Farhan Zaidi had an enormous challenge in front of him when he became the San Francisco Giants’ president of baseball operations in 2018. Not only was he in charge of turning around an organization that had severely underperformed the past two seasons, but he had to do it in the National League West where the Los Angeles Dodgers have dominated since 2013.
It was a fact that Zaidi was well aware of as it was his four seasons of experience serving as the Dodgers’ general manager that led to him being hired by the Giants.
During his tenure as general manager, the Dodgers made two consecutive trips to the World Series, including the team’s first appearance in 29 years when they made it to the Fall Classic in 2017. The organization also extended its streak of division championships to six with his assistance.
After joining the Giants, Zaidi was charged with bringing a similar level of success to San Francisco. During an appearance on ‘Foul Territory,’ Zaidi detailed the challenges of trying to build a roster to compete with the Dodgers:
“That was part of the strategy early on. When I came to the Giants, the team had been 50 games under .500 in the two years before I arrived, it was an aging roster, we had a big payroll, didn’t have a great farm system, and we weren’t going to rebuild. That’s just not something you do in San Francisco.
“So the question was, how do we compete as quickly as possible? One of the things I would say at the time was, ‘We can’t out-Dodger the Dodgers. They’ve got this headstart on us but maybe we can build a talent base to compete with them.’
“Which I think the organization has done over the last few years, or at least has moved in that direction. But that was part of the reason we tried to be really creative with the roster and how we were managing things, because from a talent and payroll perspective, we just couldn’t compete with them – at least at that time.
“Look, you’ve got 29 other organizations – not just the Giants – that have to look at the Dodgers as the standard for what they’ve been able to do. That’s not to say other teams can’t compete, can’t knock them out of the playoffs – which we’ve seen quite a few times in the last few years – but it’s a big-market team, they spend, they’re smart, they do great with free agents and I do think L.A., you have an advantage there. It’s somewhere guys want to play, and they use that advantage to the maximum when they’re able to bring star players in.”
In order to get the Giants to where they wanted to be, Zaidi followed the exact playbook from his time with the Dodgers. It entails spending smart, perpetually building a young talent base via the farm system and finding hidden gems wherever possible.
The Giants possessed the 26th best farm system in MLB at the end of the 2018 season according to Baseball America. They also finished 24th, 19th, 26th and 19th in the previous four seasons.
But under Zaidi’s watch, the Giants had the 10th best farm system at the start of the 2020 season according to MLB Pipeline. That carried over into 2021 with the 11th best system in the preseason rankings.
The Giants’ ranking slipped a bit after 2021 but still stayed around middle of the pack.
Zaidi also did what the Dodgers do best and found undervalued talent on the open market.
After Kevin Gausman was non-tendered by the Cincinnati Reds in 2019, Zaidi signed him to a one-year, $9 million contract. A year later, the Giants signed Anthony DeSclafani to a one-year $6 million contract after he elected to become a free agent at the end of his 2020 season with the Reds.
The Giants’ fortunes didn’t change overnight, but the seeds of improvement were planted during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. All of Zaidi’s work culminated in 2021 as the Giants finished with the best record in baseball, beating out the Dodgers by a single game and ending their streak as NL West champions at eight.
Farhan Zaidi mulling over options amid speculation of Dodgers reunion
Zaidi being let go by the Giants after the 2024 season opened the door for a possible reunion with the Dodgers front office, but it is not a forgone conclusion as he is still ‘figuring out’ his next move.
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