Wednesday, November 7, 2018

It's Official

One way to improve your club is to poach talent from another club, in this case your long-time rivals. The Giants hired Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi to be their President of Baseball Operations.


“We set out to find one of the best minds in baseball and Farhan’s many accomplishments and expertise exceeded our expectations,” said Baer. “Farhan is widely viewed as one of the top executives in our industry and we are thrilled to have him lead the next chapter of Giants Baseball.”
Here's Mr. Z:
“I am delighted to return to the Bay Area and to join one of the most storied franchises in the game,” said Zaidi. “I have watched the Giants from afar and I have great respect for the organization’s culture and many accomplishments. I am excited about this new opportunity and I’m looking forward to getting right to work.”
Zaidi has a PhD from Cal and worked for the Athletics before going to LA. By all accounts he is a very smart and accomplished fellow so I am happy the Giants landed him. He has a five-year contract. Here's Baggs' take (this is before the announcement):
But the mere fact that Zaidi is their first choice should tell you something: they are no longer interested in a caretaker to prop up a fading roster. They are ready to do a 180 from a highly accomplished but flawed front office whose insular methods of roster creation have allowed them to fall behind their contemporaries.
The off-season just got very interesting!

--M.C.

22 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

Watching the press conference: I like this guy already!

Humble, gracious, open-minded, calm, honest, eager, careful with his words, etc.

M.C. O'Connor said...

FZ's former boss:

“This is a charismatic, transformational leader,” Beane said. “That’s what makes Farhan so unique. Some of us make the sausage, and there’s some people who sell the sausage. Farhan can do both. He’s literally one of the few guys in this game who combines the ability to actually understand and create the analytics with the leadership skills and the charisma to lead an organization. He might be the only guy I know who does it to that level.”

M.C. O'Connor said...

I would be remiss as RMC-meister if I did not link to AmyG's piece on Matt Cain about Willie McCovey.

So, what do people think of the FNG? Are you ready for some FZ?

M.C. O'Connor said...

Joe Mauer retired at age 35 after 15 seasons. 921 games and 7883 innings as a catcher over 11 seasons and he quit doing that at age 30. (Buster Posey has 10 seasons as a catcher with 886 games and 7553 innings.)

M.C. O'Connor said...

Found this factoid re Mauer, it has him only in 897 games as a catcher but the point is still clear:

Joe Mauer had an .889 OPS in 897 games as a catcher, a .797 OPS in 310 games as a designated hitter, and a .751 OPS in 593 games as a first baseman.

Zo said...

I have read the press about Mr. Zaidi. It's all hype as far as I'm concerned. I remember when I was young, it was ballplayers you rooted for, now I'm embarrassed by the number of teams whose GM I can name. That's baseball in 2018. Maybe the guy is the smartest guy in any room, but then again, maybe the Giants doing more of the same would net better results. I'm not trying to be negative, I just read this as off season hype. We'll have to wait and see what the results are.

Here is part of my thinking: LA has not won a world series, although they have dominated the division for years now. One reason for that is that they have almost unlimited amounts of money to spend, where there's a free agent, they can afford him. Another is that they have had rookies like Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger and Walker Buehler come through big time, kind of like the Giants did about 8 - 10 years back. But building, or rebuilding a farm system is not going to give us returns in the near future, so the jury could be out for some time. I have to wonder about why he was looking for a job. Does LA have a hands-on ownership style that cramps Mr. Zaidi's? Was it because LA has not won a world series and his bosses were restless? You can't put together a team to win a series, it is too much of a crap shoot. You can put one together to have a chance at the playoffs.

M.C. O'Connor said...

It's a promotion. Guys at this level like being promoted. Actually, lots of people like being promoted. Anyway, on a personal level it is reported that he and his wife really like the Bay Area. So it is not hard to understand why FZ would take on a new job.

The Giants, unlike most organizations, have been remarkably stable. So as fans we aren't used to the changes that a team like the 49ers, for example, have experienced over the last decade. That's usually good. But we all agreed that the current situation needs improvement. From my point of view, getting smart, accomplished, well-regarded within the industry people is a crucial step. Make no mistake front offices matter A LOT. We don't have the level of access, as fans, we need to properly assess anything the organization does, we can only, as you say, measure by results.

I like what FZ said about playing meaningful games as late into the season as possible. Sabes used to say the same thing. All you can hope for is a shot at post-season play. If you get it you hope your team makes the most of it. There is a hell of a lot of chance involved and you can't control everything, and the three levels of playoffs (four with WC) make it even harder for the "best" team to prevail.


nomisnala said...

Once one finally makes it to the playoffs, it helps to have players who can perform or even step it up a notch in the post season. So far, in his career, Bumgarner has been one of those players. Pablo, has also been able to step it up.

M.C. O'Connor said...

True, but you can't know in advance who those guys will be. Even MadBum has been clobbered in post-season starts (vs Reds and Cards in 2012). This year we saw the best player (Mookie Betts) hit .200 in the post-season. And a journeyman (Steve Pearce) win the Series MVP. He was channeling Cody Ross!

M.C. O'Connor said...

“I’ve heard nothing but good things about Farhan,” Bochy told The Athletic in a phone conversation over the weekend. “Dave Roberts, everybody who worked with him has spoken very highly of him. So I look forward to getting to know him. It’s impressive what he’s done in the game, and sure, the talk is, ‘Well, we could be different.’ But he’s the president, he’s going to have the game plan, and my job is to make it work and help execute this plan. I look forward to doing that with new ideas and thoughts and ways to get better.

“We’ll be all-in for the same reason, and that’s to get back to winning baseball.”


This from a Baggs piece on The Athletic. (paywall)

Zo said...

I read today that MLB has made two mistakes - 1) extending Rob Manfred's contract, and 2) re-upping Fox as it's broadcaster. No doubt we will soon be suffering from yet another idea to make baseball more advertiser-friendly and be watching minor Fox celebrities looking thoroughly confused as to what they are doing at a world series game.

I also see that, after 2017 set a record for home runs, 2018 had nearly as many, and for the first time in history, had more strikeouts than hits. The three true outcomes, or as they should be known, the three most boring outcomes. Not that I am against home runs (at least, on those rare occasions when the Giants hit one), but really, this is now a thing, more strikeouts than walks and if fans are OK with it, I'm not.

Having viewed some of the Japan Series, I found it exciting and refreshing, in spite of the fact that the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, my wife's home team, lost to the Softbank Fukuoka Hawks. I have no idea why the Carp are designated in the papers with Hiroshima (using the Chinese character for Hiro 広) and the Hawks are designated with Softbank (using the first phonetic character ソ). Anyway, it was a fascinating counter-point to the three boring outcomes. First of all, Japanese teams bunt. A lot. Not that there aren't home runs, but if there is a man on first with no one out, you can bet on a bunt, and it is usually successful. There was excellent pitching and defense, particularly from Takuya Kai (the Cannon) who threw out 6 of 6 base stealing attempts in the series, winning the MVP. The Carp play outdoors, but the Hawks play in a dome - and they took advantage of that by hitting a lot of choppers that put a Hawk at first before a Carp could field the ball and make a play. That, plus the Cannon's erasing of baserunners, was probably the difference, even though the Carp were more of a slugging team and favored (or was this just the interpretation I got?).

Anyway, there was one aspect of Japanese baseball that would not be the worst idea to bring to the US. That is, after 12 innings, Japanese games end in a tie. Now, I like the occasional 18 inning playoff game as much as the next guy as long as the Giants prevail, but it does raise some interesting possibilities, and wouldn't, I think, cause much of a difference in the season ending results. It does limit game times for those games that are really long and does away with some of the really stupid Manfredisms like starting an inning with a guy on second base. Yes, I know, it's not traditional, but football has ties and they get along just fine. The Hawks won the series 4 - 1 - 1. I don't know what would have happened if the Carp had won games 6 and 7 and they ended the 7 game series at 3 - 3 - 1. Play another game? Sounds like it could work. Not that I'm advocating this, but seeing as how we are stuck with a commissioner who is concerned with anything but the integrity of the product, this doesn't strike me as the worst idea.

M.C. O'Connor said...

I think the "outcomes" will continue to evolve. The game is not static: new athletes and new ideas will enter the system. I like all versions of the game; I like to see teams play good ball, whether they bunt-and-run or swing for the fences.

The biggest issue in terms of watch-ability, for me, is the time between pitches. I think umps should be given pace-of-play powers and make batters stay in the box and make pitchers throw the damn ball. But what we will likely see is a pitch clock. Not a preferred means, in my mind, for a game that has always been clock-less, but if that's what it takes I'm OK with it.

I don't see it being any worse having a time limit (12 innings) and ties than the runner-on-second scheme. Both work. At least the second one gives you a chance to see more innings played! I would exempt all post-season games and use it only for the regular season.

Zo said...

You'd eliminate most of the problem by making batters stand in the box. It wouldn't be long before there would be few instances of needing to make a pitcher throw. I agree, that would be much better than a pitch clock, which I am not OK with. There are few pitchers who could use some speeding up, but most, if they were made to throw occasionally throw before they were ready, would just get upset, and you know how touchy pitchers can be. Those seconds saved pale compared to the time you could save by letting batters wander around after every pitch. And again, why do it at all? Are the fans complaining? Really? I think it is more like advertisers and television executives, and you know who MLB is beholden to. Hint: not fans.

How many extra inning games are there? Not enough such that limiting innings would really do anything to the pace of play. If they're going to put runners on second to start innings, that games over for me without a legitimate outcome.

nomisnala said...

I have absolutely no problem with the pace of the game. Gives me time to run to the refrigerator, make a sandwich, and not miss much.

Ron said...

The problem is that, depending upon who is pitching or batting, you have time to do all of that, in-between each pitch - that's a lot of sandwiches. Personally, I can't stand it. Like, to the point that I rarely watch a Game anymore. It's ridiculous. Anything to speed up the pitch-to-pitch delays is fine w/ me.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Good stuff from Ray Black on FanGraphs.

M.C. O'Connor said...

I suppose this was inevitable.

M.C. O'Connor said...

And we wonder why baseball is so hard for ordinary mortals to play.

Zo said...

Well, I guess the off season got interesting, just not the way any of us would have wanted.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Bumgarner will not get them the return they want, like a number-one prospect. He'll be more valuable as a mid-season addition. Plus he's a free agent in 2020. They are better off keeping him and making him a QO if he has a good year. That way they are compensated if they can't sign him. And they certainly can't offer him a Cain or Posey-like deal, they don't need any more big contracts.

It's a dilemma. I'd like to see him stay, of course. But I'm not sure the Giants can keep him.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Across the Bay they are talking about a new ballpark and a redevelopment of the existing Coliseum site. All I can say is more power to them, I hope they can pull it off.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Giants keep Panik, Dyson, and Smith and cut loose Strickland and Hernandez.