Major League Baseball

Q and A with Giants GM Brian Sabean

Published Aug. 14, 2009 8:09 p.m. ET

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Ken Rosenthal

The Giants are back.

Not back to the Bonds-ian magnificence of 2002, when they nearly won the World Series. But back to being relevant, which — after back-to-back 90-loss seasons in '07 and '08 — is a good place to start.

The franchise's revival might be occurring just in time for general manager Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy, both of whom are in the final years of their contracts under a new managing general partner, Bill Neukom.

Then again, the turnaround also is a direct reflection of the work of both Sabean and Bochy — particularly Sabean, who had to adopt a short-term vision during Barry Bonds' tenure, then shift to a longer view.

The Giants are 1-1/2 games back in the wild-card race and 6-1/2 back in the NL West race entering their weekend series against the Mets (Saturday, MLB on Fox, 4:10 p.m. ET.)

Sabean, the Giants' GM since Sept. 30, 1996, addressed the team's past, present and future — as well as his own situation — in a telephone interview Thursday with FOXSports.com.

Q: In your mind, is this just the beginning?

A: We would hope so. We've got some kids in the wings who are close to being up here next year. We're going to follow suit with it, knowing that if we can pitch, in relative terms, we're going to have a chance to be in most every game and most every series in most seasons.

We'll continue to build from within with this group of position players. At the same time, we'll also need to go outside. Our fans have been patient. Our ownership has given us the latitude to do it this way. It's kind of been a relief.

Q: How satisfying has this season been thus far?

A: We saw signs of life last year, the last six weeks with some of the younger kids. We changed the overall approach, per se, knowing we would have to pitch, play defense, rely on situational hitting.

It was going to be a process. The pitching is better than expected. The defense is above-average. The offense is pretty much what we knew we were getting into. We don't have prototypical 3-4-5 hitters, though (Pablo) Sandoval would be third on a lot of teams.

Q: What would make the season a success?

A: If we can play meaningful games in September and go down to the wire and have a chance to be the wild-card team. Who knows? We may even challenge for the division.

It puts us ahead of schedule. We haven't played meaningful games in a few years. We haven't made the playoffs since '03. We want to seize the opportunity.

It's not going to be easy. The Dodgers certainly are the best team in our league. And when you're in a wild-card race with five or six teams, it changes every couple of days and will probably go down to the last week.

Q: You drafted Tim Lincecum with the 10th overall pick in 2006. How much internal debate was there about selecting him?

A: I'm not saying this with arrogance. But we've been pretty good, with (vice president of player personnel) Dick Tidrow at the lead, drafting kids talented enough to be impactful as starters at a young age, moreso in the higher rounds. We've made our living drafting pitching (Matt Cain was the team's first-round pick in '02). We've used some of 'em for trade pieces.

Dick was so convinced. When things were going down to the wire in Tim's (junior) season, the Pac-10 playoffs, he begged me not to go see him so we could keep our profile low. He had pretty much made up his mind. To him, it wasn't a question of whether we were going to draft him. It was a matter of whether he would fall to us.

Q: Is Lincecum one of your all-time favorites?

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