.”

So, what exactly is a “next-gen general manager”? One thing is clear: he or she won’t mandate analytic-heavy blueprints that new GMs sprouting across the MLB have drawn out and relied

26 upon. This franchise is calling for something new. But the old vision, it seems, will be forever tethered to the operation.

The Giants want to keep up with the game’s changing philosophy but are clearly grounded by the realities of AT&T Park’s pitcher-friendly environment and an unwavering faith in the fundamentals that have always been the key to their success.

That’s where Sabean’s continued presence is the most significant. Remember, when Evans — who started with the team in 1994 — was promoted to GM in April 2015, he answered to Baer, as Sabean moved to a larger-picture role. But this year, after a 98-loss collapse in 2017, Sabean was asked to take more day-to-day responsibilities back from Evans.

“We can get into revisionist history, and we can constantly debate amongst ourselves, but the long and the short of it is, we have had success with pitching, defense and timely hitting,” Sabean said. “Quite frankly, with the nature of the ballpark, we might be in for a tall order for any other way of doing business.

“I don’t see this organization, no matter who goes in and takes over or who manages in the future, to turn ourselves into the Broad Street Bullies or become the Yankees, because that’s not possible in this park. I believe that in this park, you have to play baseball and you have to have professional hitters. We suffered this year not so much from not hitting home runs, as we couldn’t drive in a run. There’s a lot to be said for a two-run single or a three-run double.”

Sabean has one more year left on his contract and will assist Baer in finding a general manager who will also run the entire baseball operation.

This dismal Giants stretch began when they entered the second half of the 2016 season with the best record in baseball. From there, they stumbled into the postseason, lost in the NLDS and then in 2017 compiled their worst record in decades.

Evans’ four-year GM tenure saw a flurry of controversial and costly free-agent signings and contract extensions. Veteran starters Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija signed long, expensive contracts in Evans’ first offseason as GM (Cueto for six years and $130 million, Samardzija for five years and $90 million). Both started well in their Giants’ tenures but have since tumbled

27 into injury-plagued limbo. Cueto is sidelined through next season after Tommy John surgery. Samardzija has been battling a shoulder injury this season.

Evans also signed closer Mark Melancon, who has had his own injury and performance troubles, for four years and $62 million before the 2017 season.

Also under Evans’ watch: Third baseman Matt Duffy was dealt to Tampa Bay for Matt Moore, who was traded before this season in one of Evans’ many recent salary dumps.

But the remaining Giants executives emphasized that Evans played a significant role as assistant GM in winning the 2010, 2012 and titles.

“He’s a big part of our family tree,” Sabean said. “I came into the organization in ‘93 and I believe Bobby shortly thereafter. We’ve not only grown together in endeavors professionally with the Giants, we’ve grown together as people and it’s a big part of your lifetime.”

The Press Democrat Bobby Evans fired as Giants general manager AP

SAN FRANCISCO — Bobby Evans was fired Monday as the San Francisco Giants' general manager.

The team said Evans will be reassigned, with responsibilities to be determined.

The move came as the Giants began the final week of the season at 72-84, their second straight losing record.

"I made the decision, really," CEO Larry Baer said. "At this point, we needed to take a fresh approach to baseball operations."

The club will start a search for a new head of baseball operations.

"We're looking for someone that sort of is the 'next gen' general manager, if you will," Baer said.

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"People will say 'new school versus old school,' people will say 'analytics versus scouting,' and I think that the new, next-generation general manager is able to do both, and will bring both to the mix."

Evans was hired by the Giants in 1994, became vice president of baseball operations in 2009 under general manager Brian Sabean and was promoted to GM in April 2015 when Sabean became executive vice president of baseball operations.

"He's a big part of our family tree," Sabean said. "I came into the organization in '93 and I believe Bobby shortly thereafter in '94. We've not only grown together in endeavors professionally with the Giants, we've grown together as people and it's a big part of your lifetime."

The Giants won World Series championships in 2010, 2012 and 2014. They made the playoffs again in 2016, but are 166-224 since taking a major league-best 57-33 record into the All-Star break that year.

Baer said the team is open to female candidates.

"Sure," he responded. "I haven't considered anybody yet, since we're just making this announcement now, but we would consider, of course, females."

Baer deflected the notion that the Giants were blaming Evans for their recent struggles.

"Brian Sabean and Bobby Evans at the helm over 26 years, I would match their record with pretty much anybody in the sport and even beyond the sport," Baer said. "So when we start talking about blame and start talking about that kind of thing, I mean I understand the question . you want to blame the last year and this year to some extent, but I don't step back and think of this in terms of blame, I think of this in terms of it's been an incredible run, an incredible journey, but it is time now to create the next — to create the blueprint of the future."

SFExaminer.com San Francisco Giants react to Bobby Evans removal as general manager Ryan Gorcey

AT&T PARK — The changes started gradually, first on the field, when the San Francisco Giants traded free agent signee Austin Jackson. Then, they traded team home run leader Andrew McCutchen. On Sept. 14, the front office axed seven-year strength coach Carl Kochran. On Monday, San Francisco announced that general manager Bobby Evans — in his 25th season with Giants — would be stepping down . The organization is undergoing a transformation that will produce, as team president and CEO

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Larry Baer put it, the “next generation of Giants baseball.” For the current generation — including All-Star shortstop Brandon Crawford — the change has thrown the club’s second straight losing season into sharp relief. “I can’t speak for everybody, but I think we all were [surprised],” Crawford said after San Francisco’s 5-0 loss to the San Diego Padres on Monday. “Obviously, something like that is part of the business side of baseball, but it kind of sucks that somebody like Bobby, or somebody behind the scenes like Carl loses their job because we didn’t perform as players on the field.” The Giants sit at 72-85 with five games left in the season. Over the past two seasons, they’ve lost 183 games. This season, they’ve seen soft-tissue injuries to starters Johnny Cueto (Tommy John), Jeff Samardzija (multiple) and Dereck Rodriguez (hamstrong), Pablo Sandoval (hamstring) outfielder Steven Duggar (shoulder), utility man Alen Hanson and relievers Mark Melancon (elbow), Jose Valdez (elbow) and Julian Fernandez (elbow) and lost catcher Buster Posey to a hip injury. Freak accidents — spraining his thumb colliding with Yasiel Puig, Mac Williamson’s concussion and broken hands suffered by Madison Bumgarner, and Evan Longoria — have contributed to the middling finish this season. Evans’s big contracts — including Cueto, Melancon, Samardzija and outfielder Austin Jackson — haven’t worked out. His trade for Matt Moore didn’t pay dividends and cost San Francisco a popular third baseman Matt Duffy. “I did have a chance to talk to Bobby,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “I got a chance to thank him for all his help. Bobby and I spent even more time together the last couple years, but he’s always been around and been very helpful. Twenty five years there, it shows you the continuity we have here in San Francisco, and he did a lot to help out in different areas. I know he wore some different hats here, and did a lot for the organization.” Clearly, though, something hasn’t been working in China Basin. Though the Giants have posted a 3.45 ERA since June 1, and a 3.86 ERA for the season (13th in MLB), they have scored the second-fewest runs in this year. In a conference call Monday, vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean and club president Larry Baer said the franchise will go in a new direction in terms of how baseball operations are run. “I’ve known Bobby for 10 years,” Crawford said. “I talked with him when I got drafted and was working on a contract to play professional baseball. I was on the phone with him all the time. I got as close as you can to somebody in the front office.” Right-hander Derek Holland — who allowed three runs over five innings on Monday — has been a bright spot for the Giants in an otherwise forgettable season. Evans signed the left- hander to a minor league deal in February, after a disastrous second half with the Chicago

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White Sox in 2017 when he went 2-5 with a 9.08 ERA. He hadn’t lost a game in 2018’s second half until Monday night, and even chipped in from the bullpen. “I’m fairly new here, but I don’t really know what to say. I don’t want to speak on these guys’ behalf that have been here for a while, but I was just blessed with the opportunity to be here,” said Holland, who has gone 3-1 with a 2.86 ERA since switching sides of the rubber on June 20 against Miami. “I thank him for that.” Holland, who will be an unrestricted free agent, said he wants to stay in San Francisco, but it will be up to the next general manager to make that decision. “We’ve gone through a lot,” Bochy said. “This year, I think was much better, overall. I just think our approach to the game, we were hanging in there despite a lot that we had to deal with, both on the pitching side and on the position player side. I think, overall, the plan was pretty good. We go into the season, you hope everybody stays healthy and they have their normal years, we had a tough time doing that. Then the second half comes, and we had trouble getting runs.”

SFexaminer Hunter Pence clear-eyed as he looks at possible curtain call with San Francisco Giants Ryan Gorcey

AT&T PARK — On Sunday, the day before the San Francisco Giants’ final homestand of the season, former third base coach tweeted out a photo of himself and outfielder Hunter Pence, sitting on the top of the bench in the Dodger Stadium visitor’s dugout.

“Every night 20 minutes before game we met on the bench. No one out prepared him. This I will miss forever. Thank you Hunter for knowing all it takes to win. #forevergrateful” Flannery wrote.

What followed over the next few hours were five more photos of the manic, frenetic right fielder. There was Pence with a black eye. There was Pence popping up after sliding into home, with Pablo Sandoval cheering behind him. The final image: Pence and Flannery staring intensely at one another in the dugout. Flannery quoted Leonard Cohen: “Everything has a crack in it, that’s how the light gets in.”

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In a season that has brought out the worst kind of emotion among baseball fans — apathy — Pence has been a rare light in the final year of his contract, and potentially his final days in San Francisco.

On a night when the Giants offense once again fell silent against another below-average pitcher in the San Diego Padres’ Bryan Mitchell (owner of a 6.16 ERA), the only real noise made came from the ovations for Pence by the intimate crowd of 35,426, as the 35-year old went 2-for-4 in a 5-0 loss.

“It means a lot,” Pence said. “I’ve really thoroughly enjoyed my time here, really loved working for this organization and this team, this city. Everything about it has been an absolute delight for me, getting to play the game I love around such incredible individuals, incredible fans.”

At the end of his worst professional season, at the end of his contract, Pence is getting ready to play winter ball to see if he can revive his career. In the Giants clubhouse Monday, Pence considered the series of Flannery tweets, seemingly signaling his end in the Bay. He smiled.

“There’s a lot of people that are extremely prepared, and it was a lot of fun working with Flan,” Pence said, his voice quivering just slightly. “We connected on a lot of thoughts towards the game, a lot of outside-the-box thinking. It was really a joy to work with him.”

Joy is the operative word when considering Pence’s unlikely career. Picked in the second round of the 2004 draft out of the University of Texas-Arlington, Pence arrived as a flailing, awkward, athlete for whom every movement seemed to be wasted movement. Yet, he has carved out a 12-year career, nearly 1,700 hits, three All-Star appearances and two World Series titles.

The Padres took the early lead — for good, as it would turn out — on back-to-back-to-back hits in the second, and added another run on a pair of hits in the third, and a third on a Jose Pirela homer in the fourth off of starter Derek Holland. They added two in the sixth against reliever Ty Blach.

In the meantime, Pence grounded out twice to the pitcher in his first two plate appearances. Each time he came up, though, the crowd shook itself awake. When Pence flipped a single over first to put men at the corners with two outs in the fifth, it was as if the Giants had tied the

32 game after a gutty comeback — just a few decibels short of a game-winner. The same noise greeted him when he got his second hit of the night — a one-out single in the eighth.

At the start of what could he his last homestand, he started, led off and played right field — just as he did during his salad days with the club.

“I’m definitely going to cherish it, and moving forward with the uncertainty,” Pence said. “It could be, but it could not be.”

Pence began the season hitting just .172 in his first 17 games, of which he started 15. He had sprained his thumb while diving to make a play on April 3, but played through it. By April 20, it had become too much to bear, and he went on the disabled list. He didn’t return to the majors until June, after he recovered and spend another month down in Triple-A re-engineering his swing with Mac Williamson’s personal swing coach.

When he returned, the 35-year old found himself the odd man out in a crowded outfield filled with youngsters like Alen Hanson, Steven Duggar, Austin Slater and eventually Chris Shaw. Yet, every time Pence has stepped into the on-deck circle as a late-inning pinch hitter, or trotted out to left as a defensive replacement, he’s gotten consistently loud ovations.

“You know, I try to just embrace the moment,” he said. “I don’t want to clear anything out of my head. I just have my focus, try to play with the Christmas spirit, and the love of baseball, like any little kid. I still feel like that kid.”

His ebullient energy sparked the 2012 team to a World Series run after he was traded from the , despite the fact that he only hit .219 with San Francisco in 59 games that year. In 2013, he hit .283 with 27 homers and 99 RBIs. In his last All-Star season, 2014, Pence played all 162 games, hit .277 and slugged 20 home runs as the Giants won their third World Series in five years. His 650 at-bats that season led the league.

“It’s hard putting into words what he’s meant to us,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “This guy, his tenure here has been just one of my most pleasurable players I’ve ever had. He’s just such a pro.”

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Injuries limited him to 52 games in 2015, but as San Francisco made another playoff push in 2016, he hit .289 — his best in a full season since he hit .314 in 2011 — with 13 homers in 106 games. Last year, in the midst of a historically-bad 98-loss season, Pence hit .260 and played in 134 games, hitting 13 homers and driving in 67 while playing his typically-adventurous style in right field.

“He’s always trying to help his teammates,” Bochy said. “He pulls for them. He brings that every day. It’s not a one-day thing with him. Incredible attitude, and that has a lot do do with why he’s had an incredible career.”

Every year, Pence has taken it upon himself to gather all the first-year players in Giants spring training camp, and give them a pep talk, letting them know that they belong, and letting them know what their future San Francisco teammates expect of them.

“He really makes an effort to get with the guys, the players, he wants to mentor them, be the right type of player and also build their confidence, be who they are,” Bochy said. “For a manager, you’re looking for leadership within that clubhouse. He’s always provided that for us.”

Pence still wants to play next season. He’s going to re-engineer his swing again for a month after the season ends, and then it’s off to winter ball for the first time in his career. Maybe someone will notice down there. Maybe they won’t. For now, Pence is taking in all those cheers.

“I definitely feel a lot of love,” Pence said. “It’s pretty special. It’s pretty special every time I go into the on-deck circle. Fans that are nearby, some of the comments — a lot of the comments — they get pretty real, and it gets pretty emotional. It means a lot to me.”

Bochy, for one, thinks Pence should be able to play somewhere next year. Pence is healthy now and runs well, Bochy said, and can still run into one at the plate, as he did last week in San Diego.

“He gets his timing back, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything that guy does,” Bochy said.

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With five games left and the Giants assured their second straight losing season, Bochy said he’ll play Pence as much as he can.

“I’ve really been very fortunate,” Pence said. “Just trying to continue to do it the way I’ve always done it — be prepared, go as hard as I can, and love every minute of it.”

KNBR.com Baer, Sabean release statement following firing of Bobby Evans Ryan McGeary

Monday afternoon the San Francisco Giants announced Bobby Evans would not return next year as the their general manger. Shortly thereafter Larry Baer, the Giants President and CEO, and Brian Sabean, the Giants Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations, released statements about their former general manger.

“I want to thank Bobby for his tireless work on behalf of the Giants. He played an important role in our team’s success throughout his tenure, which includes three World Series championships, four NL pennants and eight playoff appearances,” said Giants President and CEO Laurence M. Baer. “We look forward to new leadership to continue our historic record of success.”

“I take great pride in the longstanding continuity of our baseball department. I want to express my thanks to Bobby for all he has given to the Giants over the past 25 years and for his countless contributions,” said Giants Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Brian Sabean. “I’ll be working closely with with Larry as the organization finds its next leader of baseball operations.”

Although he no longer will be general manger the Giants are looking to fit him into another role with the organization and his new responsibilities are “to be determined.”

The Giants have stated they will immediately begin searching for their next head of baseball operations.

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KNBR.com Giants fire general manager Bobby Evans Jacob Hutchinson

In the midst of another subpar season, the Giants have fired their general manager, Bobby Evans, who had been the general manager since 2015. Evans had been with the team for 25 years, according to Alex Pavlovic.

Alex Pavlovic ✔@PavlovicNBCS

Bobby Evans has been fired as Giants general manager. He was with the organization for 25 years and was GM for four. 4:14 PM - Sep 24, 2018 Twitter Ads info and privacy The firing does not come as much of a surprise considering the struggles of a team which has won three World Series titles in the last eight years and has one of the oldest and most expensive rosters in baseball.

The team will finish this season under .500 for the second-straight season and with the disappointing results, there had been talks of front office changes for the past few weeks.

Sfbay Giants offense flat again following front office moves Julie Parker

In the wake of news that the Giants had fired General Manager Bobby Evans just hours before Monday’s series opener with the Padres, the team on the field illustrated for the 85th time in 2018 that the ‘re-load’ described last winter was decidedly unsuccessful.

Despite a respectable start from Derek Holland, in which he allowed three runs on eight

36 hits over five innings, the Giants (72-85) bats made right-hander Bryan Mitchell (W, 1-4, 6.16 ERA) — who entered into the contest with a WHIP of 1.834 and ERA over six — look like an ace. Scattering just seven hits against a starter that had allowed more than 10 per nine innings coming in, San Francisco fell 5-0 to the cellar-dwelling Padres (63-94) .

This story has been updated with quotes and post-game material from the Giants clubhouse at AT&T Park. The Giants front office made moves in the offseason to bolster its offense after losing 98 games in 2017, picking up Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria while standing pat with what looked like a leakproof starting rotation. As it turned out, the starting rotation fell apart by May when the Giants top three starters all ended up on the shelf at the same time, and the team was forced to fill in gaps with names no one expected to see in the rotation just two months earlier.

So it would’ve been understandable if it was starting pitching that presented a roadblock day-in and day-out for the Giants, but that simply hasn’t been the case. Monday the Giants got yet another solid performance out of Holland (L, 7-9, 3.63), who’s been dependably keeping them in games since June when he switched to the other side of the rubber on the advice of some teammates.

But reliable starting pitching like Holland’s has consistently gone to waste for the Giants and it’s gotten progressively more discouraging as the season has gone on. Since August 1 the Giants have scored four or more runs just 14 times, something they managed to do 16 times in the month of April alone.

For starting pitchers it has to be difficult to go out every five days with the knowledge that giving up even one run is often enough to sink a start, never mind three. But Manager Bruce Bochy believes they’re able to rise above it:

“I think it’s fair to say that it’s been an issue with [Holland] getting run support from these guys. I think the starters have done a good job of not letting that affect them … they’re pros. They know they can only control what they do and they have to go out there and do the best job they can to get us a chance to win and they can’t control if we score runs for them–that’s baseball.”

Despite that Holland has allowed more than three runs just six times in 30 starts, he’s averaged just 3.79 runs of support this season, so when he allowed a leadoff homer to Manuel Margot (4) in the fourth to give the Padres a 3-0 lead, statistically speaking, it didn’t look good.

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He was then pulled at 82 pitches after the fifth when his spot came up with one out and Gorkys Hernández on first, and after the inning ended fruitlessly and Ty Blach allowed two more runs in the sixth to make it 5-0, it really didn’t look good.

Though he only allowed three runs, Holland took his first loss since the All Star Break, a fact he expressed pride in after the game, kind of.

“That kind of blew me away. … Execution on my part was a little off, I just had a lot of misfires going different directions, but we tried to battle.”

He added:

“That could’ve been my last start, I’m not really sure I still gotta wait to find out, [but] it’s kinda not the way I really wanna go out. At the same time I did achieve a lot this year and I feel very happy with that.”

It’s worth also noting that Holland only has two wins since the All Star Break despite holding opposing batters to a .212 batting average and notching an ERA of 2.66 in that span.

While the Giants have struggled for most of the season the marked offensive struggles have coincided with some particularly devastating blows to the roster. August saw McCutchen traded to the Yankees and season-ending surgeries for Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey and Steven Duggar, and September has been no better, producing season-ending surgeries for Brandon Belt and Ryder Jones.

So for a team that struggled offensively to begin with in 2018, these developments sent them into a death spiral causing Bochy to finally call a time of death on the Giants October aspirations during their last homestand.

With that, the front office got to work hunting for necrotic tissue within the organization to excise. Or to at least look like they’re doing something.

Said Giants President and CEO Larry Baer of relieving Evans of his duties:

“I made the decision that really, at this point, we needed to take a fresh approach to baseball operations. We’ve had a very successful group here for a long time, and we wanted to bring a new approach to Giants baseball and take a look outside [the organization].”

So far Baer and Brian Sabean have used a scalpel — letting strength coach Carl Kochan go last week and Evans Monday — but there are no guarantees that there aren’t plans to begin hacking with a less precise instrument after next week.

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In the aftermath of Evans’ firing, Bochy acknowledged that it’s difficult to see the way that losses on the field have translated to the loss of jobs off the field.

“I think overall the plan was pretty good. You go into the season and you hope everybody stays healthy and has their normal years and we had a tough time doing that. We were hanging in there in the second half, [but] it’s been a struggle getting runs.”

Bochy, for one, is safe. He has one more year on his contract and according to Baer there are no plans to include the skipper in the hacking. Baer also claims there will be no more changes made within the front office itself. But it remains to be seen what will become of the Giants coaching staff.

When asked what he wanted to see out of his team during their final homestand before the opener, Bochy said he hoped the Giants could play entertaining games and find a way to win some of them.

“We still have fans coming out [and] we want to have a good presentation, a good game [of] solid baseball. … We knew when Buster went down [and] we traded ‘Cutch’ it’d be a bumpy road but you come out and you give it all you have every day and they’re doing that.”

But Mitchell (W, 2-4, 5.42 ERA) held the Giants scoreless through 8-2/3 innings coming one out away from recording his first career complete game before loading the bases in the ninth on a double and a pair of walks, and being replaced by Kirby Yates (S, 11, 2.10 ERA).

Yates struck Austin Slater out without a fight to close it out, providing what may have been entertaining baseball to the clusters of Padres fans in the stands at AT&T Park on a chilly Monday night by the Bay, but was more or less re-runs of a lost season for the portion of 35,423 at the game who continue to root for the home team.

Up Next

The Giants will pit Chris Stratton (10-10, 4.88) against Padres southpaw Robbie Erlin (4-7, 4.33) in game two of three against the Padres Tuesday.

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Sfbay.com Bobby Evans out as Giants GM after two dismal seasons Julie Parker

The Giants announced Monday that Bobby Evans will step down from his role as General Manager effective immediately as they search for a someone to fill an as-yet unnamed title in the role of “baseball guru,” according to Giants President and CEO Larry Baer.

In a conference call with reporters, Baer and Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Brian Sabean offered somewhat contradictory descriptions of the Giant’s future steward and the team’s direction.

Citing their track record of three World Series Championships in five years this decade, Baer stated emphatically that the Giants are not looking for a new “philosophy,” but they are looking for a “fresh approach.”

Evans took over as general manager for Sabean in 2015, the year after the team won its last World Series. Since then they have made the postseason just once, a failed Wild Card run in 2016.

His firing comes on the heels of two straight losing seasons. The Giants went 64-98 in 2017, and with six games remaining in the 2018 season, they hold a record of 72-84.

Baer and Sabean both praised Evans for his work as GM and in his previous roles dating back to the early 90s, but they indicated Monday that it was time to make a change.

Said Sabean:

“I think that the answer is that as an organization, really as an ownership group, there was a decision to move forward and to look outside the organization and the front office structure. I’ll leave it at that.”

The team will begin the hunt for someone to assume Evans’ duties immediately. Baer said they don’t plan to divide the job into more than one position, but he was hesitant to settle on a title. He said they plan to take their time in finding the right person for the role:

“We have the benefit of Brian [who’s] able to steer the ship here until we have somebody — that means we’re not gonna rush, we’ll take our time and [we’ll have] 100 percent confidence in who we bring in.”

Baer described the ideal candidate as a marriage of tradition and modernity, bringing a method that embraces both analytics and scouting to the organization. He said whoever they hire will report directly to him:

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“What we’re looking for is somebody that’s going to come in, and 24/7 is going to immerse herself or himself in the baseball operation and is going to be fully accountable for the results and putting together the blueprint of the future. Sort of the next-gen of the Giants. That’s the person that we’ll be bringing in.”

The Giants said Evans will remain in the organization and will be reassigned to duties yet to be determined. Sabean said:

“He’s a big part of our family tree. I came into the organization in ’93, and I met Bobby shortly thereafter in ’94. Not only grown together in this profession with the Giants, but we’ve grown together as people, and that’s a big part of your lifetime.”

The Sporting News Giants dismiss GM Bobby Evans as front-office shakeup looms Arthur Weinstein

The Giants dismissed general manager Bobby Evans Monday, and more front-office shakeups are expected, according to local media reports.

In a statement, Giants president and CEO Larry Baer thanked Evans for his 25 years of service with the organization, but said the team is moving in a new direction.

“We needed to take a fresh approach with baseball operations,” Baer said (via MercuryNews.com). “We’ve had a very successful group here a long time, but we’ve got to bring a new approach to Giants baseball and take a look outside.”

The statement said Evans will be "reassigned with responsibilities to be determined."

Evans, who served in several roles with the Giants through the years, assumed GM duties before the 2015 season. With three World Series championships in the previous five seasons, he had a high standard to uphold.

Yet many of Evans' personnel moves, including the signing of high-priced free agent pitchers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, didn't work as expected. The Giants lost 98 games last season, and are currently 72-85. The club had not had consecutive losing seasons since 2007-2008.

Baer told MercuryNews.com the team is looking for a “next-gen” baseball person to fill the GM role.

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Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford said that Evans' dismissal is "tough."

“Obviously something like that is part of the business side of baseball, but it kind of sucks that somebody like Bobby … loses his job because we didn’t perform on the field,” Crawford told NBC Sports. “That’s always tough.”

Bleacher Report Bobby Evans Fired as Giants GM After 4 Seasons ROB GOLDBERG

The San Francisco Giants announced Monday Bobby Evans will no longer be the team's general manager.

OFFICIAL: Senior Vice President & General Manager Bobby Evans will step down from his general manager duties, effective immediately.#SFGiants 4:46 PM - Sep 24, 2018

Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported the news.

Giants CEO Larry Baer said the team expects Bruce Bochy to return for the 2019 season, according to Schulman.

Since he is signed through 2019, the team plans to offer Evans another job within the organization, but he will also be free to seek employment elsewhere.

San Francisco entered Monday with a 72-84 record, the fourth-worst in the National League.

Evans has been with the Giants since 1994 but moved to the GM role in 2015 after Brian Sabean was promoted to executive vice president.

While the team won three World Series titles in five seasons from 2010 to '14, things have gone south over the past four years.

The squad has a 307-335 record in this stretch, with just one playoff appearance that ended with a National League Division Series loss in 2016. The 68-94 record from 2017 represented the Giants' worst season in over 30 years.

While San Francisco dealt with a plethora of injuries over the past two years with Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, Johnny Cueto and others missing significant time, there was not enough depth to overcome these losses to find success on the field.

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The #SFGiants planing to hire two people for front office with Bobby Evans out: a Vice President of baseball operations and a General Manager. The Giants will be flooded with applicants 5:08 PM - Sep 24, 2018

Although the team said it will immediately conduct a search for the next GM, there are conflicting reports about a potential top candidate.

According to Nightengale, former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti is the current favorite to take the job in San Francisco. However, Schulman reported that Colletti will not be taking the job.

Yahoosports.com San Francisco Giants remove Bobby Evans as general manager Chris Cwik

After a season of mediocre performance on the field, the San Francisco Giants made their first big move. The team released a statement announced Bobby Evans would be removed as general manager. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle was first to report the news.

Evans had been in the role since 2015. Under his watch, the Giants made the postseason just once, losing to the in the National League Division Series in 2016.

The team has struggled the past two seasons. The Giants limped to a 64-98 record after injuries hit the team hard in 2017. The team decided to add parts in the offseason, picking up Evan Longoria and Andrew McCutchen in trades. The Giants were able to hover around .500 through July, but fell off in August and September. They were eliminated from National League West contention last Monday.

Evans was signed through 2019 with manager Bruce Bochy and executive vice president Brian Sabean. Both Bochy and Sabean are expected to retain their jobs, according to Schulman.

Evans will remain with the club in an undetermined new role. He’s been with the Giants since 1994, and worked his way up through the organization to eventually be named the team’s general manager.

Whoever the Giants decide to hire as the team’s next general manager will be put in a difficult spot. The Giants’ roster is composed of mostly veteran players on long-term contracts. Many of those players are coming off injury-riddled or disappointing seasons, which would make it tough to get strong value for those players in trades.

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On top of that, the Giants have one of the worst farm systems in baseball. Finding someone who can overhaul both the major-league and minor-league side will be necessary.

Bobby Evans has been fired as Giants general manager. He was with the organization for 25 years and was GM for four. 4:14 PM - Sep 24, 2018 Twitter Ads info and privacy The firing does not come as much of a surprise considering the struggles of a team which has won three World Series titles in the last eight years and has one of the oldest and most expensive rosters in baseball.

The team will finish this season under .500 for the second-straight season and with the disappointing results, there had been talks of front office changes for the past few weeks.

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