Giants’ latest moves send signal that Zaidi era has reached turning point
In his earliest days as the Giants’ president of baseball operations, Farhan Zaidi took great care to avoid using the word “rebuild” to describe his approach to shaping the team’s 40-man roster.
Zaidi didn’t believe the Giants needed to purge their core, tank for a top draft pick or trade all of their most productive players for prospects. Instead the former Dodgers general manager searched for value on the margins of the roster, churned through inexperienced players in need of an extended opportunity and focused on building a player development infrastructure that extended deep into the Giants’ big league clubhouse.
In other words, he looked for players such as Anthony
Desclafani.
Following a disappointing 2020 season in which the veteran Reds starter was limited to just 33
2/3 innings due to injuries and poor performance, Desclafani hit free agency and sought to re-establish his value with a new organization.
Considering the Giants’ recent track record and the clear path for Desclafani to become a key contributor, San Francisco represented the perfect situation.
Nearly a year after the righthander signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Giants, the two sides committed to a reunion as Desclafani signed a three-year, $36 million contract that will pay him $12 million annually through 2024.
“He obviously had a really nice year for us, and beyond his individual stats, we were 21-10 in games that he started,” Zaidi said. “So the team had a lot of success when he took the ball, which obviously is of the ultimate importance.”
As a six-year major league veteran, Desclafani didn’t fall into the category of inexperienced players looking for their big break. He was instead the type of pitcher who figured to benefit from joining a Giants team with well-regarded pitching coaches including Brian Bannister and Andrew Bailey, an advanced approach to helping players benefit from analytics and a spot in its rotation that would belong to him as long as Desclafani remained healthy.
Upon joining the Giants in 2021, Desclafani made his slider his most-used pitch for the first time in his career while his
get a chance to make a run but I’m proud of the way our team has been able to stay the course this season and give themselves another shot.”
Pierce (9-3), seeded No. 2, will try to take down No. 1 University Prep (12-0) – a team that the Bears have not faced since a 49-48 loss to the Panthers back on Aug. 30, 2019. Before that Pierce had won five straight over U-prep, which is a member of the Northern League against Orland, Lassen, Central Valley, Yreka and Anderson.
U-prep has blown out everyone this year by double-digits except Orland and Durham – the latter the Panthers took down last week in the semifinals, 15-8.
While Tapia knows tonight will be a tough test, the head coach feels Pierce’s varsity team 17 years later has a chance to pull off the upset.
Pierce’s last championship came on Nov. 24, 2004, in a 25-0 win over Trinity.
“I’m proud of our toughness as a team, we’ve challenged ourselves in the offseason, during our preseason and especially in league play, so I’m hoping that’s going to be a key in helping us be successful this week,” Tapia said.
NSCIF playoff tickets on sale
Tickets for the section finals are on sale at https://gofan.co/app/school/cifns. Prices are $10 for general admission, $5 for seniors (60 and above) and students with an ASB, and $15 for an unaccompanied K-8 student.
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