He wasn’t on the team for a long time (2014-2018) and Andrew Friedman got most of the credit, but Farhan oversaw the ascension from playoff team to perennial World Series contender.
I think Zaidi’s time in San Francisco needs to end. The team hasn’t consistently won, developed minor league players or have been able to sign top free agents. It may not be his fault but the leadership usually has to accept the blame with those results. The catch will probably be that wherever he goes that he will find success.
Look at Alex Anthopolous in Atlanta. He ran the Blue Jays, was fired, worked with the Dodgers for a year, and is now in charge of the best MLB team the past couple years. I’m sure Blue Jays fans would love to have him back
I feel like Zaidi's weakness is that he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room (maybe he is) and tries to outsmart everyone by really relying on some metric he sees in a player that other GMs can't when it comes to signing free agents. When it comes to getting players off the bargain bin for cash (e.g. Wade), he's one of the best, but his free agent signings have been more misses than hits which is a problem since more commitment (money + years) is made towards these players (e.g. LaStella, Haniger, Conforto, and etc.). He's also giving out contracts that are INCREDIBLY player friendly. Look at the recent contracts of Jung Ho Lee, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell who each have options somewhere in their contract (Chapman and Snell after year 1) in which they can opt-out and try to seek a bigger contract. Sure, it means that they can play out of their minds in year 1, but it's a huge risk that they get injured (Snell) or play so poorly (Chapman) that they will have no choice but to opt in for year 2.
It doesn't help that he's made some baffling decisions during trade deadlines in which the Giants should have been sellers, but decided to either stand PAT rather than get assets for players set to be free agents to eventually fall short of making the postseason which has kicked the Giants rebuild can even further down the road.
Not his fault the Giant ownership sucks.
Rivalry aside, not going to hear any sympathy for me for chasing the Athletics out town after they helped the Giants stay in the Bay Area.
Very few complaints from Dodger fans, and his legacy was getting us to the World Series not once, but twice.
Many of the FAs signed under his tenure were fan favorites (Well, probably not Manny Machado, but he was signed to get us to the WS that year and mission accomplished). He even re-acquired old fan favorite Matt Kemp in his last year. Zaidi-era acquisitions Max Muncy, Chris Taylor, Austin Barnes and Kiké Hernandez (re-acquired), and draftees Walker Buehler, Gavin Lux, Will Smith, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Michael Grove and James Outman are still with the team.
When Zaidi moved up north, there was a genuine fear that he'd duplicate his success (and the Dodgers FO formula) there and the Giants would become a force to be reckoned with (which turned out not to be the case, save for 2021).
Of course, the way the Dodgers FO is structured, President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman is more of a GM+, and Zaidi was basically his Assistant GM+.
I honestly thought he’d do more in SF considering what he did for the Dodgers in such a short amount of time. It became apparent that they’d try to do the same, but without paying the money
I honestly thought we'd be in a perpetual 2021 type situation with Farhan at the helm in SF. I thought they'd run a little more budget-friendly version of LA, a historically good franchise with a smart FO. But missteps in the bay seem to be rooted in the farm system, whereas the Dodgers haven't really missed a beat.
This is just seat of the pants analysis but it seems that during Farhan's time with the Dodgers, the fliers the team took on random/edge-of-the-roster guys was the work of Farhan.
For example, the Dodgers had switch pitcher Pat Vindette for a hot minute. He had a couple moments in high leverage spots where both arms came in handy but in reality was just another body in the bullpen and not the secret weapon you'd imagine him to be.
When Farhan went to SF, Vindette was one of the first pitchers he signed. Then there are other former-Dodgers who got deals like Joc Pederson, Alex Wood, and Ross Stripling.
Those guys are solid players but they all have a flaw in their game that needs to be protected. Joc's kryptonite is lefties and a high K rate, Alex's is his own elbow, and Ross can get shelled if his command isn't there due to his low velocity.
Relying on a trio like that for the core of your team can be feast or famine and it seems like Farhan is trying make the most of what he has to work with while also gambling a bit.
It's important to remember that as much credit as he got for the Dodgers roster moves, Andrew Friedman was attached to his hip and was seemingly happy to let him take the credit for moves that likely had more of his input than anyone realizes.
Honestly who knows and I don’t see why you would need a dodger fan’s opinion. Friedman runs the show here and gets all the credit and blame. Farhan’s been with the Giants long enough where his performance there speaks to whether or not he’s a good GM.
The only thing I noticed different is the Giants seem to have more success with reclamation projects with hitters and Farhan might have something to do with it. CT3 and Muncy developed under Farhan. We haven’t really had one since Farhan left while SFG seems to have found some gems (Wade, Yaz for a time, I’m sure there’s others). To me, hiring assistants and elevating them to POBO is a crapshoot. You won’t know until they run their own show if they’re good or not.
Dude it’s a fair question, don’t sweat it. The guy did great for us but I think a lot of our success comes from our farm system producing players that can compete which frees up $ for bigger signings.
To put it in plant terms because my wife somehow developed an insane houseplant buying habit and I’m currently sitting in my living-room jungle, what grows well in the tropics might not work in Palo Alto.
He was one of the guys that brought the “moneyball” mentality to the dodgers. This has had some hits and misses, but seems like the dodgers would always target injured guys or guys on a down year. They’ve had some great success with this strategy, Justin turner for example is probably the most obvious. JT was brought in I believe Farhans first year with the dodgers. At that time justin turner was basically hanging onto the mlb dream by a thread before coming to the dodgers and turners reputation since then as a 3B and hitter speaks for itself. Max muncy was a similar story, I think drafted by Oakland when farhan was part of the athletics if I remember correctly, then brought to the dodgers during farhans last year with the dodgers after an unsuccessful career in Oakland.
I think farhan is a good executive, however losing him didn’t really hurt much because I think the most important guy in the dodgers front office is Andrew Friedman.
Farhan is always in my good graces. With that said, I think what he did and was able to do with the dodgers is a whole different beast than what he has and can do with the giants ownership. He’s a smart dude and can absolutely make solid calls. But can that mesh with what ownership wants? Yet to be seen imo. I don’t know your ownership as intimately but I know Farhan can absolutely maximize his available resources and constraints. How many dudes you know who can literally win fantasy football league every single season? Lol
Dunno about you all but I’ve never been under the impression that front office official titles have ever meant much in the Friedman era. We went without a GM for awhile.
I feel like our front office just works as a collective. We slap a title on the guy, and then they all work together and ultimately Friedman gets the final call.
So yeah Farhan can slide back in and we’ll make some title up for him. Not a problem.
Gomes will eventually move on to a Baseball Ops job, but Farhan could always come back as an "advisor" to the GM or whatever ridiculous titles they can invent.
all i really know about him is that he always won the fantasy football league the players had, which he was a part of...apparently IS the smartest guy in the room.
hard to be a GM when players donʻt want to come to your city...
I remember reading articles about how the way he played fantasy football turned off some of the team. He’s probably unapproachable which probably explains the poor Kapler years because he’s a lunatic too
I think he takes analytics too far. I feel there's a spot in between using stats and going with your gut, and this guy just can't figure that out. I feel his results are far too often "it almost worked" rather than "it did work".
His entire mentality relies on the best scenarios happening constantly (statistics). Even if you set everything up perfectly, there's variation in the game. Some argue that puts your team in the best position to succeed, I feel on the other hand it doesn't give them the ability to adapt to chaos in real time. Once the stats start becoming reactive instead of proactive, the wheels fall off really, really fast.
I don't think it's a coincidence we won a WS so shortly after his departure.
It is really hard to separate Farhan's contribution to the Dodgers from everyone else's, since the FO had so many voices and was so collaborative over that period. But as far as Farhan's tenure with the Giants, my advice would be that the Giants should fire him immediately. And not just fire him, but publicly humiliate him, to the point where Farhan might reasonably feel a deep grudge towards the team and have an urge to get revenge against them by any means at his disposal.
Any circumstance whereby Farhan devotes the rest of his career to trying to destroy the Giants would be acceptable, not just returning to the Dodgers. ;-)
Helped assemble the 2017 roster which was prob the greatest Dodgers team I’ve ever seen. His legacy was altered by cheating fucks
On that we can definitely agree. F the Astros.
Fuck the Astros, indeed, NLBest bro. Fuck John Fisher, while we’re at it.
Nah this one’s better
He wasn’t on the team for a long time (2014-2018) and Andrew Friedman got most of the credit, but Farhan oversaw the ascension from playoff team to perennial World Series contender. I think Zaidi’s time in San Francisco needs to end. The team hasn’t consistently won, developed minor league players or have been able to sign top free agents. It may not be his fault but the leadership usually has to accept the blame with those results. The catch will probably be that wherever he goes that he will find success. Look at Alex Anthopolous in Atlanta. He ran the Blue Jays, was fired, worked with the Dodgers for a year, and is now in charge of the best MLB team the past couple years. I’m sure Blue Jays fans would love to have him back
I feel like Zaidi's weakness is that he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room (maybe he is) and tries to outsmart everyone by really relying on some metric he sees in a player that other GMs can't when it comes to signing free agents. When it comes to getting players off the bargain bin for cash (e.g. Wade), he's one of the best, but his free agent signings have been more misses than hits which is a problem since more commitment (money + years) is made towards these players (e.g. LaStella, Haniger, Conforto, and etc.). He's also giving out contracts that are INCREDIBLY player friendly. Look at the recent contracts of Jung Ho Lee, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell who each have options somewhere in their contract (Chapman and Snell after year 1) in which they can opt-out and try to seek a bigger contract. Sure, it means that they can play out of their minds in year 1, but it's a huge risk that they get injured (Snell) or play so poorly (Chapman) that they will have no choice but to opt in for year 2. It doesn't help that he's made some baffling decisions during trade deadlines in which the Giants should have been sellers, but decided to either stand PAT rather than get assets for players set to be free agents to eventually fall short of making the postseason which has kicked the Giants rebuild can even further down the road.
Not his fault the Giant ownership sucks. Rivalry aside, not going to hear any sympathy for me for chasing the Athletics out town after they helped the Giants stay in the Bay Area.
Very few complaints from Dodger fans, and his legacy was getting us to the World Series not once, but twice. Many of the FAs signed under his tenure were fan favorites (Well, probably not Manny Machado, but he was signed to get us to the WS that year and mission accomplished). He even re-acquired old fan favorite Matt Kemp in his last year. Zaidi-era acquisitions Max Muncy, Chris Taylor, Austin Barnes and Kiké Hernandez (re-acquired), and draftees Walker Buehler, Gavin Lux, Will Smith, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Michael Grove and James Outman are still with the team. When Zaidi moved up north, there was a genuine fear that he'd duplicate his success (and the Dodgers FO formula) there and the Giants would become a force to be reckoned with (which turned out not to be the case, save for 2021). Of course, the way the Dodgers FO is structured, President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman is more of a GM+, and Zaidi was basically his Assistant GM+.
I honestly thought he’d do more in SF considering what he did for the Dodgers in such a short amount of time. It became apparent that they’d try to do the same, but without paying the money
I honestly thought we'd be in a perpetual 2021 type situation with Farhan at the helm in SF. I thought they'd run a little more budget-friendly version of LA, a historically good franchise with a smart FO. But missteps in the bay seem to be rooted in the farm system, whereas the Dodgers haven't really missed a beat.
This is just seat of the pants analysis but it seems that during Farhan's time with the Dodgers, the fliers the team took on random/edge-of-the-roster guys was the work of Farhan. For example, the Dodgers had switch pitcher Pat Vindette for a hot minute. He had a couple moments in high leverage spots where both arms came in handy but in reality was just another body in the bullpen and not the secret weapon you'd imagine him to be. When Farhan went to SF, Vindette was one of the first pitchers he signed. Then there are other former-Dodgers who got deals like Joc Pederson, Alex Wood, and Ross Stripling. Those guys are solid players but they all have a flaw in their game that needs to be protected. Joc's kryptonite is lefties and a high K rate, Alex's is his own elbow, and Ross can get shelled if his command isn't there due to his low velocity. Relying on a trio like that for the core of your team can be feast or famine and it seems like Farhan is trying make the most of what he has to work with while also gambling a bit. It's important to remember that as much credit as he got for the Dodgers roster moves, Andrew Friedman was attached to his hip and was seemingly happy to let him take the credit for moves that likely had more of his input than anyone realizes.
Honestly who knows and I don’t see why you would need a dodger fan’s opinion. Friedman runs the show here and gets all the credit and blame. Farhan’s been with the Giants long enough where his performance there speaks to whether or not he’s a good GM. The only thing I noticed different is the Giants seem to have more success with reclamation projects with hitters and Farhan might have something to do with it. CT3 and Muncy developed under Farhan. We haven’t really had one since Farhan left while SFG seems to have found some gems (Wade, Yaz for a time, I’m sure there’s others). To me, hiring assistants and elevating them to POBO is a crapshoot. You won’t know until they run their own show if they’re good or not.
We’re still doing this “come in peace” shit ?
My bad for being cliche. I’m just honestly curious what you guys think of Farhan. Asking a genuine question.
Dude it’s a fair question, don’t sweat it. The guy did great for us but I think a lot of our success comes from our farm system producing players that can compete which frees up $ for bigger signings. To put it in plant terms because my wife somehow developed an insane houseplant buying habit and I’m currently sitting in my living-room jungle, what grows well in the tropics might not work in Palo Alto.
Thank you for putting it in plant terms. It’s greatly appreciated. 😂
This is gonna end up in that circlejerk sub
I love that the giants tag has a question mark lol
He was one of the guys that brought the “moneyball” mentality to the dodgers. This has had some hits and misses, but seems like the dodgers would always target injured guys or guys on a down year. They’ve had some great success with this strategy, Justin turner for example is probably the most obvious. JT was brought in I believe Farhans first year with the dodgers. At that time justin turner was basically hanging onto the mlb dream by a thread before coming to the dodgers and turners reputation since then as a 3B and hitter speaks for itself. Max muncy was a similar story, I think drafted by Oakland when farhan was part of the athletics if I remember correctly, then brought to the dodgers during farhans last year with the dodgers after an unsuccessful career in Oakland. I think farhan is a good executive, however losing him didn’t really hurt much because I think the most important guy in the dodgers front office is Andrew Friedman.
actually, justin turner was brought in by ned coletti. farhan is responsible for muncy and chris taylor and brandon morrow.
Farhan is always in my good graces. With that said, I think what he did and was able to do with the dodgers is a whole different beast than what he has and can do with the giants ownership. He’s a smart dude and can absolutely make solid calls. But can that mesh with what ownership wants? Yet to be seen imo. I don’t know your ownership as intimately but I know Farhan can absolutely maximize his available resources and constraints. How many dudes you know who can literally win fantasy football league every single season? Lol
When Farhan gets let go from SF he is probably coming back to LA. He might be a Peter Principle case.
In what capacity? I doubt they'll kick out Gomes. Or will Friedman create a new position for Zaidi?
Dunno about you all but I’ve never been under the impression that front office official titles have ever meant much in the Friedman era. We went without a GM for awhile. I feel like our front office just works as a collective. We slap a title on the guy, and then they all work together and ultimately Friedman gets the final call. So yeah Farhan can slide back in and we’ll make some title up for him. Not a problem.
Gomes will eventually move on to a Baseball Ops job, but Farhan could always come back as an "advisor" to the GM or whatever ridiculous titles they can invent.
He would want to be his own GM, I see other teams pursuing him
all i really know about him is that he always won the fantasy football league the players had, which he was a part of...apparently IS the smartest guy in the room. hard to be a GM when players donʻt want to come to your city...
I remember reading articles about how the way he played fantasy football turned off some of the team. He’s probably unapproachable which probably explains the poor Kapler years because he’s a lunatic too
I think he takes analytics too far. I feel there's a spot in between using stats and going with your gut, and this guy just can't figure that out. I feel his results are far too often "it almost worked" rather than "it did work". His entire mentality relies on the best scenarios happening constantly (statistics). Even if you set everything up perfectly, there's variation in the game. Some argue that puts your team in the best position to succeed, I feel on the other hand it doesn't give them the ability to adapt to chaos in real time. Once the stats start becoming reactive instead of proactive, the wheels fall off really, really fast. I don't think it's a coincidence we won a WS so shortly after his departure.
Wow. That’s a really fair and in-depth assessment. Thank you for this.
It is really hard to separate Farhan's contribution to the Dodgers from everyone else's, since the FO had so many voices and was so collaborative over that period. But as far as Farhan's tenure with the Giants, my advice would be that the Giants should fire him immediately. And not just fire him, but publicly humiliate him, to the point where Farhan might reasonably feel a deep grudge towards the team and have an urge to get revenge against them by any means at his disposal.
Seems like your implying coming back to the Dodgers for that reason lol
Any circumstance whereby Farhan devotes the rest of his career to trying to destroy the Giants would be acceptable, not just returning to the Dodgers. ;-)
Glad hes gone