Report: Team set to offer front office job to Dodgers’ Zaidi
Dodgers GM — and Cal grad — has led L.A. to consecutive World Series appearances
SAN FRANCISCO >> Since hiring Farhan Zaidi as general manager in November, 2014, the Los Angeles Dodgers have won four consecutive National League West titles and back-to-back National League pennants.
Zaidi has played a significant role in building one of baseball’s top teams, but he might soon be faced with the prospect of accepting a new challenge.
According to a report from MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, the Giants are preparing to offer Zaidi a front office position.
Since firing general manager Bobby Evans during the final week of the regular season, the Giants haven’t commented much about their search for Evans’ replacement or the mechanics of the process.
Giants CEO Larry Baer indicated the club is looking for a top baseball executive to construct a front office team that can help lead the franchise back into contention. It’s unclear whether the Giants would consider Zaidi for their lead front office role, potentially a “president of baseball operations,” or if he would serve as the general manager under another executive who has yet to be hired.
Zaidi, 41, declined to comment about his potential interest in a role with the Giants at a Dodgers postseason news conference last week, but he is familiar with the Bay Area. The Cal graduate began his career in the
A’s organization and served as the director of baseball operations and as assistant general manager before accepting his job with the Dodgers.
At the beginning of the search to revamp the Giants’ front office, Baer said the franchise was focused on hiring a “next-gen” executive with a background in blending analytics and traditional player development methods. Zaidi’s Dodgers were criticized for their over-reliance on analytics in each of the last two World Series, but Los Angeles reached the postseason
by assembling one of the deepest rosters in all of baseball.
Zaidi would not be the first executive to leave one National League West rival for the other, as the Dodgers hired former Giants assistant general manager Ned Colletti away from San Francisco to serve as the team’s general manager in 2006. Colletti held his role until the end of the 2014 season when he was dismissed and replaced by Zaidi.
In Los Angeles, Zaidi works under president of baseball operations Andrew
Friedman, who was also hired after the 2014 season.
The Giants haven’t been tied to an extensive list of candidates for front office roles, but Zaidi is among the highest-profile names the club is reportedly interested in for a position. Former Dodgers assistant general manager and current Major League Baseball senior vice president of baseball operations Kim Ng has reportedly interviewed for the job while Tampa Bay Rays vice president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom is also in the running.