New York Yankees hire former SF Giants top executive as advisor

Longtime SF Giants executive Brian Sabean has not been in the news a lot recently but he was in a big way on Tuesday. The New York Yankees announced that Sabean has been hired as an executive advisor to general manager Brian Cashman.

New York Yankees hire former SF Giants top executive as advisor

For Sabean, this move is very much a homecoming. The 66-year-old executive spent the first part of his career with the Yankees in a variety of roles that ranged from scout to vice president of player development and scouting.

Perhaps, due to its recency, Sabean is better known for his role as the architect of San Francisco's championship role. He had a hand in drafting that core including Matt Cain, Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum.

In addition to this, he executed trades for key players like Freddy Sanchez, Marco Scutaro, Javier López, and Hunter Pence. There was a period from 2009 to 2014 where Sabean was nearly flawless in his roster maneuvering.

With all that being said, the longtime Giants executive helped to lay the foundation for a different dynasty much earlier in his career. While working in the Yankees' front office, Sabean was heavily involved in the scouting, drafting, and signing of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettite, and Bernie Williams.

That core went on to win five championships in a stretch of 12 years beginning in 1996. This included four titles in a five-year window at the end of the 1990's.

There might not be a Giants or Yankees dynasty without someone like Sabean in the front office. Of course, was hired as the general manager of the Giants and remained in that role until he was promoted to president of baseball operations in 2015. Longtime executive Bobby Evans succeeded him as the team's general manager.

That proved to be a brief tenure as Evans was fired at the end of the 2018 season after a disappointing 73-89 finish. The Giants hired Farhan Zaidi as president of baseball operations, moving Sabean into an advisory role in the process.

In recent seasons, Sabean expressed interest in working as a top executive for both the Miami Marlins and the New York Mets but the idea never came to fruition. Sabean was transparent in his disappointment that he was not as involved as he expected when he became an advisor for the Giants as Maria Guardado of MLB.Com reports:

New York offered a better opportunity for Sabean. Given his experience and ties to the Yankees organization, it is hard to think of a better fit. Similar to Bruce Bochy being hired by the Texas Rangers, it is exciting that another key player during the championship run is getting a chance to continue his career.