SAN DIEGO — Brian Sabean officially became the longest tenured general manager in the major leagues on Saturday.

The only GM who’d served longer with one club, Kevin Towers, received his walking papers after 14 seasons in charge of the San Diego Padres. The Toronto Blue Jays fired J.P. Ricciardi after an eight-year reign, too.
And Sabean insisted that contrary to published reports, he continues to await word from managing partner Bill Neukom on whether he will have a job after his contract expires on Oct. 31.
“I haven’t been told anything,” Sabean said, before the Giants’ 2-0 loss to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. “Bill’s timeline was after the season and that’s still the timeline.”
Towers’ creativity as a trade artist could be an asset in the Giants front office, perhaps as an assistant GM with a trumped up title, but Sabean couldn’t comment on that possibility.
“I have to know what’s happening with my situation first,” Sabean said.
Giants Manager Bruce Bochy, whose contract expires after Sunday’s season finale, also has not received an official invitation to return from Neukom.
But a club source said new contracts for Sabean and Bochy are a foregone conclusion and that Neukom hasn’t given any indication he wants to change his baseball architect or field boss.
Sabean and Bochy are scheduled to attend a season wrap-up news conference at AT&T Park on Monday, but because contract terms must be negotiated, it could be several days longer before the club would be prepared to make official announcements.
This whole issue probably boils down to semantics. Sabean is preparing to conduct his staff meetings in Arizona in the coming weeks, as he usually does after a season. And Bochy continues to look at young players like Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner, trying to determine their readiness to begin next season.
When asked about Bumgarner’s two innings Saturday, Bochy gave an insight into his job expectations, saying, “We’ll discuss Madison this winter and what’s the best plan for him.”
Saturday’s loss sent an important reminder to the front office: The offense needs fixing this winter.
The Giants managed two hits off Wade LeBlanc and two relievers, failing to provide the support Matt Cain needed in the quest to win his 15th game.
Cain (14-8) labored at the end of a long season, throwing 107 pitches in five innings. But he kept the Padres from doing major damage, limiting them to two runs while stranding seven baserunners.
Cain was amused to learn that he equaled his career high of 217 2/3 innings, which he established last season. He said he felt physically stronger down the stretch this year, and pitching in a pennant race for the first time should make him mentally tougher for next season.
There were some late-inning shenanigans that the Giants and Padres might file away for next year, too. The Giants’ Waldis Joaquin plunked shortstop Everth Cabrera in the eighth inning. In the top of the ninth, Padres closer Heath Bell buzzed a first-pitch fastball at Pablo Sandoval’s chin and the Giants’ third baseman hit the dirt.
Sandoval took a long time getting back in the box, clearly annoyed at being a target of bean balls several times from multiple teams this season.
“The thing about Pablo, you’re not going to intimidate this kid,” Bochy said.
After the loss, most of the Giants players checked the score of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ game before leaving the clubhouse.
But Sandoval sat by himself in his sliding shorts on the edge of a couch, watching as the Dodgers recorded the final outs to clinch the NL West title. Sandoval padded to the shower as the TV showed the Dodgers piling on each other.
Maybe next year, a Panda will lead the celebration.