I Like to Watch the Media

In the aftermath of the Colletti hiring, I found it interesting how the media can slightly twist perceptions, just by leaving out a brief statement, or just plain leave out pertinent and interesting information. Here are some I noticed between the Giants official press release and the AP version:

• In the Giants official press release, it notes that the Giants will look internally for help with Colletti's absense, with help from Bobby Evans and Dick Tidrow, and it notes that Tidrow is a likely candidate to replace Colletti. In the AP version, Tidrow does not even get one mention, though Evans was mentioned as a helper.
• The Giants official press release also noted that scout Pat Dobson will take over discussing possible deals with teams.
• However, the AP version noted, where the Giants didn't, that because Colletti has been the Giants' primary negotiator with agents, Sabean will take a greater role there. Given Sabean's perturbment that Colletti hadn't been made GM earlier ("long overdue" is his quote), one would have thought that some sort of "emergency scenario" would have been accounted for, so that the Giants would not be caught so flat-footed and unprepared as they appear to be in these articles. Scenario Planning is an increasingly common management technique today, something I would recommend all companies do in some form today. I believe that it is the wave of the future for management practices.
• In the Giants official press release, in response to the question of whether Colletti would attend Sabean's wedding (which occurs this Friday, Congrats Brian and Amanda!), he is quoted, "If he does, I hope he's ready for the biggest prank in our relationship. Hopefully, he'll show up." In the AP version, however, it is noted that Colletti is invited but that Sabean will understand if his friend doesn't make it, noting furthermore, "If he does, I hope he's ready for the biggest prank," but leaving out the part about hoping he shows up (I assume and would hope he will, otherwise the praise of his character heaped on him the past day would seem false), making it seem like Sabean doesn't want him there and if he showed up, a big prank would be done.
• Then there's the Merc version, which I won't go over point by point as above, but whereas the Giants version said that Sabean reported that Wotus has been told that he is no longer a candidate and assumes he'll be back with SF, basically implying that the Dodgers had told him this, the AP version didn't mention Wotus at all, and the Merc version noted much more specifically that Sabean said that he won't allow the Dodgers to interview Wotus a second time, noting "They had their chance."
• However, I will note that the Merc version did state that Sabean would assume most of Colletti's negotiating duties (vs. simply "greater role" above) and that Tidrow, Evans, and Dobson will have expanded roles this winter (as noted by the Giants version).

Overall, it sounds like the Giants won't be able to interview candidates for the new assistant GM until at least the middle of December. "From an organizational standpoint, the timing is not good. We really can't go through the search process with due diligence right now beecause we have too much to do prior to the winter meetings." In addition, he said that he will consider restructuring the Giants front office or promoting from within before looking at outside candidates.

Too bad, I was kind of hoping that Colletti would fire Kim Ng (to have one of your major competitors for the job still there while you are the boss would be pretty awkward, class or no class) and that the Giants would pick her up to be the new AGM. They have had relatively progressive hiring practices towards minorities and her skills in negotiating contracts and overall general background is very similar to Colletti. Plus, more importantly to me, she could pass on Dodger secrets to us just like I'm sure Colletti will use his knowledge of the Giants operations against us, no matter how ethical and upstanding you are, he cannot help but allow his knowledge of the Giants to affect his decisions in some way. Plus, that guy who has been given all the credit for the Dodger's improved farm system, probably wants to move into the AGM position.

Similarly, I would have to assume that Dick Tidrow would be the frontrunner for that position with the Giants. He and Colletti were the two touted for GM positions by Sabean, so I would assume that the Giants would want to give him a promotion to recognize his work. This would be Tidrow's next step up, by taking that position.