The San Francisco Giants just wrapped up their sixth season under President of Baseball Operations, Farhan Zaidi, who was promptly fired after another disappointing season. During the offseason, the Giants signed sought-after free agents like Matt Chapman and Blake Snell in an effort to get over the hump.
Predictably, the Giants fell short, missing the playoffs with an 80-82 record.
Under Zaidi, the Giants had a record of 346-362, a team earned run average of 4.03, and an average of 4.49 runs per game. When compared to the rest of the league, these numbers are nothing more than mediocre to below-average.
Giant’s fans have been understandably upset with the team’s performance and more so with Farhan Zaidi. Aside from the last off-season, the Giants showed little interest in signing free agents and failed to sign big names like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.
Zaidi also never shied away from sending young players down to the minor leagues, even if their performance did not indicate a need for a demotion. Notably, the Giants decided to option rookie pitcher Hayden Birdsong to the minors a day after a 12-strikeout performance.
Unsurprisingly, this move was perceived as questionable by fans and reporters alike.
The roster and lineup decisions have also been questionable under Zaidi, to say the least. Zaidi insisted on a win-now approach centered around taking advantage of favorable matchups.
Offensively, Zaidi never feared plugging in a less experienced or talented player into the lineup over a trusted everyday starter if the matchup was advantageous. If a bench player had better numbers versus a left-hander, then it was likely that player would be plugged into the lineup regardless of the performance and talent of the player he would be replacing.
This style of lineup organization was never well-received by fans, partly because the Giants were so unsuccessful at it.
Players also had their grievances with Zaidi’s style of business.
After Farhan Zaidi’s firing, Giant’s insider, Alex Pavlovic, wrote an article in which he detailed how Zaidi’s handling of roster decisions affected the clubhouse.
Pavlovic stated “Many of Zaidi’s most controversial moves actually made a lot of sense on paper, but there was a coldness to them, and over time that added up … This year, the handling of Luciano and Thairo Estrada raised red flags. The decision to outright Estrada and have him finish the season in Triple-A frustrated many in a clubhouse that already [were] confused by the general plan. The team’s stars were not happy with the one foot in, one foot out approach to the trade deadline.”
Ultimately, Farhan’s cold style of building and fostering the growth of the team is what made him so unpopular within the clubhouse and with Giants fans. The mediocre product being displayed on the field year after year certainly didn’t help his popularity either.
Beloved former Giant, Buster Posey, was hired as the new president of baseball operations days after Farhan Zaidi’s firing. A popular move for sure, but will Buster be able to get the Giants over the hump of mediocrity?
Only time will tell.
