During his time as Los Angeles Dodgers general manager, Farhan Zaidi helped oversee an exhaustive managerial search and yearly rosters that relied on organizational depth.
In his first season as San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations, Zaidi relied on a similar roster strategy, though the club failed to match the success the Dodgers have attained over the past handful of years.
Now Zaidi is conducting his first managerial search as head of the Giants’ front office. Bruce Bochy retired after 13 seasons with the team and 25 overall as a Major League manager. Dodgers bench coach Bob Geren is believed to be a possible candidate for the Giants’ opening.
Meanwhile, former Dodgers outfielder Will Venable reportedly interviewed with Zaidi, per Henry Schulman and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Cubs first base coach Will Venable, who grew up in Marin County and whose dad, Max, was a San Francisco outfielder for five seasons, interviewed for the Giants’ managerial opening Friday, a major-league source told The Chronicle.
Venable’s time with the Dodgers was limited to just 12 games during the 2016 season, which nonetheless overlapped with Zaidi’s tenure. L.A. signed Venable to a one-year contract during June of that year, and he spent the bulk of the remainder of the season with Triple-A Oklahoma City.
If Venable is hired, it would mark his first time as manager at any level. He joined the Chicago Cubs front office in 2017 and transitioned to first-base coach prior to the 2018 season. Venable certainly is quite familiar with the National League West.
With the exception of playing 37 games for the Texas Rangers in 2015, he’s spent his entire career in the division. The bulk of that of course came via eight seasons with the San Diego Padres, who also are in need of a new manager.
In addition to Geren and Venable, Gabe Kapler is another with ties to the Dodgers organization who has also been linked to the Giants since Bochy retired. The Philadelphia Phillies hired Kapler away from the Dodgers but parted ways after two turbulent seasons as manager.
Last year the Dodgers lost third base coach to Chris Woodward when he accepted the managerial position with the Rangers. Manager Dave Roberts otherwise has largely managed to keep his coaching staff intact.
It’s unclear if Geren has interviewed with the Giants. “Bob has been a big part of our success and is as good of a bench coach as I’ve been around,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently said.
“With all the openings out there I think it’s definitely a possibility. If so, tough loss for the Dodgers, great for him personally. We’ll just kind of feel that out and see where it goes.”
