Farhan Zaidi ready to take a team effort leading Giants

SAN FRANCISCO – Farhan Zaidi understands the intrigue that stems from his unique baseball path: from the small-budget Oakland Athletics to the big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers and back to the Bay Area to join the rival Giants.

San Francisco’s new front-office whiz plans to incorporate plenty from the franchise’s rich baseball tradition by leaning on some of the entrenched baseball minds behind its success this decade, even if there are varying ideas about how to get the Giants back into playoff contention.

“It’s a convenient narrative to see this as kind of a clash of schools of thought. I just don’t see it that way at all,” the MIT-educated Zaidi said of his analytics expertise with the oldschool practices of veteran executive Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy. “… Obviously we didn’t get to these points in our career the same way or in a similar way, but I think that’s part of the beauty of the game, how we all wind up together and then pulling toward a common goal.”

Following four years as general manager of the Dodgers, Zaidi received a five-year contract to become Giants president of baseball operations Tuesday.