The Dodgers have hired Farhan Zaidi as a special advisor, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. He will also be assisting Dodgers part-owner and chairman Mark Walter with his other sports interests.
It’s a homecoming for Zaidi, 48, as he has worked for the Dodgers before. He got his start in the Athletics organization but was hired by the Dodgers in November of 2014, working as general manager under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.
Four years later, Zaidi was hired away by a divisional rival. The Giants made him president of baseball operations for that club in November of 2018. His first two seasons in San Francisco weren’t remarkable, with the club finishing just below .500 in 2019 and 2020. But in 2021, the club amazingly won 107 games, narrowly edging the Dodgers for the division title. Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep that going, finishing the next three seasons with a win total in the 79 to 81 range. At the end of September, Zaidi was fired and replaced by Buster Posey.
In December, it was reported that Zaidi was in talks to come back to the Dodgers in some capacity, which has now come to fruition. A person who has led a baseball operations department will often take on a lesser role as a sort of temporary measure, waiting for another opportunity to open up. Alex Anthopoulos was the general manager of the Blue Jays through the 2015 season, then took a role as vice-president of baseball operations with the Dodgers. He departed a little over a year later when a chance opened up to run the baseball operations department in Atlanta.
Based on Zaidi’s title in this role, it seems fair to assume that this will also be a bit less hands-on than his other recent gigs. He can contribute to the Dodgers a bit while keeping himself available for future front office opportunities that might open up. Walter is also a co-owner of the Premier League club Chelsea, the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, in addition to owning the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Zaidi’s new role will also see him contributing to those ventures in some undefined way.
Farhan was always a Dodger, especially when he was a Giant.
Greatest Dodgers GM in Giants GM history!
LADs are to MLB what the suckophant was to Yellow Submarine
How much is deferred?
Your creativity is deferred.
@Bivouac Did you read the post?:
“A person who has led a baseball operations department will often take on a lesser role as a sort of temporary measure, waiting for another opportunity to open up”
He is literally taking a deferred job! lol
another genius comedian
With Dodger Dogs after each game that went unsold.
He was either going back to the Dodgers or the Athletics.
The A’s offered him a guide to applying for food stamps and a free hat.
No BART pass? Cheap *****!
Okay, they’ll throw in some shoe baggies for the sewage floods, final offer.
Gotta include rubber waders in case the infield is “wet” -my client says final offer.
No BART in Sacramento.
All deals are off, my client was thinkin’ they’re still in the Bay Area!
You can’t even clown the right stadium…
What if they were made of green cheese?
Oh no! Will the curse of Farhan follow him back to the Dodgers?
This clown was definitely working as a double agent while with the Giants
People will think this is a joke but I 100% believe it. Not offering pitchers more than a 3 year contract completely ruled them out of any serious free agent pitchers.
So? Works for Milwaukee and Cleveland. They win their divisions.
Are the Dodgers in the AL or NL central?
Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist but signing Snell to that short term deal despite having the QO attached then refusing to trade him at the deadline always seemed off to me. Then to top it off Snell signed with the Dodgers
Also cost us a 3rd draft pick!
I respect Farhan and believe he will be an asset for Andrew and the Dodgers. There is one caveat though that I hope has been agreed to between the two of them: AZ will not take a job working for another National League West team.
Bad decision by the Dodgers. Don’t let him near players or in game decisions. Also no drafting or development. He’s a proven train wreck
An advisor by name typically doesn’t have decision-making authorities.
reads post
places bet on giants to win the division
They can have him.
How many ex Giant players will he sign? Umm re-sign?
how many ex- Giants are there that anybody would want?
Willie Mays in his prime to name one.. active who knows…
I heard Toronto was interested.
Even when he was the Giants POBO, he was a special assistant to the Dodgers
Yeah….was on a plane heading for a sushi restaurant…
Point God of this thread.
Nobody in the Dodgers organization has this job title. Sounds like an opportunity to collect a consulting fee for not a lot of responsibility.
Probably putting some money in his pocket and giving him a resume booster until he finds his next gig.
I can’t imagine what motivation the Dodgers would have to boost his resume at their expense. The Dodgers stick a lot of people in these “special” job classifications. What they do in them is often unclear. Chase Utley is still a “special assistant to the president,” whatever that means. For a while he used to turn up on SNLA pre-postgame shows but not anymore. Mystery jobs.
Or a way to pretend he’s still working in tier 1 (financially) sports while he handles some of that guy’s lesser ventures.
The Dodgers could hire me for a seven figure salary and I’m more than happy to assist them in “contributing to those ventures in some undefined way.”
Sounds like a great job!
The Dodgers hired Zaidi purely so MLBTR would be able to have a Dodger post today.
They were already likely to, what with their 60-day IL opening and making their signing of Kiké official… so
Double down!
Glad you didn’t overreact
That franchise was “ruined” well before Farhan got there
another intelligent post from fred
farhan actually did a lot to pull the giants out of the toilet. I honestly blame management more than anything for the lack of success. the truth is that right now if the giants succeed it will be 100% on farhan since he only way that is going to happen is if guys like harrison, birdsong, eldridge, whisenhunt and others break through and they are all farhan draftees whereas for nearly a decade not a single draftee stuck in the majors outside of a quick flash from panik.
the farm system was ruined the day Tidrow died
Another conspiracy confirmed: Zaidi, a double agent.
Maybe the Sparks could benefit from more rosters churn
First piece of good news all offseason. Now LA definitely won’t win the WS
Didn’t have that on my bingo card
Why are you assuming that Farhan will have any kind of authoritative autonomy besides offering his opinions. Plenty of perceived bad former GMs have taken advisory roles. The Yankees have one in Omar Minaya and he’s been with them for several years now.
And what exactly does this guy bring to the table?
He read Moneyball by Michael Lewis
He also stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.
He also was instrumental in hiring Gabe Kapler, who suns his sack in the backyard to increase testosterone levels.
I heard he makes a mean taco dip. That and his luxurious head of hair and vibrant personality.
“Annnd here comes Mr. September to the plate with a chance to tie the game, oh-fer-three on the day so far…”
Don’t mess with the Farhan.
Can’t wait to see Farhan Zaidi & John Seidler in the LAD 2025 World Series Champion team photo on the field.
Bruh…
That’s awesome. Good work, Farhan.
Zaidi has as much business being around Major League Baseball as Rob Manfred does. Zero knowledge of the game or its history, with equally deficient people skills. Zaidi’s stench is still lingering around the Giants clubhouse, no matter how much bleach and sunshine they’ve used in the months since his inauspicious departure.
Jesus man. That’s very ordinary.
Farhan is a real good human. Someone you could learn from.
yeah and tbh the ownership he was working with in SF are kinda trash. Johnson and his band of other billionaires that own the team as a pet project really don’t want to let the team eat money in order to succeed and in turn make money as a powerhouse team. they would rather just not lose and hope that people continue to support them
Of course they don’t want to eat money ! lol. You want me to criticise them for that ?
FFS dude. You’re living in a self entitled fantasy land.
The dodgers ate money in order to get to a place where they could be profitable as a big market team. That is kinda hat has to happen right now for a team like the giants, they really should have signed kim and started to garner interest in the Asian market via the KBO since you would have lee and kim to garner interest.and it gives a window into other FA when they hit the market. The problem is that you can’t say – look at my .500 team with mid tier stars and if you support us more we can get bigger guys and be a bigger fish – you need to take that hit the way the padres did when they signed machado and exteded tatis (and getting him as a salary dump) and the way the dodgers did with betts, freeman, etc and build on guys. I get wanting the youth to succeed but you also need to put in centerpieces and take a bit of a hit in order to make the team more desirable for future players.
The Padres ate money to build a powerhouse. How’s that working out ?
Limited success, a fanbase that expect it every year and debilitating contracts.
The Dodgers success hasn’t come from eating money. It’s from an extremely lucrative tv deal and stellar development.
Eating money for a baseball team is not smart. So high risk. It’s an unreasonable expectation.
The dodgers have that NOW. they didn’t when guggenheim took over and ate a bunch of contracts and went in the red for a handful of years and worked around the margins to get draft picks while they constructed a core. At the time they had no broadcast contract at all but they did have an ownership that was willing to eat money to succeed and put people around the guys that they saw as too valuable to waste like kershaw. You can’t build a sustainable winning team by only playing in the margins and not being willing to risk going into the red for a few years, it isn’t going to happen.
Ok. Here’s the test for me….
I wouldn’t do it with my money. Therefore, there is no chance I’m expecting it from others. I’m very grateful for a break even attitude. The Giants need the around the park development to be profitable. Then they can invest more.
We ASSUME he’s a decent human being, but a good or decent POBO not so much.
I saw and listened enough to make the call. I’ve got it above assumption.
He is gone, and people just can’t stop themselves from continuing to hate. So farking pathetic.
Probably taking over Colletti’s responsibilities in fetching dry cleaning and coffee.
Huh? He went and got a job that didn’t work out. He took a consulting job like most executives do when in between positions.
Failing to see any disgrace here. He’ll have a higher role in another organization within two years
The dodgers took a page from the CIAs book and sent Farhan to dismantle the Giants. Mission complete, he’s coming home.
He’s coming home to dismantle the Doyers, you mean? I don’t think he’s much of a mantler.
Give this guy a frickin parade after all he did for the dodgers over the last 6 years
Good work, agent. Back to base
Back to the hedge fund. I’m assuming his role with the Dodgers always was on the business side of operations regardless of what his resume says. Probably why it was such a disaster in SF. His only decent season was his first year when everyone from the previous regime was on an expiring deal. I’ve said this many times before but for christs sake he didn’t even watch baseball until he was close to graduating college.
There are just things in baseball you have to know and the only way to learn them is by growing up playing baseball. Doesn’t mean you have to be a pro, but the little nuances you learn even through high school are key to this game. Unfortunately if you miss that opportunity there is no way to make it up.
He did some fine work the last few seasons….
I’m cautious to credit him with some moves. Word is Posey got the Chapman extension done
“Based on Zaidi’s title in this role, it seems fair to assume that this will also be a bit less hands-on“
LA Deferrals better hope Zaidi doesn’t get involved in roster consideration/deconstruction. Roberts better watch his back
pay back for the job he did getting Giants to fumble away their system.
They really hit it out the park with the 107 Wins. What Happened? Out in the first round like that and then nothing.
didnt build the farm system, so replacements were not MLB ready and didn’t have enough to trade (team aged out). Free agents used the team to hop along the deferral 5 highway to huge deals
The amount of disrespect for one of the smartest people in the industry by a bunch of people that can’t figure out how deferred payments work really is something.
Watcha talkin’ about Willis?
Farhan did not accomplish much in SF – “deferral 5 highway” was in reference that their main competitor is outsmarting the Giants in every way from farm to mlb levels. Being that highway 5 connects north and south and passes right by dodger stadium.
Giants miss Tidrow badly….farm is in dire need of better evaluators
Is anyone even remotely surprised?
No salary cap on the Front Office. Alex Anthopoulos did the same thing to rehabilitate after a failing at a job and things have worked out OK for him.
Hopefully he remembers how Friedman likes his coffee.
He can be in charge of all the visors, #2 pencils,,protractors, compasses, and slide rules.
It’s funny. Everyone gets bent out of shape every time the dodgers sign someone but their club has the opportunity to sign all these guys too they just don’t do it
Dodgers GM 2026
There might not be an opening. Zaidi’s underwhelming performance as PBO may make teams less enthusiastic about hiring away Brandon Gomes.
SPY!!!
Didn’t think he ever left that team – sure left Giants with a terrible farm system. He was too busy getting 30 year old scrubs for DF’a bus
Mickey, ultimate Dodgers fan
Dodgers know exactly what he’s good at and will use him to advantage.
If he’d signed Imanaga before last season he’d still be the GM.
Greatest News of the Offseason!!
Thank you, Dodger$!
First Conforto and now Farhan!
Life is good!
The strong get stronger. Excellent signing by the Dodgers.
Some people are very talented. They just need to be kept in the realm of their skills etc. He was an absolutely atrocious GM for the Giants. He kind of reminds me of a Paul DePodesta. Undeniable talent…over exposed in a lead role.
His job is to handle and maintain the Conforto contract.