Farhan Zaidi | |
---|---|
San Francisco Giants | |
Baseball Executive | |
Born: Sudbury, Ontario, Canada | November 11, 1976|
Teams | |
| |
Career highlights and awards | |
Farhan Zaidi (born November 11,1976) is a Canadian baseball executive who is currently the president of baseball operations for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball.
Zaidi is one of two Muslim executives in Major League Baseball. [1] He was the first Muslim and first Pakistani-American and subsequently first South Asian-American [2] general manager in Major League Baseball. [3] He was the first Muslim to run a major North American sports team.
Zaidi was born on November 11,1976,in Sudbury,Ontario,Canada,to a family of Pakistani ancestry. [4] [5] His parents,Sadiq and Anjum,raised four children:Zeeshan,Farhan,Noor,and Jaffer. [6] [3] Zaidi grew up in the Philippines after his family moved to Manila when he was four years old,where he attended the International School of Manila. [4] [5] [7]
He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in economics from the University of California,Berkeley. [8] He briefly worked for the Boston Consulting Group and the Sporting News website between MIT and Berkeley. [8] [9]
While at Berkeley,Zaidi read the book Moneyball and said that it changed his life. [10] He saw a job posting for a baseball operations position with the Oakland Athletics and sent out his résumé,beating out 1,000 other applicants for the job. [9] He was a data analysis sabermetrics assistant when he started. [11] His boss with the Athletics,Billy Beane,called him "absolutely brilliant" and credited him with the acquisition of Yoenis Céspedes. [1]
For the 2013 season,Zaidi was promoted by the Athletics to the post of director of baseball operations and added assistant general manager to his title in 2014. [12] [13]
On November 6,2014,Zaidi was named by the Los Angeles Dodgers as their new general manager under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. [14]
Under his watch as the Dodgers GM,the team made its first World Series appearance in 29 years in 2017,falling to the Houston Astros in seven games. The following year,they lost in five games to the Boston Red Sox in the 2018 World Series.
On November 6,2018,Zaidi accepted an offer to join the San Francisco Giants to become president of baseball operations. [15] [16] In 2021,the Giants won a franchise-record 107 games,and Zaidi was voted the Sporting News Executive of the Year [17] and MLB Executive of the Year,becoming the first person of South Asian descent to win either award.
When Zaidi's general manager Scott Harris left the Giants in 2022 to become the president of baseball operations for the Detroit Tigers,Zaidi hired Pete Putila to be the Giants new general manager. [18]
In October 2023,Zaidi and the Giants agreed to a new three-year contract through 2026. [19]
Zaidi is married to Lucy Fang,a fellow MIT graduate. [9]
Though he primarily grew up in the Philippines,Zaidi still considers himself Canadian. His family returned to Canada every other summer to visit family and friends;as a result,Zaidi became a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays and many of its star players,such as Jesse Barfield,Tony Fernandez and George Bell. Zaidi was in Grade 11 when he watched Joe Carter hit his game-winning walk-off home run in 1993 to win back-to-back World Series championships for the Jays. [20]
Kimberly J. Ng is an American executive in Major League Baseball. She is the former general manager of the Miami Marlins. She was the first woman to serve as general manager of a team in the Big Four leagues in North America and the first person of East Asian descent to serve as general manager of an MLB team.
Baseball America is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level,including MLB,with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB,college,high school,and international leagues. It is currently published in the form of an editorial and stats website,a monthly magazine,a podcast network,and three annual reference book titles. It also regularly produces lists of the top prospects in the sport,and covers aspects of the game from a scouting and player-development point of view. Industry insiders look to BA for its expertise and insights related to annual and future MLB Drafts classes. The publication's motto is "The most trusted source in baseball."
David Keith Stewart,nicknamed "Smoke",is an American professional baseball executive,pitching coach,sports agent,and former starting pitcher. The Los Angeles Dodgers' 16th-round selection in the 1975 MLB draft,Stewart's MLB playing career spanned from 1978 through 1995,winning three World Series championships all with different clubs while compiling a career 3.95 earned run average (ERA) and a 168–129 won–lost record,including winning 20 games in four consecutive seasons. He pitched for the Dodgers,Texas Rangers,Philadelphia Phillies,Oakland Athletics,and Toronto Blue Jays.
Robert Paul Melvin is an American professional baseball manager and former catcher who is the current manager of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). Melvin has been named Manager of the Year three times.
Robert JoséWatson was an American professional baseball player,coach and general manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and left fielder from 1966 to 1984,most prominently as a member of the Houston Astros where he was a two-time All-Star player. Watson had a .295 batting average over a career that also saw him play for the Boston Red Sox,New York Yankees,and the Atlanta Braves.
Paul DePodesta is an American football executive and former baseball executive who is the chief strategy officer of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as a front-office assistant for the Cleveland Indians,Oakland Athletics,and New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). DePodesta was also general manager of MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers. He is also known for his appearance in the book and movie Moneyball about his early career as an assistant with the Athletics.
Josh Byrnes is an American baseball executive who is senior vice president of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Ned Louis Colletti Jr. is an American sports executive with 40 years experience in Major League Baseball,is a four-time Emmy Award-winning baseball analyst,a professor of Sports Administration at Pepperdine University,the author of the best-selling book The Big Chair,and a scout for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. He was general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2006 through 2014. Before moving to the Dodgers,he was assistant general manager of the San Francisco Giants. Colletti is one of very few American sports executives to work in two major sports:Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League.
James Goodwin Bowden IV is an American baseball analyst,broadcaster and former executive. He is a co-host of SiriusXM's "Inside Pitch" on MLB Network Radio and a columnist for The Athletic. He previously worked for ESPN,writing a blog for ESPN.com titled "The GM's Office". He used to be a host and co-host on Fox Sports Radio,a baseball analyst for FoxSports.com and a Baseball Insider for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels for Fox Sports West. He has held positions of senior vice president and general manager for both the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals. On October 16,1992 he became the youngest general manager in baseball history. He was named MLB Executive of the Year by Baseball America in 1999. Bowden's teams finished in first place in 1994 and 1995. Bowden has also worked in television for ESPN and Fox Sports West as well as local television and radio stations in both Cincinnati and Washington,D.C.
Andrew Friedman is an American baseball executive. He is currently the president of baseball operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously served as the general manager for MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays,where Sporting News named him Executive of the Year in 2008. That year,for the first time in franchise history,the Rays both qualified for the playoffs and played in the World Series. In Los Angeles,as of 2023,Friedman and the Dodgers have won a World Series,three pennants,and eight division titles since he took the job after the 2014 season. Baseball America called the Dodgers the model franchise in the sport under Friedman’s tenure as President.
Benjamin P. Cherington is an American baseball executive serving as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) since November 2019. He previously served as the vice-president of baseball operations for the Toronto Blue Jays,and was the executive vice president and general manager of the Boston Red Sox from 2011 to 2015. He succeeded Theo Epstein in that position,having worked in the team's baseball operations office since 1999,before Epstein's arrival.
Alex Anthopoulos is a Canadian professional baseball executive,currently working as the general manager and president of baseball operations for the Atlanta Braves. He was the senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2010 to 2015,for whom he began as a scouting coordinator in 2003. Prior to the Blue Jays,Anthopoulos got his start in professional baseball with the Montreal Expos organization in 2000. In 2015,he was named the Sporting News Executive of the Year after the Blue Jays advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 1993,reaching the American League Championship Series (ALCS). However,his term with the Blue Jays ended on October 29,2015,when he declined a five-year contract extension. He served for two years as vice president of player development for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The following are the baseball events of the year 2014 throughout the world.
Scott Harris is an American baseball executive. He is the president of baseball operations of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball,after having previously served as general manager of the San Francisco Giants.
The 2021 National League Division Series were two best-of-five-games series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine the participating teams of the 2021 National League Championship Series. The three divisional winners,seeded first through third,and a fourth team —determined by the NL Wild Card Game —played in two series. These matchups were:
The MLB Executive of the Year Award was established by Major League Baseball (MLB) after the 2018 season. The award is given annually to one executive,including general managers,in MLB. It is voted on by all 30 MLB teams,before the postseason. The inaugural winner was Billy Beane of the Oakland Athletics.
Peter Putila is an American baseball executive. He is the general manager of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball.