It's A Reunion In The Bronx As Yankees Bring In Sabean To Advise Cashman

Photo by Jason Schott.

 

The Yankees announced on Tuesday afternoon that they appointed Brian Sabean as Executive Advisor to Senior Vice President and General Manager Brian Cashman.

Sabean is most known for his tenure with the San Francisco Giants, whom he led to three World Series championships - in 2010, 2012, and 2014 - when he was their Senior Vice President and General Manager.

This is a reunion of sorts for Sabean, 66, who spent eight years with the Yankees, starting when he joined the Bronx Bombers as a scout in 1985. He served as the Director of Scouting from 1986-90, and then was the Vice President of Player Development and Scouting from 1990-92. 

Cashman joined the Yankees when he was a 19-year-old intern in the Major League and Scouting Department, working under Sabean before becoming a full-time Yankees employee in 1989 when he became a full-time Assistant in Baseball Operations.

This was the time when Gene Michael was running the Yankees and they drafted the players who formed the late 1990s dynasty, such as Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, and Jorge Posada.

The thinking would be that Sabean will bring a fresh set of eyes to what is a Yankees roster that still needs a lot of work and needs to move players such as Josh Donaldson and Aaron Hicks, and move forward with younger players such as Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera.

It will be interesting if Sabean will have a vote on trades and become, in essence, a co-General Manager with Cashman. 

There is no question that Cashman was very lucky to get his new four-year contract after a season that started off on a historic pace and then crashed in the second half, as they barely held on to win the American League East, then had to go five games to beat the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Division Series before being swept by the Houston Astros in the AL Championship Series.

This move to bring in Sabean is kind of a compromise, in that they didn't want to let Cashman go, but owner Hal Steinbrenner probably realizes they needed to add someone with experience, and plenty of success in the postseason, to the front office. 

The Yankees have only won one World Series since the 2000 season, and that was 13 years ago, in 2009. For point of reference, that was before San Francisco's three titles under Sabean.

After Sabean, a Concord, New Hampshire, native, left the Yankees, he joined San Francisco in 1993 as Assistant to the General Manager and Vice President of Scouting Player Personnel. In 1995, he was the Senior Vice President of Player Personnel before he was promoted to General Manager in 1996.

During Sabean's tenure as GM, from 1996 to 2015, they won those three World Championships, made the playoffs eight times, won five division titles, and four National League pennants.