Giants reassign Dave Righetti from pitching coach to front-office role

The San Francisco Giants have removed Dave Righetti as pitching coach and have moved him into a front-office role with the team, it was announced Saturday.

Righetti will transition into his new role as special assistant to general manager Bobby Evans. The move was part of an announced staff shakeup that resulted in Mark Gardner and Steve Decker also being reassigned.

Ron Wotus and Hensley Meulens have also been reassigned, according to multiple reports.

Righetti has been with the Giants organization for 18 seasons. San Francisco, which played a large part of the season without ace Madison Bumgarner, finished with a 4.50 staff ERA this season as they failed to make the playoffs.

Sources told ESPN's Jerry Crasnick that the Giants have expressed an interest in former Tampa Bay Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey as a replacement for Righetti.

At 64-98, San Francisco dropped 23 more games than a year ago, just avoiding the franchise's first 100-loss season since 1985. The Giants will have the second overall pick in next year's amateur draft.

"We had a last-place season. That can happen in sports, like you have a lost year in life," Giants executive vice president Brian Sabean said after the regular season. "But we're not last-place people, and we're not a last-place organization. We're the furthest thing from that."

Gardner, who had been the bullpen coach, will serve in a special assignment role to assist in pitching evaluations, while Decker will change from assistant hitting coach to special assistant of baseball operations.

Bumgarner getting hurt was a huge blow to the Giants' pitching staff. The 2014 World Series MVP injured his pitching shoulder in an off-day dirt-biking accident April 20 in Colorado and missed nearly three months.

Johnny Cueto also spent significant time on the disabled list, while closer Mark Melancon -- signed to a $62 million, four-year deal before the season -- had surgery Sept. 12 in his forearm.

"You lost your No. 1 starter, your No. 2 starter and your closer," Sabean said after the season. "It became a recipe for disaster."

In addition, the Giants will be without veteran right-hander Matt Cain, who announced his retirement.

The Giants' staff still has the potential to be formidable in 2018, with Bumgarner, Cueto,Jeff Samardzija and Matt Moore.Ty Blach and Chris Stratton will also be in the mix.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.