MLB Giants President & CEO Larry Baer will "miss the first three months of the season after being suspended without pay" by MLB for his "role in a public altercation with his wife, Pam," earlier this month, according to Kerry Crowley of the San Jose MERCURY NEWS. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in a memo stated that Baer's current leave of absence "will be converted to an unpaid suspension that will last through July 1." Manfred indicated that Baer will have "no involvement in the operation of the Giants" and that the club will be "operated by an interim control person appointed by the team's ownership group in consultation" with himself. Crowley reports Rob Dean, son-in-law of late Giants Owners Harmon and Sue Burns, will "step in as the team's interim control person during Baer's absence." Baer was "not in attendance at the organization's annual Play Ball Luncheon" yesterday in S.F., and he will not be "permitted around the ballpark until his suspension concludes." Baer will remain Giants President & CEO upon his return, but the Giants announced the club's BOD will "make changes to the team's corporate governance structure." The new structure will "give the Giants a different, permanent control person who will represent the ownership group" to MLB (MERCURYNEWS.com, 3/26). Manfred stated that Baer, though remorseful, "needs to be held to a 'higher standard' because of his leadership role for the club and community." Baer announced he was taking a leave of absence from the team "a few days after the incident, and the team -- whose season officially starts Thursday -- announced an 'executive team' would oversee club operations in his place." The S.F. District Attorney's office last week announced it "will not seek criminal charges against him" (SFCHRONICLE.com, 3/26).
APPROPRIATE PUNISHMENT: THE ATHLETIC's Tim Kawakami writes there was "no way MLB and the Giants could’ve justified moving on from this incident without some significant punishment." The video of Baer "aggressively reaching to pull away a cellphone from his wife, seeming to cause her to fall from her chair, and her screams, was all too clear and too chilling" (THEATHLETIC.com, 3/26). But in S.F., Scott Ostler writes MLB was "too slow reacting to the Larry Baer situation," as the league took 25 days "to reach the only logical conclusion." MLB should have "pushed aside lesser matters and handled the Baer situation more quickly" (SFCHRONICLE.com, 3/26).
STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE: THE ATHLETIC's Marcus Thompson II noted at the Play Ball Lunch, a "signature fundraiser of the Giants Community Fund," that Baer's "room-filling presence was noticeably absent." Meanwhile, Dean's "brief speech at the lunch seemed to intentionally prop up those who uphold the values of the Giants." Dean "served as the face of [the] brain trust and seemed to successfully balance the humility and confidence needed for the moment." It was "hard not to wonder if he was the new voice of the Giants, or at least if this was a tryout to be the face of a new era" (THEATHLETIC.com, 3/26).
