The Giants got their man. It was rumored and wished for by many that Farhan Zaidi would be the new President of Baseball Operations for our beloved San Francisco baseballers. Those rumors proved to be true and the signing became official last night.
Bryan Murphy has a very interesting look at Zaidi’s career and personality, all of which seem to be very compatible to the Giants and their philosophy of winning World Series then breaking hearts seemingly every few years.
The Mercury News just published an interesting article about Zaidi. Did you know he was born in Canada?
OFFICIAL: The #SFGiants have hired Major League executive Farhan Zaidi as the club’s President of Baseball Operations. pic.twitter.com/MmUFMsSu4r
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) November 7, 2018
Zaidi is almost cartoonishly known as an “analytics guy” but the truth he is super wise, super intelligent and super attuned to the history, vagaries, and unknowns of baseball. This means he values veterans and intuition as much as numbers and that may make him the single most important acquisition to the Giants franchise since Dan Uggla, or maybe even Travis Ishikawa…
All kidding aside, this looks and feels like a home run for the Giants. Farhan Zaidi is largely credited for turning the Dodgers into a perennial juggernaut and NL West Division champion. Interestingly, this addition to the Giants front office also potentially subtracts serious talent from the front office of the bitter rivals down south and makes the hated Los Angelinos weaker in the near and long term.
“We set out to find one of the best minds in baseball and Farhan’s many accomplishments and expertise exceeded our expectations,” Farhan is widely viewed as one of the top executives in our industry and we are thrilled to have him lead the next chapter of Giants Baseball.”
-Larry Baer
During the search and all the ensuing speculation of who the Giants would hire I had these questions taking an inordinate amount of energy in my brain:
- Will the new President of Baseball Operations (POB) have the ultimate decision concerning the future of veterans like Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner or will their fates be determined by ownership?
- How will the POB interact with old-school Bruce Bochy?
- Will the POB have final say on any new managerial hire?
- Will the POB or new Giants General Manager (GM) be more active in in-game decisions and create a by-the-book managerial formula that so gloriously failed in the World Series for the Dodgers two years in a row?
- What emphasis will be placed on maintaining the Giants tradition by the new front office?
This changes everything: Giants president Farhan Zaidi agrees to a five-year deal: @extrabaggs https://t.co/ENrtyjc6UV
— The Athletic (@TheAthleticSF) November 7, 2018
If nothing else, right now I would say the mood around Willie Mays Field is likely very bright and optimistic.
Perhaps the curse of the balk-off is finally over?
Hope springs eternal.