OK, so my last blog post was in April and I was ruminating as to whether or not the 2018 team was going to be able to rebound from a rash of injuries, inconsistent play, and really poor offensive fundamentals. The answer to those questions was a resounding "no" and the team went on to have an equally disappointing season as they did in 2017.
The results cost a lot of people in the organization their jobs, none more prevalent than now-former GM Bobby Evans. It also pushed Brian Sabean into one of those "advisory" roles where the organization pretends not to fire you but really just strips you of most of your power while keeping you around.
Larry Baer set out to find a "next-gen" front office head honcho and surprised most Giants fans by stealing away Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi. This Giants blogger applauds the move big time. While Farhan Zaidi has never been THE guy for any organization, the organizations that have employed him have seen great success in the areas the Giants need the most improvement. Both the A's and the Dodgers reaped the benefits of having Zaidi around. In Oakland, he was credited for the A's acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes among others and the team made the postseason from 2012-2014 while he was there.
In Los Angeles, he was lured over for the Dodgers GM role. While Andrew Friedman undoubtedly had sway and influence, Zaidi was the operating General Manager for a team that won the NL West every single season under his watch and appeared in two World Series. He laid the groundwork and acquired a lot of the players that appeared in one or both of those World Series, including both catchers Yasmani Grandal and Austin Barnes, starting pitchers Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, and Rich Hill, relief pitchers Luis Avilan, Scott Alexander, Dylan Floro, Tony Cingrani, and stud set up man Brandon Morrow along with Giants pest and second baseman Chase Utley. He also unearthed a couple scrubs turned super productive players in Chris Taylor and Max Muncy. His lasting move may be that he oversaw the drafting of what looks to be the next great Dodgers ace in Walker Buehler.
In short, he's not so bad at identifying impactful talent at reasonable costs. The Giants have had some successes in that department, getting a lot out of Dereck Rodriguez and Derek Holland last season and to a lesser extent Alen Hanson but they need a lot more of it due to the bloated contacts of some of their veterans who are not producing and are owed big salaries.
While Brian Sabean, Bobby Evans, Dick Tidrow, Jack Hiatt and the rest of the front office staff and scouts deserve obscene amounts of credit for building the dynastic championship teams of 2010, 2012, and 2014 they also have to be held accountable for not having any sort of impactful draft picks the past several seasons and a farm system begotten of talent. The Dodgers have been in the playoffs year after year and continue to churn out and find quality players in the draft. The Giants quite simply have not. When you have high priced players playing mediocre baseball, you need your youngsters to come up and produce on the cheap. The Giants haven't and it's a large reason why Zaidi is now here.
The good news is this does seem to be Zaidi's strength. That and the ability to craft creative trades that helps unload payroll. He was great at doing this with the Dodgers and the Giants would benefit if he could do it with some of their current players on the 25-man roster.
As of now though, Zaidi hasn't given his new fans much of anything to be excited about or to evaluate. The natives are a little restless. Since coming aboard, the only moves he has made has been to non-tender Hunter Strickland and Gorkys Hernandez and to add several no-names to the 40-man. The Giants still have gaping holes in the outfield and the rotation still looks young and questionable. More importantly, there's been no real movement with the MLB roster. Either Zaidi is planning on bringing the same gang back that has lost 187 games the last two seasons or he's gearing up for a busy January.
Regardless, the Farhan era has begun and it promises to have a much different look and feel than what Giants fans have been used to since Sabean took the reins some 22 years ago. If Zaidi can deliver the sustained successes he achieved while with Oakland and LA, Giants fans will have much to celebrate and the potential to add trophies into the trophy case the previous regime helped stock.
The results cost a lot of people in the organization their jobs, none more prevalent than now-former GM Bobby Evans. It also pushed Brian Sabean into one of those "advisory" roles where the organization pretends not to fire you but really just strips you of most of your power while keeping you around.
Larry Baer set out to find a "next-gen" front office head honcho and surprised most Giants fans by stealing away Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi. This Giants blogger applauds the move big time. While Farhan Zaidi has never been THE guy for any organization, the organizations that have employed him have seen great success in the areas the Giants need the most improvement. Both the A's and the Dodgers reaped the benefits of having Zaidi around. In Oakland, he was credited for the A's acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes among others and the team made the postseason from 2012-2014 while he was there.
In Los Angeles, he was lured over for the Dodgers GM role. While Andrew Friedman undoubtedly had sway and influence, Zaidi was the operating General Manager for a team that won the NL West every single season under his watch and appeared in two World Series. He laid the groundwork and acquired a lot of the players that appeared in one or both of those World Series, including both catchers Yasmani Grandal and Austin Barnes, starting pitchers Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, and Rich Hill, relief pitchers Luis Avilan, Scott Alexander, Dylan Floro, Tony Cingrani, and stud set up man Brandon Morrow along with Giants pest and second baseman Chase Utley. He also unearthed a couple scrubs turned super productive players in Chris Taylor and Max Muncy. His lasting move may be that he oversaw the drafting of what looks to be the next great Dodgers ace in Walker Buehler.
In short, he's not so bad at identifying impactful talent at reasonable costs. The Giants have had some successes in that department, getting a lot out of Dereck Rodriguez and Derek Holland last season and to a lesser extent Alen Hanson but they need a lot more of it due to the bloated contacts of some of their veterans who are not producing and are owed big salaries.
While Brian Sabean, Bobby Evans, Dick Tidrow, Jack Hiatt and the rest of the front office staff and scouts deserve obscene amounts of credit for building the dynastic championship teams of 2010, 2012, and 2014 they also have to be held accountable for not having any sort of impactful draft picks the past several seasons and a farm system begotten of talent. The Dodgers have been in the playoffs year after year and continue to churn out and find quality players in the draft. The Giants quite simply have not. When you have high priced players playing mediocre baseball, you need your youngsters to come up and produce on the cheap. The Giants haven't and it's a large reason why Zaidi is now here.
The good news is this does seem to be Zaidi's strength. That and the ability to craft creative trades that helps unload payroll. He was great at doing this with the Dodgers and the Giants would benefit if he could do it with some of their current players on the 25-man roster.
As of now though, Zaidi hasn't given his new fans much of anything to be excited about or to evaluate. The natives are a little restless. Since coming aboard, the only moves he has made has been to non-tender Hunter Strickland and Gorkys Hernandez and to add several no-names to the 40-man. The Giants still have gaping holes in the outfield and the rotation still looks young and questionable. More importantly, there's been no real movement with the MLB roster. Either Zaidi is planning on bringing the same gang back that has lost 187 games the last two seasons or he's gearing up for a busy January.
Regardless, the Farhan era has begun and it promises to have a much different look and feel than what Giants fans have been used to since Sabean took the reins some 22 years ago. If Zaidi can deliver the sustained successes he achieved while with Oakland and LA, Giants fans will have much to celebrate and the potential to add trophies into the trophy case the previous regime helped stock.
Looking forward to your take on his first major deal(s).
ReplyDeleteWell he missed out on Kikuchi. I was sure that was going to be his first move.
ReplyDelete