SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — There was no public announcement, no press release or news conference. It just became evident during the offseason, through his visibility, that Giants executive vice president Brian Sabean had resumed a more active role in running the front office.

What changed things?

Ninety-eight losses.

In the wake of the second-worst season in San Francisco history, President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Baer and his ownership partners directed Sabean to step back into the day-to-day work of running baseball operations and, more significantly, use his nearly three decades of experience in building big-league rosters and identifying talent to oversee a plan to reverse the Giants’ fortunes — and quickly.

“There has been a re-engagement of Brian on the major-league team,” Baer said. “We feel that’s the best use of our resources.

“Brian had stepped back a little bit and done more international work and went a little more back to his scouting roots. Now, he is re-immersed in the day-to-day operations.”

Sabean described it this way: “Starting with title and experience, being the chief baseball officer, I’m going to be more involved in the collaboration and at times directing the collaboration.

“We’re all involved in cooking the dinner. At times, do you have to defer to a higher authority? Or a tough decision has to be made? Or a tie has to be broken? You deal with that as it comes. But we’ve never done business that way. It’s never been autocratic or a dictatorship. It’s been very inclusive since I’ve been here.”

Still, fans invariably will view Sabean’s increased visibility as a vote of no confidence in Bobby Evans after his three seasons as general manager. Evans earned that title in 2015 when Sabean was elevated to executive vice president.

In other organizations, those that do not value longevity and loyalty as much as the Giants have, Evans’ job might have been in jeopardy after a collapse that actually began after the 2016 All-Star break.

Evans has been with the Giants nearly as long as Sabean. Baer and Sabean declared their continued faith in Evans. Sabean, Evans and manager Bruce Bochy are signed through 2019.

“Bobby is still the general manager,” Sabean said. “He’s still fully fledged in that role.”

Evans said he does not feel that his legs were cut from under him.

“It really hasn’t had any impact in a day-to-day basis on my work as much as it’s been refreshing to have Brian’s perspective more consistently,” Evans said.

In 2015, after three World Series championships in five seasons, and an 18-year run as GM that made him the most tenured in the majors, Sabean handed more of his day-to-day responsibilities to Evans. Sabean still oversaw baseball operations, but he freed time to return to his scouting roots, evaluating amateur and professional talent.

As the Giants made a number of moves to reach the 2016 postseason, Sabean was part of the discussion, as were Baer and his partners. As usual, the owners had a big say in the high-dollar signings of Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija.

When the Giants’ fortunes plummeted last year, Baer and the other owners felt Sabean should direct the hoped-for turnaround given his success in building the three championship teams, and even his role as Yankees scouting director.

Sabean helped lay the foundation for four titles in New York from 1996 through 2000 by drafting or signing Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams.

Baer said the goal was combining Sabean’s talent evaluation with Evans’ operational and negotiating skills. Evans has received praise for acquiring Andrew McCutchen, Evan Longoria, Austin Jackson and Tony Watson, while moving Denard Span and Matt Moore and keeping payroll under the $197 million luxury-tax threshold.

“It’s just a matter of how to deploy them and use them the right way,” Baer said. “That’s what we found was the best way to go about this year coming off last year. We’ve got an important draft coming up as well.

“Bochy likes to say the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We just want to make sure everybody is engaged.”

The owners clearly want Sabean to be more engaged by being around more, but he termed it an “overstatement” to suggest he had to grab the decision-making to save the franchise.

“We’ve really survived over time with a lot of group-think,” said Sabean. “We don’t have a smartest person in the room in any one conversation. We play off each other’s strengths, and we’re very respectful of each other’s skill set.

“We’ve all enjoyed the same success, and we couldn’t have done it without everyone involved.”