Did Farhan Zaidi Do Enough To Save His Job?

While he signed an extension last season, San Francisco Giants President of Baseball Operations, Farhan Zaidi is on the hot seat. Zaidi has overseen the Giants baseball operation for seven years and his teams have only gone to the postseason once. San Francisco is about to miss the postseason for the third year in a row in 2024. Another issue the Giants seem to have had with Farhan Zaidi in charge is signing a star-free agent. Zaidi fired manager Gabe Kapler last year and chose Bob Melvin as his replacement. The only person left to take the fall for San Francisco’s lack of success in recent years is him. However, could the Giants’ strong finish to this season save his job?

The Giants Have Mostly Struggled Under Farhan Zaidi

Farhan Zaidi has overseen the San Francisco Giants baseball operation for the past seven seasons. During that span, the Giants have only gone to the postseason once. The team is currently about to miss the postseason for the third year in a row. One issue under Zaidi is that they haven’t been able to attract a star-free agent. While they’ve pursued free agents like Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Carlos Correa, and other stars, none were in the Giants Opening Day lineups. The teams that Zaidi has put together during his time in San Francisco can be best characterized as boring and unexciting.

Another Lost Season

Despite bringing in free agents like Blake Snell, Matt Chapman, Jorge Soler, Jordan Hicks, and former Korean star Jung-Hoo Lee; San Francisco struggled this season. Offensively, the team only averaged 4.27 runs per game. The only teams averaging fewer runs were the Rockies, Pirates, Nationals, Cardinals, and Marlins. Aside from Logan Webb, San Francisco’s starting rotation struggled again this season. It didn’t help that Snell struggled early in the year, Lee was lost for the season in May, and Soler had a power outage. Further hurting the Giants was the struggles of closer Camilo Doval who the team kept in the role way too long.  

Farhan Reportedly Needed Help Extending Matt Chapman

During the season, the team managed to sign Chapman to a six-year, $151 million extension. However, former Giants great and minority owner Buster Posey reportedly intervened to get the deal done. This was also reportedly due to Zaidi’s inability to answer Chapman’s questions about the franchise’s direction. It also was because Zaidi was hesitant to give Chapman a no-trade clause. This isn’t a good look for a baseball operations head who’s had trouble signing star-free agents, hasn’t gone to the postseason in four years, and apparently can’t finish deals for players who want to stay.

Good Things Have Been Happening In San Francisco

However, despite being eliminated from the postseason, the Giants have been the ultimate spoiler team. They’ve won seven of their past eight games in late September and young players like Heliot Ramos, Tyler Fitzgerald, Jerar Encarnacion, and Casey Schmitt have shown a lot of promise. Given all these positive developments, it just might be enough to save Farhan Zaidi from the unemployment line. San Francisco will most likely have another active offseason which could lead to an “do or die” season for Zaidi.

Next Year Could Be Determine Farhan Zaidi’s Future

While the Giants have mostly struggled under Farhan Zaidi, there have been some positive things that have happened this year. The Giants are finishing the year strong, a young core is emerging, and they managed to extend Matt Chapman. With the Giants wanting to contend in 2025, I am anticipating San Francisco wanting to have a busy offseason. Given it’s been four years since the Giants have gone to the postseason, next season could be the real year where Farhan Zaidi’s time might run out.

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