Originally posted by Ninerjohn:
Originally posted by dcsham:
Lol Ghost, you can't argue with the Sabean haters here. It will always be dumb luck if he is successful but 100% his fault if things go wrong. They won't see the logic, and nothing that you or I say will make a difference.
Hell, john says him or I could have done what Sabean did this offseason so I guess I best be giving the Giants a call to offer my services!
LOL. I dont know how many times I have to say that I give Sabean all the credit in the world for trades he made to get the Giants over the hump. However, there is no debating his poor record when it comes to free agency. It has been bad no matter how you look at it. I dont think I need to give the laundry list again for you.
All he did this off season ( in which you called his job great) was to resign his 3 players at market or above market rate. These were guys who really wanted to stay in SF but certainly did not give the team hometown discounts to stay. Affeldt, Scutaro, and Pagan all got more years than expected and more money as well. Sabean didnt have much choice due to the fact that the Giants system has zero players ready to come up and produce.
As far as being able to simply give out the highest years and money for your own players and keep them... well yes, even you could have done that I think.
It's my understanding that Sabes isn't the chief negotiator; that would be Bobby Evans' job. Btw, most GMs in just about every major sport are working from a place of weakness. If the try and play hardball on negotiations, they'll be considered an unattractive destination for the top talent. If the player is any good at all, agents will just say, "screw those guys, I'll take my client somewhere else or not even bother with them in the first place." In that sense, I can see what you're saying about anyone being able to do that aspect of the job. It's probably true to a certain extent, but it would apply to just about every other front office as well, other than Oakland's.
Talented agents/players have all the leverage.
[ Edited by GhostofFredDean74 on Dec 5, 2012 at 10:51 AM ]