Somewhat overshadowed by his counterpart across the Bay in Billy Beane, San Francisco Giants? general manager Brian Sabean has built himself quite a resume with the Giants. Since being named general manager after the 1996 season, Sabean has just turned the Giants into one of the most consistent franchises in baseball, while bringing in players who can mesh with superstar Barry Bonds. One of Sabean?s trademarks is his ability to work trades at or near the deadline that can give his team that little extra push to make a late season run. In this respect, he always keeps in the Giants in the thick of the standings year in and year out, which has given him a security blanket because his teams never seem to have off years. In this drive to always be competitive and erase the valleys that accompany every baseball franchise, he has sacrificed some young talent in the process in order to make the championship run that year. That is one of the major reasons why the Giants? organizational ranking has never broken the top 10 this century, topping out at 11th in 2003. This go for broke strategy led to one of the worst trades in the modern era when they acquired catcher A.J. Pierzynski for a host of players, including closer Joe Nathan and pitching phenom Francisco Liriano. The move has taken lot of luster off of Sabean?s reputation nationally, but he is still considered a lock to stay in San Francisco for as long as he would like to The reason for this is that he has shown an apt touch of plucking veterans who have a little left in the tank and players who can mesh with what was and still is the Barry Bonds show. Some of his better moves were trades bringing Jeff Kent, Robb Nen, and Jason Schmidt, while he has signed Moises Alou, Omar Vizquel, and Matt Morris. This skill of bringing in quality veterans have made the Giants a revolving door franchise that is usually one of the oldest in the league. He also handled the managerial situation after the loss of Dusty Baker with great ease by hiring Felipe Alou, who is very well respected by almost everyone in baseball, which has made San Francisco one of the hot spots for potential free agents. Overall, Sabean is a major trader who works well no matter the team he is dealing with or if he is a buyer or a seller. In this respect, he is one of top five general manager in baseball, but a lack of a big free agent signing and not much to show from his farm system of late, and Sabean is quickly losing ground in general manager rankings, probably sending him just outside of the top 10. Signature Move: While the move is less than a year old, the trade to bring Randy Winn to San Francisco is a perfect indicator on what type of general manager Sabean is. The Giants acquired Winn for catcher Yorvit Torrealba and pitcher Jesse Foppert, even though they were mired in a struggle without Bonds and were considered long shots to win a very weak NL West. Still, Sabean pulled the trigger because he wanted a chance at the playoffs and the move helped the Giants almost overtake the Padres in a season-ending series. Sabean always thinks his team is in it and will make the moves to better their chances, even if it will hurt down the road.