Farhan Zaidi (born November 11, 1976) is a

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professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

executive. He has also served as president of baseball operations for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

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for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, and as assistant general manager of the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

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(MLB). He currently works for the Dodgers as a special advisor and also assists Dodgers owner

Mark Walter Mark Richard Walter (born January 1, 1960) is an American businessman and the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, a privately held global financial services firm with more than $325 billion in assets under management. Outside invest ...

with his other sports interests. Zaidi is one of the only

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

executives in Major League Baseball. He was the first Muslim, Pakistani-Canadian, and, subsequently, South Asian-Canadian general manager in Major League Baseball. He was also the first Muslim to run a major North American sports team.

Early life

Zaidi was born on November 11, 1976, in Sudbury,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, to a family of Pakistani ancestry. His parents, Sadiq and Anjum, raised four children: Zeeshan, Farhan, Noor, and Jaffer. Zaidi grew up in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

after his family moved to

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

when he was four years old, where he attended the International School of Manila. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in economics from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. He briefly worked for the

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the "Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three" (or MBB, the world's three large ...

and the ''

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

'' website between MIT and Berkeley.

Career

Oakland Athletics

While at Berkeley, Zaidi read the book ''

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'' and said that it changed his life. He saw a job posting for a baseball operations position with the

and sent out his résumé, beating out 1,000 other applicants for the job. He was a data analysis

sabermetrics Sabermetrics (originally SABRmetrics) is the original or blanket term for sports analytics in the US, the empirical analysis of baseball, especially the development of advanced metrics based on baseball statistics that measure in-game activity ...

assistant when he started. His boss with the Athletics,

Billy Beane William Lamar Beane III (born March 29, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player and current Front office (sports), front office executive. He is currently senior advisor to owner John Fisher (baseball owner), John Fisher and ...

, called him "absolutely brilliant" and credited him with the acquisition of

Yoenis Céspedes Yoenis Céspedes Milanés (born October 18, 1985), nicknamed "La Potencia" (The Power), is a Cuban-born former professional baseball outfielder. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut on March 28, 2012, for the Oakland Athletics, and has ...

. 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.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On November 6, 2014, Zaidi was named by the

as their new general manager under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. Under his watch as the Dodgers GM, the team made its first

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

appearance in 29 years in

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, falling to the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

in seven games. The following year, they lost in five games to the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

in the

2018 World Series The 2018 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's 2018 Major League Baseball season, 2018 season. The 114th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League ( ...

San Francisco Giants

On November 6, 2018, Zaidi accepted an offer to join the

to become president of baseball operations. In 2021, the Giants won a franchise-record 107 games, and Zaidi was voted the ''Sporting News'' Executive of the Year 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 The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

, Zaidi hired Pete Putila to be the Giants new general manager. In October 2023, Zaidi and the Giants agreed to a new three-year contract through 2026. 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. On September 30, 2024, the Giants announced they would be parting ways with Zaidi, hiring Buster Posey to replace him as the President of Baseball Operations.

Los Angeles Dodgers (second stint)

On February 10, 2025, Zaidi subsequently returned to the Dodgers organization as a special advisor to

, helping him with the Dodgers as well as his other sports interests, which include the Los Angeles Sparks and Chelsea FC.

Personal life

Zaidi is married to Lucy Fang, a fellow MIT graduate. 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 The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

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 Joseph Chris Carter (born March 7, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays ...

hit his game-winning walk-off home run in 1993 to win back-to-back World Series championships for the Jays.

References

External links

SF Giants bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaidi, Farhan 1976 births Living people American sportspeople of Pakistani descent Boston Consulting Group people Canadian expatriates in the Philippines Canadian Muslims Canadian people of Pakistani descent Canadian sports executives and administrators Los Angeles Dodgers executives Major League Baseball general managers MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni Oakland Athletics executives San Francisco Giants executives Sportspeople from Greater Sudbury Sportspeople from Manila UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Major League Baseball Executive of the Year Award winners Major League Baseball presidents of baseball operations