According to multiple reports on Tuesday evening, Farhan Zaidi will be leaving his general manager post in Los Angeles to accept the role of president of baseball operations for the San Francisco Giants.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle was the first to report Zaidi’s decision. The move was later confirmed by Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic.
Baggarly also indicated that Zaidi will be formally introduced by the Giants at a news conference on Wednesday at 1:00 PM Pacific time.
Zaidi’s departure comes on the same day that Dodgers’ hitting coach Turner Ward packed his bags for Cincinnati and three days after third base coach Chris Woodward assumed the managerial vacancy of the Texas Rangers.
The fact that the Los Angeles front office and coaching staff has been targeted by rival clubs after making back-to-back World Series appearances speaks volumes about the respect commanded by the Dodgers’ organization across baseball.
The addition of Zaidi brings an analytical and sabermetric outlook to the Giants’ franchise and marks a huge change in leadership from recently dismissed general manager Bobby Evans. Current San Francisco skipper Bruce Bochy, who is one of few “old school” managers left in the game, will presumably be under Zaidi’s watch for the final year remaining on his contract.
Zaidi began his career as a data analysis sabermetrics assistant for the Oakland Athletics in 2004. He eventually worked his way up to director of baseball operations, then was promoted to Assistant GM in 2014. After the 2014 season, he was recruited by Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman to assume the general manager role, becoming the first Muslim general manager of any American pro sports franchise.
There are no clear frontrunners known as of Tuesday evening favored to assume Zaidi’s vacated GM spot in Los Angeles.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Lots of stuff to contemplate here. Does Farhan attempt to take Byrnes with him as GM? Is there a bidding war between SF and LA for Chaim Bloom, as they both now need a GM? Does Farhan get total carte blanche to do whatever he wants to, including possible trades of Madbum and (gasp!) Buster Posey? The off season has gotten off to a rip roaring start.
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I was thinking Byrnes would be first in line to replace Farhan, but there really hasn’t been any mention of it. Maybe Friedman will shed some light on things tomorrow. I wonder if Andrew will let Farhan copy all the algorithms and spreadsheets before he packs up his stuff.
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He’s probably making copies under cover of darkness as we speak.
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To me this signals a tear down by Farhan, and the giants, why else would they hire him.
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Could be. I guess we’ll know for sure as soon as guys like Posey and Bumgarner hit the market. Hell, knowing Zaidi, maybe he’ll even try to trade Bochy.
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I can’t wait to see Bochy’s reaction when Farhan hands him the ,lineup card on Opening Day.
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I’m guessing that when they interviewed Farhan they told him he could do whatever he wanted to except for two things: 1) Fire Bochy – he’ll serve out the 1 year left on his contract and then be gone, and 2) trade Posey. I think they’ll let him move Madbum because he only has 1 year left on his contract but I believe Posey has 3 and I would be astonished if they let Farhan trade him. Assuming that Madbum goes sooner than later, I’m guessing the Phils or Astros.
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I betcha Farhan still tries to write out the lineup cards. Whether or not Bochy follows along remains to be seen.
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Good job getting this up so fast Dennis.
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I wrote the same thing on the other thread, Dennis. Should be quite a meeting.
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An analytics adept should be easy to find in today’s game. I don’t see how this defection effects Friedman’s on field to do list. Farhan will do in SF what he did In Oakland and LA. SF currently looks like a hot mess. It will take a few years there.
On to what the Dodgers need. Better pitching, front and back ends, a catcher than can catch and a second baseman that can play the position and hit same side pitching. I’ve already traded for Stanton, Gennett and Iglesias. I’ve opened up negotiations and made an offer for Realmuto. I’m not waiting around nor am I mourning the loss of Farhan. As Mortimer Duke so eloquently put it when his brother Randolph collapsed – “F*** Him! I want the trading reopened NOW!”
Reopen the trading now.
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Glad to see you aren’t letting any grass grow under your feet Scoop. You’ll be in position to take over for Andrew when he gets banned from MLB for a year or two for his part in the coverup of the Cuban signees fiasco. I think you’d be interesting and fun to work with so with you as head of baseball ops I’d like to throw my hat in the ring to be your GM. I realize you’ll probably want to interview Keith as well, plus maybe others. May the best man or woman win!
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Please hire that Alex Juarez dude for third base coach so he stops sending me all those emails.
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I’m sorry, until I’m officially hired I won’t have any comments on potential coaching hires. I can, however, tell you that Alex is under consideration.
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Jefe….you’re hired. I want Keith on board too. Dennis and Andy (hmm…sounds too much like Amos and Andy, so we’ll go with Andy and Dennis) will head up the PR department. I’m going need some good work out of you too, what with background checks and all. Let me say up front I was acquitted of those charges.
Should be a fun off season. I’ll need a list of players to be offered to Miami. I think I know what they want, but let’s put together a short list of controllable ML or ML ready players that we aren’t likely to be needing. I need your opinion on Ruiz. Do we do, or do we not, include him.
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That’s El Jefe, por favor. Actual El Segundo Jefe since you’re the big boss. Just saw a stat that indicated Realmuto’s pitch framing is atrocious. Do we want to live with that since he seems to excel at everything else? Probably. No, we should not include Ruiz. He could be our catcher for 10 years starting in 2021 (after Realmuto’s contract expires). How about Smith, May, Toles/Joc (take your pick), and one other piece? Maybe not enough, since about 10 teams will be throwing offers at the Marlins.
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My Spiderman senses say that Will Smith is gonna have a more productive career than Ruiz.
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Manuel will be thrilled to hear you agree with him.
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I wonder if he’s aware that Banuelos was traded away.
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Good feedback to start our off season.
I must say early here, as a former umpire and All Conference catcher/SS I am not a believer in framing. That is to say I think it’s value is trending down. I firmly support the e-strike zone.
Miami insists on Ruiz, Joc and May. I’m tempted to say yes. El Jefe, I need a sí or no.
Who’s Manuel and why isn’t he here? Also, I’m going to contact Bear and get him engaged. He’s actually performed on the field at Dodger Stadium. I’ll let him give the details.
We are off to a good start.
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This is interesting: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/minor-league-free-agents-2018/
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Good-bye Henry Ramos and Scavuzzo. We hardly knew ye.
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I say no Ruiz (although I’ll probably be overruled by Scoop and the PR department). Why trade 10 years for 2 years?
Don’t know where Manuel has disappeared to. Hope he’s OK. I’m with you on the e-strike zone and that’s without ever having seen your work as an ump. 🙂
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As the newly appointed assistant GM (Jeff’s segundo) I am going to put phone calls into the agent for Marwin Gonzales offer him 2 or 3 years at around 9 mil so we can have a super utility guy that can actually put the ball in play, this lets Taylor, or Kiki become a tradable piece in one of your deals. Dealing Muncy puts belly at first so looks like verdugo gets his shot at cf.
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I don’t think we need Marwin. His 2018 WAR was slightly worse than Kike and quite a bit worse than CT3. He really tailed off in the latter half of the year so I say no thanks to MG.
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Meant to say Jeff dealt Muncy in the Iglesias, gennet deal.
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Outfield of Taylor, or Kiki, not both Gonzales, Stanton verdugo, and Kemp, unless Andrew can move him( that’s his mess, I’m not touching that one with a 10 foot pole) two lefty batters three righty’s that should give the stat boys some flexibility on the daily line up they give to Roberts to give to the umpires.
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I didn’t mention Pederson, because it looks like he is moving in scoops Realmuto deal.
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Sorry about all the posts guys my fractured mind is only capable of one idea at a time.
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Between your career as a catcher and umpire I’m sorry they didn’t have a concussion protocol. That probably explains your fractured mind. I don’t know what my excuse is since I never umped or caught.
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You’re working at it Keith. That’s what we want to see in here.
I like speed in my outfield, so I would prefer Bellinger goes to center, giving us Stanton, Bellinger and Verdugo . I like Hernandez better than Gonzalez. First base? Freese. His splits tell me he can do it. When he needs a break we got utility players that can take over in center. Turner, Seager, Gennett and Freese. Stanton, Bellinger, Verdugo. Realmuto. Hernandez, Barnes, Taylor. Moving Kemp is on everyone’s list and filling other roster spots should be easy.
All that said, I’m ok with LeMahieu or Lowrie. I’m also ok with AJ Pollock, Patrick Corbin, Dallas Keuchel, Nathan Eovaldi, J.A. Happ, Jeurys Familia and Joakim Soria.
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Can’t argue with any of that, boss. You’re a really smart guy. Can I have a raise?
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If Jeff gets a raise, I get a raise. Didn’t realize Marwin had slipped that much. Between his season in 2017, and first half of 2018, I guess I wasn’t paying attention to his overall numbers at the end of the year. Maybe I don’t deserve my raise after all. Has anybody heard from Manuel?
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Everyone gets paid on a sliding scale. I get nothing, the rest of you slide down from there.
If Harper goes to the Phillies, my Stanton plan is toast.
Ben Holmes. He’s not done.
Roberts will be extended.
Anyone interested in Jose Abreu? He’s a Friedman kind of guy. OPS’d .915 vs LHP. Not much defense. Team controlled. We could trade Muncy for him…. if we decide not to trade him to Cincinnati. It’s early. Haven’t had my coffee yet.
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I was interested in Abreu 4-5 years ago. That ship has sailed. Why are you so anxious to get rid of Muncy?
Let’s see, you get nothing and it’s a sliding scale down from there. OK, my best and final offer. I’ll pay you $327.16/month to work for you, but not a penny more. Take it or leave it. You have my agent’s number and if we don’t hear from you by midnight tonight we’re calling Farhan.
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Your terms are acceptable.
Muncy. Sell high.
I’m not sold on Abreu. I read a rumor, just thought I’d throw it out there. I’m looking for some RH thump. I’ll hope to hear some ideas from my staff soon. I expect you to earn that money you intend to pay me.
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Right handed thump: Is it too late to teach Harper to hit right handed? Maybe we really should bring back Machado. I hear he can run to first base and chew gum (actually blow a bubble) at the same time.
And now (first the first time in awhile) I’m actually being serious – maybe we need to find good hitters who can hit both left and right handed pitching and not worry which side of the plate they hit from. I realize this is a revolutionary concept but they don’t call me the Einstein of Baseball for nothing.
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I’m okay with keeping Muncy, but I would be fine with putting him in a substantial trade, wouldn’t give him away.
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