SAN FRANCISCO -- Before he became the architect for the Giants, Farhan Zaidi cut his teeth with Billy Beane, David Forst and the A’s front office.
As the story goes, Zaidi was getting his PhD in economics in Berkeley and became enamored with the story of Moneyball. He got Beane’s attention during a competitive hiring process and became a key figure of the organization, serving as assistant general manager from 2011-14. Eventually he took over as Los Angeles Dodgers GM in 2014 and was named 2018 MLB Executive of the Year. The Giants made Zaidi their president of baseball operations in November 2018 and he has since garnered widespread acclaim for constructing last year’s 107-win roster.
This past offseason, Zaidi signed a horde of veteran starters while the A’s cleaned shop and traded away stars Chris Bassitt, Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and Sean Manaea. It’s been eight years since he left, but Zaidi said he still keeps tabs on his former employers.
“Even in my time in Oakland, it was a little bit cyclical in terms of our competitiveness,” Zaidi said. “I don’t think there’s a front office in baseball that’s been able to reinvent their roster and put out a playoff-caliber team, with as short cycles as those guys. Just really have a lot of faith in what they do.”
Zaidi said he and Forst, the A’s general manager, spent Tuesday’s Cactus League together talking. Farhan said he also keeps up with Beane regularly.
Considering all the nine-figure deals that were handed out this winter, the Giants didn’t go on a major spending spree this offseason. The biggest contract they doled out was to southpaw Carlos Rodón. Despite being just across the Bay Bridge and down 880, Forst could only imagine casually throwing out a two-year, $44 million deal. Let alone the $6 million used to sign Joc Pederson to a one-year deal.
Oakland’s starting nine included unproven commodities like Billy McKinney, Sheldon Neuse, Cristian Pache and Kevin Smith. The franchise’s biggest “stars” are Opening Day starter Frankie Montas, second baseman Tony Kemp and catcher Sean Murphy. Only six players on their Opening Day payroll will be making more than $1 million, unless veterans Jed Lowrie and Stephen Vogt hit incentive clauses.
“I’ll say Oakland fans are among the best fans in baseball,” Zaidi said. “They embrace young players when they come up and there are going to be a lot of young guys getting opportunities on that team.”
Friday marked Opening Day for both franchises, which will play an unusually early two-game Bay Bridge series in San Francisco on April 26-27.
“We look forward to facing them,” Zaidi said. “I’m sure by the time we face them they’ll have some questions about what their team looks like and they’re going to be figuring it out as they go. But they’ve shown that they can build competitive teams on the fly even when they have some turnover. Looking forward to seeing what their team does this year.”
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The Giants were certainly unsplashy, but Zaidi assembled a veteran-laden rotation behind rising ace Logan Webb. Following a similar blueprint to the previous offseason, Anthony DeSclafani (three years, $36 million) and Alex Wood (two years, $25 million) were re-signed to short-term deals. Zaidi also added Rodón (two years, $44 million) and Alex Cobb (two years, $20 million), along with Matthew Boyd (one year, $5.2 million), who is expected to return midseason after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum.
Asked point blank if he thinks the Giants have the best rotation in baseball, Zaidi demurred.
“It’s just not relevant for us to have to rank that,” Zaidi said. “We’re really enthusiastic about our group. I think they threw as well as any group in spring training and that gives us a lot of optimism going into the year. I think they’re going to be very foundational to our success. The ability of that group to go out and give us a chance to win it’s a really key part to our team this year.”
So, do the Giants see these two- and three-year deals as advantageous for the franchise? Especially for the 30-somethings they’ve been targeting?
It’s a far cry from the six-year, $130 million extension signed to Johnny Cueto. Maybe a little bit of that Moneyball ethos still lives within Zaidi.
“We don’t really view it that way,” Zaidi said. “It’s a bunch of different factors. It’s a righty-lefty balance and it’s also knowing that we’ve got some pitchers in the minor leagues that we think that can break into this rotation in the next couple of years. And making sure those guys can get opportunities. It’s really a mix of factors. Couldn’t be happier with how the rotation wound up.”
