:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61527855/usa_today_9663412.0.jpg)
There has been a lot of smoke surrounding the San Francisco Giants and, in particular, the fate of general manager Bobby Evans. Well, it looks like there was, in fact, fire.
It is no secret that the Giants are a mess. After a poor 2017 season, the Giants made a bunch of moves to acquire veterans that were well past their prime in order to try to compete in the near term. There was little help coming soon for the big league club from the minors and instead of going for a more traditional rebuild by spinning off assets, they added to what is a messy payroll and were not particularly close to competing while doing so. Injuries took a toll, no question....but the Giants’ 72-84 record is the product of mismanagement of the franchise at least as much as the injuries to the likes of Johnny Cueto, Buster Posey, etc.
It appears that the powers that be with the Giants feel the same way.
Bobby Evans, as anticipated,
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) September 24, 2018
has been dismissed as #SFGiants GM, per @hankschulman. Ned Colletti is the favorite to replace him.
Nightengale’s report indicates that Ned Coletti, who has some previous ties with the Giants and has extensive front office experience with the Dodgers, is the favorite to replace Evans for the moment.
Whoever takes on the position will have their hands full in rebuilding what was once a very proud franchise. The team is coming off back to back losing seasons and a farm system that is not deep at all although Joey Bart could end up as a star when his time comes. The team will be without Johnny Cueto until 2020 it looks like and who knows what Jeff Samardzija and Buster Posey will look like next year as they are in decline.
However, not all of the news is bad. The Giants will have another high draft pick in the 2019 draft and Dereck Rodriguez would be a very viable Rookie of the Year candidate in any other year that didn’t involve the presence of Ronald Acuna and Juan Soto. Once the Giants install a new general manager, it will be very interesting to see if they continue to try and take advantage of the presence of guys like Posey, Brandon Crawford, and Brandon Belt or if the go ahead and hit the reset button.