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“Baseball is drama with an endless run and an ever-changing cast.”
― Joe Garagiola

The Dodgers will name former Athletics assistant GM Farhan Zaidi the team’s new general manager this week, according to a tweet from Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Zaidi, 37, had been with Oakland for ten years and was promoted just before last season.

The club is also set to add former Diamondbacks and Padres GM Josh Byrnes, Mark Saxon of the Los Angeles Times reports on Twitter. Though it is not yet known what position he will hold, his addition is a “done deal,” per Saxon.

Combined, the addition of the well-regarded Zaidi and experienced Byrnes represent major additions to the front office of new president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.

Zaidi’s former boss, Billy Beane, credits him with a brilliant and creative mind, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote in a profile. According to Slusser, Zaidi was instrumental in bringing Yoenis Cespedes to Oakland and in maximizing value through platoons.

A Muslim Canadian who grew up in the Philippines, it goes without saying that Zaidi does not have a typical background for a baseball executive. But his analytical background — he has an undergraduate degree from M.I.T. and a Ph.D. in behavioral economics from Cal-Berkeley — ultimately won him a chance with the A’s, and he never looked back. In spite of his background, Zaidi is known as a proponent of utilizing traditional scouting and focusing on tools in identifying talent.


http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

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Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2127&p=154844&hilit=Zaidi#p154844

Six months after the post above, it will come as no surprise that I think the Dodgers made a great hire in Zaidi.

But it is hard not to become further disillusioned by the fact that the Dodgers not only have a ridiculous amount of money to spend building and managing their roster but they are also assembling the kind of front office folk who know how to optimize that process.

First Friedman in place of Colletti, then Zaidi added - they are having a great offseason. I would have loved to see either one/both of those guys in Sedona Red golf shirts.

When "the Big One" causes California to slide, Atlantis-style, beneath the waves, all that money will have to go somewhere... Right?

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Meet the new FO... Same as the old FO. The bag may be permanent.

Funny you should pop up here today. I was just reading your post and that thread below at the Snakepit you posted last year in September about giving up the Season Tiks.

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Good depth often has to come from within, in the form of younger talent. Depth is hard to build overnight, but it’s easy to deplete. Jeff Sullivan

Quite possibly most of the success attributed to them should go to the respective managers, Bob Melvin and Joe Maddon. In addition, why worry about the Dodges when the most successful franchise in MLB over the past five years is the Giants with Sabean and Bochy.

Ha ha
Has Fandango continued his straw arguments? That comment section went rapidly down a rabbit hole. But I haven't revisited that thread in more than a year.

I was saddened to see the 2014 season go as horribly wrong as it did. Did not expect it to get THAT bad.

BTW, I DID accept an invitation to have lunch with KT last November. Wasn't particularly enlightening. He did almost all of the talking and it was pretty enjoyable in terms of just talking baseball. But his answer to my question about what the strategy is for competing with LA and SF when they can outspend us was shockingly inelegant (IMO).

My decision to not renew had already been made, but his stunning response ensured I would have no second thoughts.

Jury's still out for me on the TLR, Stew, Chip administration. They are saying the right things and not without credibility. But I am awaiting tangible evidence that they have a strategy to compete.

hope you are well, Shoe

Not shocked at all about your lunch conversation. The proof was in that pudding long ago.

With regards to the new crew, my projection is that I am going to be bitching and moaning over a lot of the moves but the team will get better anyway and eventually turn it around and then I will smugly proclaim it was in spite of themselves that they got the team winning again....

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Good depth often has to come from within, in the form of younger talent. Depth is hard to build overnight, but it’s easy to deplete. Jeff Sullivan

Yeah, I know. . . except the answer he gave me was stunning even by KT standards.

Do agree with you that they should begin to turn around, even if only by accident. I think the Dodgers, on the other hand (to try to return this thread to its proper content) will be a more interesting roster to follow the next few months.

Well, there are at least TWO teams from our own division standing in the way of the D Backs, so we need to be concerned about both of them.

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Good depth often has to come from within, in the form of younger talent. Depth is hard to build overnight, but it’s easy to deplete. Jeff Sullivan

No argument there. Just very enticed by the improvements in the Doyers front office. The Giants are who we thought they were. The Doyers. . . not so much. (so much more*, I suspect)

*understand that my three favorite teams are the Dbacks, A's - dating to the Monday/Jackson/Bando days, and whoever plays the Doyers.

Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal
Sources say Hanley’s deal with #RedSox will be in range of five years, $90M.

via Peter Gammons @pgammo
@JonHeymanCBS good work. Guess Hanley in left, Cespedes traded for pitching. But...does this push Yanks towards Lester

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Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.

Dodgers claim Lavarnway from Boston

Claim one catcher, DFA another (Drew Butera).

Nothing earth-shaking here. Just listed for the record... Who knows? Someday this site might be a gold mine for baseball anthropologists!

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Meet the new FO... Same as the old FO. The bag may be permanent.

Buster Olney @Buster_ESPN
The Dodgers have acquired shortstop Jimmy Rollins from the Phillies.

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Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.

I guess they just didnt want Gordon at SS.

Buster Olney @Buster_ESPN
The Marlins and the Dodgers are in serious talks about a deal that would involve Dee Gordon going to MIA, Andrew Heaney to LAD.

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Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.

Looks like a done deal

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"Right at Peralta in left, it's over his head and gone!" 7 rows back, that was our great PBP broadcaster Steve B.

the Dodgers and Marlins have agreed upon a trade sending Dee Gordon and Dan Haren to the Marlins for Andrew Heaney, Kike Hernandez, Chris Hatcher and Austin Barne

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Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/12/d ... arthy.html

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Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.

They've flipped Heaney for Howie Kendrick.

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"Right at Peralta in left, it's over his head and gone!" 7 rows back, that was our great PBP broadcaster Steve B.