| Farhan Zaidi | |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| Baseball Executive | |
| Born: (1976-11-11)November 11, 1976 (age 49) Sudbury,Ontario, Canada | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
Farhan Zaidi (born November 11, 1976) is aCanadianprofessional baseball executive. He has also served aspresident of baseball operations for theSan Francisco Giants,general manager for theLos Angeles Dodgers, and asassistant general manager of theOakland Athletics ofMajor League Baseball (MLB). He currently works for the Dodgers as a special advisor and also assists Dodgers ownerMark Walter with his other sports interests.
Zaidi is one of the onlyMuslim executives in Major League Baseball.[1] He was the first Muslim,Pakistani-Canadian, and, consequently,South Asian-Canadian[2] general manager in Major League Baseball.[3] He was also the first Muslim to run a major North American sports team.
Zaidi was born on November 11, 1976, inSudbury,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 thePhilippines after his family moved toManila when he was four years old, where he attended theInternational School of Manila.[4][5][7]
He has a Bachelor of Science degree from theMassachusetts Institute of Technology and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in economics from theUniversity of California, Berkeley.[8] He briefly worked for theBoston Consulting Group and theSporting News website between MIT and Berkeley.[8][9]
While at Berkeley, Zaidi read the bookMoneyball and said that it changed his life.[10] He saw a job posting for a baseball operations position with theOakland Athletics and sent out his résumé, beating out 1,000 other applicants for the job.[9] He was a data analysissabermetrics assistant when he started.[11] His boss with the Athletics,Billy Beane, called him "absolutely brilliant" and credited him with the acquisition ofYoenis 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 theLos Angeles Dodgers as their new general manager under president of baseball operationsAndrew Friedman.[14]
Under his watch as the Dodgers GM, the team made its firstWorld Series appearance in 29 years in2017, falling to theHouston Astros in seven games. The following year, they lost in five games to theBoston Red Sox in the2018 World Series.
On November 6, 2018, Zaidi accepted an offer to join theSan Francisco Giants to become president of baseball operations.[15][16] In 2021, the Giants won a franchise-record 107 games, and Zaidi was voted theSporting News Executive of the Year[17] andMLB Executive of the Year, becoming the first person of South Asian descent to win either award.
When Zaidi's general managerScott Harris left the Giants in 2022 to become the president of baseball operations for theDetroit Tigers, Zaidi hiredPete 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] It was later revealed that the contract between Zaidi and the Giants was a two-year contract, through 2025, with the equivalent of a club option for 2026.[20]
On September 30, 2024, the Giants announced they would be parting ways with Zaidi, hiringBuster Posey to replace him as the President of Baseball Operations.[21][22]
On February 10, 2025, Zaidi subsequently returned to the Dodgers organization as a special advisor toMark Walter, helping him with the Dodgers as well as his other sports interests, which include the Los Angeles Sparks and Chelsea FC.[23]
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, and as a result, Zaidi became a fan of theToronto Blue Jays.
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| Preceded by | Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager 2014–2018 | Succeeded by |