The MLB Giants will miss the playoffs this season after winning the World Series last October, and incoming CEO Larry Baer said the team’s payroll in ’12 will be “probably a little more than” the $120M it reached this year.” Baer, appearing on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area’s “Chronicle Live,” said the team is “going to have the resources to put together enough player payroll resources to win.” Baer said that outgoing Managing General Partner & CEO Bill Neukom's three-year span in the position was full of “baseball passion.” Baer: “What's important is the people at the Giants in the ownership and the people … who have been the CEOs have been lifelong Giants fans first and foremost. They want to win and they care about winning, and with Bill at the helm, we won.” Baer will succeed Neukom as CEO but will not take on the Managing General Partner title because the team is “going to a different model.” Baer: “In the past, we’ve had owner operators. … They were investors, came into the Giants as investors. I come into the Giants as a professional manager, somebody that is trained. A lot of teams operate with this model. We're not going to have another Managing Partner as such” (“Chronicle Live,” Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, 9/27). Meanwhile, in San Jose, Andrew Baggarly noted the Giants "set an all-time franchise attendance record Monday, selling out for the 79th consecutive time to draw 3,303,060 fans” for the season (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 9/27).
