Report: Magowan To Step Down Friday

From the Chronicle's Matier and Ross:

Magowan ready to exit Giants managerial team

Hard to say but the report intimates that there will not be a big-time owner buying his shares, and instead they will be divvied up, meaning the next managing partner is will likely be an existing shareholder. Bear in mind, although Magowan has been managing partner, he is not the majority shareholder.

One interesting snippet:

Some partners privately complained that Magowan's management style was autocratic - and, indeed, it may have contributed to some early powerhouse investors such as Walter Shorenstein, Don Fisher and Charles Schwab eventually pulling out, observers say.

Magowan A Goner?

Another day, another loss as the Giants get swept by the lowly (and I use the term ironically) Pirates. On a miserable afternoon, the boys in orange and black continued to make the Pirates' last ranked staff look like that of the 1990s Braves.

The Giants are now a season-high 7 games under .500.

If it's any consolation, this is a continuation of a trend - actually, the scientists among us should have expected this. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Pittsburgh has won 13 of its last 15 games against San Francisco and swept three-game series from the Giants in three straight seasons.

But the bigger news coming out of today is that Peter Magowan may be following his buddy Barry Lamar Bonds out the door in short course. Yesterday, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reported within his blog:

The rain didn't arrive until much longer than three hours past the scheduled starting time. That caused San Francisco managing general partner Peter Magowan to blast the Cubs for their decision, as they suspected the Cubs were pushing for the rainout so Kevin Tapani could pitch later in the series...

Ten years later, MacPhail is in Baltimore. And Magowan is expected to retire soon, according to two sources, as part of a "change in control coming soon" in San Francisco, according to a major-league source.

Ray Ratto has reaction in today's Splash Blog.

The fallout of this potential bombshell is hard to ascertain. If Magowan does indeed step down, the most likely scenario appears to be one in which Sue Burns, the majority shareholder, takes over, which may be a continuation of the status quo - remember, all of the shareholders have invested their confidence in Magowan, and should he leave, there is no reason to believe they would be chomping at the bit to axe Brian Sabean, a close Magowan ally.

Then again, maybe they would.

The juicier (and less probable) possibility is that Magowan's shares (and perhaps others) may be divvied up not among current shareholders but sold to a new owner that then becomes managing partner. You know, someone like Larry Ellison, Mark Cuban or Paul Allen - guys who have the capital and are willing to spend what it takes to win. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Then there's this idea from Rick Cook of Brentwood, CA in today's letters to the Sporting Green:

Editor - I believe I have found the solution to the Giants problem. They must give Barry Zito his outright release immediately. Zito can then retire from baseball and take all of the money the Giants owe him and purchase part of the team.

Assuming the Giants, in their sorry state, are worth maybe $200 million, Zito could become the majority owner with no out-of-pocket expenses for his salary. Then as majority owner he could fire whoever the idiot is whose idea it was to sign him. Assuming it was Peter Magowan - he's gone. Brian Sabean, because he didn't have the guts to quit, bye bye. Larry Baer, just because, so long. Bruce Bochy, if you are the one who decided to start Zito Opening Day giving him six starts in April, goodbye to you, too.

Zito could then take over all four positions saving the Giants even more money as long as he agrees to never activate himself. A win-win if you ask me.

RICK COOK
Brentwood

And although I wouldn't ever wish someone out of a job, I do wish that Brian Sabean had a different job, like, I don't know, say, as a podiatrist. This makes that dream of mine one step closer to reality.

Five Things

Being a recent East Coast transplant, my love of the Giants is treated by quizzical looks. Looks that scream "why would you follow THAT team? They don't win, they're poorly managed, and they don't even have their own network!"

Of course, these people don't quite understand the nuanced approach associated with rooting for your home team blindly, regardless of their highs and lows, and prefer to follow the closest team with a recent World Series title, if not the cleverest marketing strategy.

That being said, an associate has requested a primer on Los Gigantes in advance of possibly advancing them as his primary NL team. So, I present to him, in an open letter on OBnB:

"Five Things You Need to Know About the San Francisco Giants"

1. Remember entitlement? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Many teams win World Series. One every year, in fact. Contrary to popular opinion among Giants fans, many fans of other teams remember their last World Series victory. The oft-repeated sentiment of fans of teams that aren't very good is "well, one of these days they'll recreate that magic they had that glorious season." They may be an Angels fan, or a Royals fan, perhaps an Orioles fan.

As a San Francisco Giants fan, that glimmer of hope doesn't exist. We don't feel entitled because, well, you need to feel like things go well for you, sometimes, to be entitled. When things are going well, you need to replace your feelings of cocksureness with those of impending nausea and possible diarrhea. Things don't go well for the San Francisco Giants - it's an objective historical fact.

This run of failure is not an anomaly since the last great achievement. This is the norm.

(Note to Cubs fans: Losing is kinda your thing - it actually makes you who you are. I mean, at least your team gets the "loveable loser" tag. We're kind of the loser that no one really likes, the one who hangs out under the bleachers, biding his time before the next crop of girls come by playing his own derivation of solitaire with Magic cards.)

2. Peter Magowan DID NOT save the San Francisco Giants

Peter Magowan is portrayed by national media types (national including the Bay Area sports media, which is largely unimpressive) as the grocer mogul/Brooks Brothers "senior gentleman" model who stopped the team from moving to Tampa Bay by making a last minute push to acquire the team and keep them in San Francisco.

That's not what happened. Owners blocked the move, led by those from the Dodgers and the Padres as to not threaten regional rivalries and overtax players with multiple cross-country odysseys for interdivision play every year. When the owners vetoed the deal, Magowan and Co. got the team at a discounted rate like a fat guy at an after Thanksgiving turkey sale.

3. Brian Sabean is wrong

He just is.

See: Zito, Barry; Pierzynski, A.J.; Perez, Neifi; Tucker, Michael/1st Round Pick

4. Barry Bonds is not evil, he's just the bestest steroid user ever

Villify him as long as you recognize that, fundamentally, he's no different than Rick Ankiel, Mark McGwire, Andy Pettite, and any host of busted users.

And shut up with your asterisk - you don't think just as many pitchers were juicing?

We're not proud of it just like the rest of fans are not proud of the era. Guess we'll live with it just the way we did with segregated baseball, rampant amphetamine use, and players gambling on their own games.

5. Embrace the anger

This team will make you angry. It's an organizational philosophy, from top to bottom, to mismanage, mangle, and in all other ways snatch failure from the jaws of success at all possible points. We're talking ownership, personnel decisions, gameday management, players, minors, the whole goddamned ship.

If you care, this will make you angry. Learn to channel that as it can be a powerful force. Last year, I got so angry after a terrible loss, I crocheted a replica of the roof of the Sistine Chapel - in one night, WITHOUT the aid of crack.

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If I think of more, I'll post them. In the meantime, what does the average OBnB reader think? What advice would you give to an aspiring Giants fan? Leave a comment.