South Bay baseball columnist Mark Purdy reports the news from the Giants front office: "The Giants confirmed Wednesday night what [the San Jose Mercury News] had reported earlier in the day -- that Bill Neukom, the Giants' managing general partner and chief executive officer, will not return in that role for the 2012 season." Larry Baer, the Giants' President and COO will take over Neukom's role starting in 2012, with Neukom himself transitioning from his current role as CEO to Chairman Emeritus starting on January 1st, 2012.
According to the Mercury News, Neukom's transition after only three years at the helm (which, as you probably know, included a long-awaited World Series win), wasn't his idea. While the baseball bloggers ponder the meaning of it all, apparently the rest of the 10-member executive committee wasn't too happy about the way the bowtie-wearing CEO tended to make major financial decisions without consulting the group first.
In addition to having a World Series win under his tenure, Neukom is credited with keeping the team in San Francisco when there were threats of packing up and leaving for St. Petersburg, Florida back in in 1992. He also wrote up "The Giants Way" - an overall philosophy and written manual that defined the team's strategy for "developing baseball talent and setting standards for the franchise's business division." In an official statement, the team explained they had planned to announce the executive shakeup after the end of the current season, "out of respect to the fans and the team".
