Why SF Giants fans are overreacting to the Bobby Evans news

The SF Giants made some news on Tuesday by bringing back their old general manager Bobby Evans in an advisory role. The reaction to this news has been negative among some parts of the fanbase and some of this seems to be overreacting.

Just the name Bobby Evans will stir up intense feelings amongst Giants fans. Evans was part of the Giants organization for over 20 years, joining the franchise in 1994 as Brian Sabean's assistant general manager. He was a part of the front office for the success of the early 2000's and, of course, the championship years in the 2010's.

SF Giants bring back former GM Bobby Evans as an advisor

He was named Sabean's successor in 2015 and took on the leadership role. The Giants had two good years in 2015 and 2016, but then the franchise fell off a cliff in 2017, nearly losing 100 games, and they did not improve much in 2018 which led to the ouster of Evans. Farhan Zaidi replaced him following the 2018 season, assuming the title of president of baseball operations.

It is more than fair to be critical of Evans for the moves and mistakes he made as general manager. The Matt Duffy-Matt Moore trade can still start an intense debate among Giants fans 8 years after it was made. He deserves to be held accountable for those mistakes.

However, there seems to be some sort of notion that now that Evans is back in the building he is going to be some sort of puppetmaster, pulling the strings of Buster Posey. Just because Evans had a penchant for trading away prospects in short-sighted moves does not mean Buster is going to do the same thing.

Posey has spoken at length about how important it is to have a good farm system and build from within. Are we to expect that him hiring Evans as an advisor (a role with no real power, mind you) means that he has been lying this whole time and actually has a master plan to sell the farm? Doubtful at best.

Hiring Evans, as well as Posey's former agent Jeff Berry, is really just an example of Posey surrounding himself with people he trusts. That is what leaders do. They surround themselves with people who may not think exactly like them, but they respect their opinions and want to have them around as a sounding board.

Bringing Evans back was always going to lead to a relitigation of his time as GM. Again, it is fair to be critical of his tenure. But before we denounce this new Posey regime as nothing more than nostalgia let's give him a chance to be his own leader and show us the kind of executive he is going to be.