According to multiple reports Tuesday evening, the Giants have hired former Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi to become their new president of baseball operations. Zaidi’s deal is five-years in length according to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic.
The #sfgiants have a new head of baseball ops. Farhan Zaidi has taken the job, I’m told.
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) November 7, 2018
Confirming what @hankschulman reported moments ago: Farhan Zaidi has accepted an offer to become the Giants’ president of baseball operations. It’s the start of a brand new era for baseball in San Francisco.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) November 7, 2018
Farhan Zaidi's contract with the Giants is for five years, a source confirms.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) November 7, 2018
Zaidi’s first move will likely be filling the general manager vacancy left after Bobby Evans was dismissed at the end of the 2018 season. That would put both the Giants and Dodgers in the market for a new GM. It is unclear what longtime executive Brian Sabean’s role will be under the new regime.
Zaidi, 41, has been the Dodgers’ GM since November 2014, previously holding multiple front office positions with the Oakland A’s for the 10 years prior. In Zaidi’s four years with Los Angeles, the Dodgers have won the NL West division title every year, making it to the World Series twice. Zaidi has economics degrees from both MIT and Cal Berkeley.
Here’s what Mike Krukow had to say about Zaidi on KNBR Tuesday morning.
“I don’t know him personally, I’ve never met him,” Krukow began. “I just know of his reputation and his reputation is outstanding obviously. Successful in two organizations, kind of at the cutting edge of saber metrics and applying it to a daily game plan, so he comes with a great resume. I just can’t understand how the Dodgers would be so willing to give a guy up. Now I know they’re a little top heavy with their executives, they’ve got a ton of them up there, and they’ve spent a great deal of money in their front office a while back, but he’d be a guy to get.
“He’d be a guy that would be a catalyst guy and again I haven’t met him personally, but his reputation is solid, so I hope it happens. This is the kind of guy they want to get. They want to get somebody that is a No.1, and he certainly is that.”