Who would Giants fans choose to replace Farhan Zaidi?
Zaidi could be on the hot seat after another mediocre season from the Giants
It’s been another season of mediocrity for the San Francisco Giants and their incoherent struggles could lead to the termination of Farhan Zaidi, the club’s president of baseball operations since 2019.
The combination of increased public pressure and the organization’s current gridlock status — the Giants have made the playoffs just once under Zaidi and this is the end of year six — has created a difficult situation for ownership. There are a few ways to look at this situation and none of them have a clear and concise pathway to a final blueprint of what actually should be done here.
For starters, Zaidi’s offseason was universally accepted and praised following big-money commitments to proven veterans like Matt Chapman, Blake Snell, Jorge Soler and Jordan Hicks. Those additions eased some fears of unproven Korean star Jung Hoo Lee carrying too much of the franchise’s burden in his first stateside season. In the end, the Giants committed over $320 million to free agents.
Here’s the issue: a strong offseason only goes a long way, residing in the hippocampus of fans until the stretch of mediocrity returns.
Sure, Zaidi isn’t responsible for Snell’s slow start and physically fragile first-half, or Lee’s all-out effort resulting in a brutal defeat against the center field wall — that’s just naming a few. But the results speak for themselves and it’s becoming more and more difficult to provide a reasonable explanation for Zaidi’s employment as each year passes.
Simply put, small market executives don’t receive this kind of leeway. The question has shifted away from why Zaidi should be fired to why he shouldn’t be. And that’s no knock on the quality of his well-respected baseball mind or general skills and capabilities, but more about a change that needs to be made within the front office.
Zaidi was signed to a three-year extension before the season to line up with manager Bob Melvin’s contract, but that wouldn’t stop the Giants ownership from mixing things up. However, Zaidi’s job could “still be safe” because of owner Greg Johnson’s hesitancy for change following an attendance boost at Oracle Park this season, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal in The Athletic.
In the event Zaidi IS, however, kicked to the curb after the season, who would the Giants select to replace him as fearless leader of baseball operations? It’s a valid question, especially with other organizations hiring individuals for top positions who don’t possess too much of a different baseball ideology from Zaidi’s.
I decided to ask the reasonable voices on Giants Twitter — a group notorious for sharing realistic ideas and proposals. Could you consider this me stirring the pot with the predetermined expectation that I’d receive nothing but nonsense? Perhaps, and there certainly was some of that. But Giants fans aren’t stupid. They provided some intriguing answers worth digging into.
Here’s the tweet:
And here were the names tossed around as potential replacements for Zaidi. Buckle up, it’s an intriguing list.
Kim Ng
The trailblazing former Miami Marlins general manager received the most support from Giants fans in response to the tweet. Ng is the definition of a baseball lifer and has endured more front office experience than probably any other candidate available.
She made history with the Marlins in 2021 as the first female general manager of a team across the four major North American sports leagues. After two straight 90-loss seasons, Ng led the club to a playoff birth in 2023. The high was short-lived, as she unexpectedly stepped down as GM following the season after the Marlins screwed her by reportedly trying to hire a president of baseball operations above her — a bad, disrespectful move.
This is an interesting fit considering Ng’s previous history with the Giants organization. She interviewed to become president of baseball operations in 2018 before the job eventually was awarded to Zaidi. She’s currently serving as a senior advisor for Athletes Unlimited, a softball league set to launch next year.
Buster Posey
Posey is an effortless answer to this dilemma, especially for the casual Giants fans. The three-time World Series champion and future Hall of Fame catcher is a member of the ownership group and currently sits on their board of directors — the first former player to join such positions in franchise history. As expected, he’s been involved extensively both publicly and privately with key decisions regarding the organization.
When it comes to baseball operations, Posey’s role has primarily been characterized as a consultant-type to Zaidi. A shift to lead baseball operations full-time would cancel out any middleman between ownership. If Johnson desires little havoc and movement in the organization, assigning Posey to run the team — without a complete overall of front office personnel — would be an intriguing move.
But it’s also a two-way street.
Would he even want to do it?
Posey has a legacy that transcends Bay Area sports fans, mirroring the likes of Bonds, Montana, Curry and Mays. His reputation and status among Giants fans is completely set in stone, unable to trend upward without shattering the ceiling altogether. But it could trend downward. Just this past offseason, Posey made comments about the city of San Francisco’s perception among visiting players that generated more heat — most did understand his meaning — than we’ve ever seen him take from fans.
A few botched free agent signings here, a couple of rough trades there and the Zaidi-style fantasy football waiver claims would be enough for fans to start to turn if they haven’t already. It’s like the folks who are constantly calling on him to sell his stake in ownership to become the team’s next manager. He’s achieved popularity, respect, admiration and wealth. Why would he risk it?
Pete Putila
This one is kind of funny considering he’s Zaidi’s hire and right-hand man, but Putila did receive a strong amount of support from Giants fans. Many of them are unsure of his exact role within the organization, as the term "president of baseball operations” has long surpassed the traditional label, “general manager.”
Putila’s player development background intrigued the Giants enough the poach him from Houston following the 2022 season and he’s certainly qualified to lead a big league team — and probably, one day, will. Again, if the reports about Johnson’s unwillingness to make major splashes are true, Putila would be the obvious pivot to replace Zaidi.
Twitter seems to think it makes sense, but it’s a hard sell for most of the fan base that would much rather endorse a clean slate.
Ned Colletti
There’s a term that’s thrown out there quite often and it’s so vague and puzzling: “We want a baseball guy in charge of running the team!”
A baseball guy
The usual suspect to fit this label is veteran baseball executives like Colletti or Brian Sabean — those types that carry a shade of gray in their hair if they’re not fully gray already. Colletti is 70-years-old with over 40 years of front office experience and a well-respected name in the industry. He was Sabean’s trustworthy assistant GM in San Francisco for over a decade before running the Dodgers from 2006 to 2014.
I love Ned, he’s a fantastic baseball mind and friend of RizzoCast (quick plug). The experience sounds nice, but Colletti hasn’t worked in baseball in ten years. A lot in the sport has revolutionized in ten years, more than enough to all but disqualify him from being seriously considered for the role. If the Giants were to make a hire, it would be a step forward instead of backward.
It’s worth mentioning Brian Sabean also received a handful of votes from fans, but that’ll never happen. The book is closed on that era and running back to an ex following a nasty breakup probably isn’t something the Giants want to do.
Gabe Kapler
The Giants fired Gabe Kapler not even a full calendar year ago, but a few fans are calling him back in an even larger role with the organization. Imagine the scene after a Tuesday night game against the Dodgers: Kapler and Bob Melvin — in Melvin’s office which used to be Kapler’s — discussing strategy and roster construction.
Since his dismissal, Kapler found a gig with the Marlins as assistant general manager. He’s bright enough to lead a baseball operations department one day, but it won’t be in San Francisco. Someone would’ve had to spike Greg Johnson and Larry Baer’s drinks for something like this to occur.
James Click
Hey, there’s some merit to this one!
Click was a key member of the Tampa Bay Rays organization from 2005 to 2019 and eventually clinched a World Series berth with the Houston Astros in 2022 as the team’s general manager. Despite three ALCS and two World Series appearances in his three years with the Astros, the club reportedly refused to offer him anything more than one-year deals even fresh off a champagne celebration.
He’s stashed in the Toronto Blue Jays’ front office as the vice president of baseball strategy. He’ll probably be a top candidate for many teams looking to shake things up in their front office. With San Francisco, he’d be reunited with Putila — if Putila is safe — and his former manager in Houston, Dusty Baker, who now serves as a special assistant.
Bob Myers
Yes, you read that right. THAT Bob Myers.
Giants fans were bold in recommending Myers, the architect of the Golden State Warriors for over a decade who helped bring four NBA titles to the Bay Area. It’s unlikely Myers would ever be hired full-time in another sport, but the Washington Commanders hired him in January to help hire personnel.
Myers probably isn’t qualified to lead a baseball operations department, but if the Giants need consulting on their next top executive or manager, maybe they should look to him for some advice.
49ers GM John Lynch also received support to become the next president of baseball operations for the Giants. Let that sentence sink in.
Other names mentioned…
Once a rising star in baseball’s front office landscape, Chaim Bloom is now an advisor with the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s very qualified, holding key roles with the Tampa Bay Rays for a several years and recently serving as the head of baseball operations for the Boston Red Sox. He wasn’t exactly popular there, drawing similar criticisms to Zaidi. He also traded Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts — that could make someone unpopular real quick.
Baltimore Orioles assistant general manager Sig Mejdal is a UC Davis alumni with Bay Area ties, having grown up in San Jose. He’s one of the major success stories when it comes to finding an edge with new school analytics, helping the Astros create a player development system that transformed their entire franchise. Many replies under my tweet just wrote, “Get someone from the Braves or Orioles” and Mejdal is “someone from the Orioles.”
David Dombrowski is the all-in president of baseball operations for the Philadelphia Phillies, meaning he’s in a relatively comfortable situation with a winning club and an ownership group willing to spend money. The chances he finishes his career there are very high. It’s hard to believe the Texas Rangers are in such bad shape after winning the World Series in 2023 — such bad shape that general manager Chris Young could be on the hot seat. They’ll be patient, though. He’s still very much expected to stay put. And so will Bruce Bochy, who — despite having zero baseball operations experience — was mentioned twice by fans under the original tweet. Any team would be insanely lucky to score Red Sox and Cubs curse-snapper Theo Epstein, but the future Hall of Fame executive appears to be heading for the ownership route instead. He’s not a bad name to be throwing out.
I appreciated the response from Forever Giant and 2014 World Series champion Michael Morse, who volunteered himself to take over the organization. Morse vowed to bring the “band back",” starting with hiring Bochy.
Here are the other names that received votes from Giants fans to replace Zaidi:
Sarah Gelles, Pirates assistant general manager
Preston Mattingly, Phillies assistant general manager
Anirudh Kilambi, Phillies assistant general manager
Ehsan Bokhari, Cubs assistant general manager
Jeremy Reesor, Blue Jays director of baseball operations
Alex Hassan, Twins assistant director of minor league operations
Michael Schwartze, Giants director of baseball analytics
Dusty Baker, former MLB manager and Giants special assistant
Paul Toboni, Red Sox assistant general manager
Bobby Evans, former Giants general manager
Mike Hazen, Diamondbacks general manager
Sam Fuld, former MLB outfielder and Phillies general manager
Billy Eppler, former Angels and Mets general manager (currently serving a one-year ban from MLB for violating the league’s injured list policy)
Jed Hoyer, Cubs president of baseball operations
Ben Cherington, Pirates general manager
Erik Neander, Rays president of baseball operations
Mark Sweeney, former MLB player and current Cardinals broadcaster
Doug Glanville, former MLB outfielder and current ESPN analyst
Jimmy Rollins, former MLB shortstop and current TBS analyst
Nick Hundley, former MLB catcher and Rangers assistant general manager
Jeff Luhnow, former Astros general manager and current CD Leganes president
Chris Antonetti, Guardians president of baseball operations
Alex Anthopoulos, Blue Jays general manager and president of baseball operations
Hunter Pence, former MLB outfielder and current Giants broadcaster
Matt Blood, Orioles vice president of player development