Former SF Giants GM Bobby Evans does not get Angels GM Opening

The Los Angels Angels interviewed about 20 people for their vacant general manager position, including former SF Giants general manager Bobby Evans.

Since then, they whittled the candidate pool down to five finalists, not including the former SF Giants general manager, before selecting Perry Minasian as the next Angels general manager:

Evans originally joined the Giants way back in 1994 as a minor league administrative assistant, and he gradually rose through the organizational ranks to become the team’s general manager in 2015.

The longtime Giants executive took over the reins at the wrong time as he inherited a bit of a dying star. When he took over, the Giants had won three World Series titles in five years.

The Giants ownership group pushed to keep the championship window open for as long as possible, and that pressured Evans to make a series of win-now moves. To his credit, the Giants reached the playoffs in 2016 after reeling in Jeff Samardzija, Johnny Cueto, Denard Span, Will Smith, Eduardo Nunez, and Matt Moore.

They looked poised for a deep playoff run, but an unreliable bullpen caused them to lose in the ALDS against the Chicago Cubs in four games.

That was about as much success as Evans would experience at the helm. The SF Giants suffered a brutal season in 2017 where they went 64-98. This was seen as a gap year by team ownership, and Evans was instructed to right the ship in 2018.

Given the lack of organizational prospect talent and financial flexibility, the Giants tried for one last hurrah by acquiring outfielder Andrew McCutchen and third baseman Evan Longoria from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Rays, respectively.

These moves did not have the intended outcome as the Giants posted a 73-89 record, which was good enough for fourth place in the National League West.

At that point, the ownership group decided that a change was needed and the Giants decided to reassign Evans from within the organization. Farhan Zaidi would then be tabbed as the team’s president of baseball operations with Scott Harris as the general manager.

Despite the fact that the Giants struggled badly during Evans’ tenure, he is still a respected executive throughout baseball.

When the Houston Astros general manager position surprisingly opened up last winter, Evans was one of the names in the mix. This year, he was in the mix yet again for the Angels gig, but he was not one of the finalists.

Given his extensive organizational experience, Evans will continue to get looks for future front office roles. His SF Giants tenure was a bumpy ride, but they also did a lot of winning with him working in the front office.