A decade before the Yankees won a championship in 1996, Brian Sabean was one of the lead evaluators helping to assemble what turned out to be the foundation of the organization’s dynasty from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.

Sabean started his career with the Yankees in 1985 as a scout before serving as the director of scouting from 1986-90 and the vice president of player development and scouting from 1990-92. Sabean then spent 30 seasons with the Giants, including his run as the team’s general manager from 1996-2015. Sabean was recently San Francisco’s executive vice president, working on strategic initiatives as a senior advisor and evaluator. When his contract with the Giants expired on Oct. 31, the first person Sabean thought to reach out to was Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

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The Yankees announced Tuesday that Sabean will rejoin the organization as an executive advisor to Cashman. Sabean was one of Cashman’s mentors when the latter was a low-level employee in the organization working his way up from an intern in 1986 to an assistant farm director in 1990 and then assistant general manager in 1992. Sabean was a key voice for the Yankees in drafting and signing Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams and other important contributors who helped the franchise win four titles in five seasons starting in 1996.

“He turned out to be one of the game’s great evaluators,” Cashman said of Sabean. “He was an architect of arguably one of the greatest systems ever assembled that helped lead to a dynasty.

“People have forgotten that he and his team were in charge of the drafting and developing. Brian and Bill Livesey were running point on the player development and scouting side. The amount of players that were produced from their drafts and signings in Latin America back in that time were arguably second to none and catapulted us in the late ’90s with Gene Michael sitting at the top as general manager. … His resumé is Hall of Fame-like already as a baseball architect and general manager. He had his hand heavily involved in the Yankees’ world championship runs. It’s certainly something to remind people about. He was that much of a difference-maker.”

In his new role with the Yankees, Sabean is expected to help with amateur scouting, pro scouting and player development. Cashman said Sabean will be used almost like a utility player who bounces around in different aspects of the front office. Sabean will likely be based in Tampa, Fla., where the team’s spring training site is, and he’s expected to begin his second tenure with the Yankees getting up to speed with the team’s major-league and minor-league personnel when the players start reporting next month.

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“The fact he has had his hand involved in all aspects of baseball operations for his entire life will serve us well,” Cashman said. “I know he can make us better because he’s a skilled baseball person as well as an amazing, graceful ambassador for the game.”

Sabean said part of the reason he left the Giants after 30 years is he felt like he was no longer being utilized the way he expected to be, which is what he told Giants CEO Larry Baer and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi when he discussed moving on after the expiration of his contract. Sabean said he felt “needed and wanted” by the Yankees.

“I’m all in,” Sabean told reporters. “I’ll do anything to help the Yankees win another World Series.”

Sabean, 66, will join Cashman’s inner circle that includes assistant general managers Jean Afterman and Michael Fishman, vice president of baseball operations Tim Naehring and special assignment scout Jim Hendry, who, like Sabean, is a former general manager (Cubs, 2002-2011).

“At my age, I still have a great passion for the game,” Sabean said. “I really have been exposed to almost everything in the game and almost have run every department you can inside an organization. I think I needed to be in a place that I could give back, be a mentor, contribute at any level at any time and be an on-call doctor.”

Sabean said he was most recently involved with the Giants’ amateur draft and scouting, and he thinks being more involved with that aspect of team building would be a natural fit as he gets started with the Yankees. Sabean did say that when he spoke with Cashman about the job, part of the conversation was how the Yankees could get better with amateur scouting and drafting.

As San Francisco’s general manager, the Giants won three World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014. The Giants built their championship teams mainly by having an elite starting rotation and bullpen. Sabean said he likes what the Yankees have done with their starting rotation, recently adding former Giants ace Carlos Rodón. Offensively, the Giants never had the most-feared lineup in their championship seasons but they were well-balanced, which is something the Yankees could benefit from after their challenges in this year’s playoffs and in recent seasons.

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Sabean said he was emotional and overwhelmed by rejoining the organization he got his start with and called it “a strange twist of fate” in what he hopes is the start of another run of titles for the Yankees. For Cashman, it’s a hire that adds a decorated executive to the front office.

“He’s a quality baseball scout and executive,” Cashman said. “He’s sat in my chair and understands the pulse of the game and how things emerge and evolve and what you push all in on and what you push back on. He’s done all of those things with a lot of success.”

(Photo of Brian Sabean in 2015: Brad Mangin / MLB via Getty Images)