When the Yankees announce their World Series roster, Brian Sabean’s fingerprints will be on it.
General manager Brian Cashman on Wednesday called Sabean his “consigliere” and said he still leans on the person he began working with in The Bronx nearly four decades ago — including during a conversation the two had on Tuesday about the construction of the roster the Yankees are putting together.
“As much as anybody in the sport, he understands what it takes to win,’’ Cashman said.
For Sabean, 68, it’s been a long road back to the organization where he started his career in professional baseball in 1985 as a scout.
He eventually headed the Yankees scouting department and was in charge of player development.
As Cashman noted, Sabean played a direct role in the Yankees drafting or signing Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera, as well as getting them through the minor leagues.
But not long before that group started winning World Series titles, Sabean was part of a group that ended up leaving, as Cashman said, due to the “volatility” of the organization under George Steinbrenner’s stewardship.
Sabean went on to engineer three World Series titles as GM of the Giants (2010, ’12 and ’14) before leaving following the 2022 season.
That’s when Cashman hired him for another stint with the Yankees.
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“He’s one of the architects of lining ourselves up for that championship run we had in the 1990s and early 2000s,’’ Cashman said. “Then he went on and built something spectacular not once, not twice, but three times in San Francisco.”
His title is “executive advisor” to Cashman and he always has Cashman’s ear.
“It’s been kind of surreal to be with the Yankees again and getting to this point,’’ Sabean said of being in the World Series again.
“He’s one of the great baseball men of our generation,’’ Cashman said. “I always felt sorrow that he did not get the credit he so richly deserved for what transpired in that championship run. I brought him back because he’s been through the wars, he knows everything about amateur scouting, player development and building world championship teams. And I also wanted him back where he belongs.”
Before he guided the Giants to those titles, Sabean saw the Yankees he helped build win five championships.
“It’s been a great experience and it’s energized my passion for the game,’’ Sabean said. “This is where I wanted to be. In the back of my mind, I always wanted to finish with the Yankees because a lot of the seeds we planted became the core of that ’96 team and I had to watch that from afar.”
As he said it, Sabean was leaning on the railing of the home dugout at Yankee Stadium during the team’s workout Tuesday, so it’s safe to say he’ll have a better view this time around.
“He’s always got a seat at the table,’’ Cashman said. “Whether it’s trades, free-agent signings or anything else, he plays a role. His pedigree is Hall of Fame caliber. What he’s done in this game is cemented by what he did with the Giants and not with us. He’s like a forgotten person, but the people that were here, myself included, realize that while Gene Michael was the architect, guys like [former scouting director Bill] Livesey and Sabean did a lot of the heavy lifting to get us to where we ended up.”
