Farhan Zaidi is finally getting his flowers with SF Giants, just a bit too late

While former president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi was incredibly polarizing during his tenure with the SF Giants, one cannot help but look at the few bright spots from the 2026 squad and acknowledge where they came from.

Jung Hoo Lee was signed by Zaidi to a six-year, $113 million contract ahead of the 2024 season. That deal looked quite suspect after injury cut his 2024 season short and he had an inconsistent 2025, but he’s finally turned into the version of himself Giants fans dreamt of this year. Now the Giants may have to consider extending him.

Casey Schmitt, even though he’s cooled off at the plate recently, currently leads the team in home runs and has proven this year that not only can he play everywhere on the diamond but he can also be the best hitter on the team when he’s hot. Zaidi’s regime drafted him in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft and it seems he’s finally putting the pieces together after his first few seasons were up and down.

Of course, the emergence of Bryce Eldridge has been the most important development of this season as there’s hope he can be the face of the franchise. Zaidi picked him in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft and Eldridge has already put himself on the map. Seeing if he can win National League Rookie of the Year may be the only thing Giants fans have to root for the rest of this season.

Zaidi deserves some credit even though his tenure didn't work out

Zaidi was far from perfect as an executive and earned his fair share of criticism, but with the Giants currently 15 games under .500 one can’t help but think that .500 baseball wouldn’t seem all that bad right now.

The Giants had to shake things up, though. The mediocrity under Zaidi was not cutting it and his successor Buster Posey has certainly been more aggressive, but it’s fair to wonder if he was aggressive with the wrong guys by signing Willy Adames and trading for Rafael Devers who have both been disappointing on the whole.

Maybe ownership deserves more blame than anyone else for clearly handcuffing both Zaidi and Posey when it comes to spending. Obviously, spending more doesn’t always equate to winning. Just ask the New York Mets.

It just shows that building a winning baseball team is very hard. Zaidi only did it once with the Giants but he still deserves credit for acquiring players who are now coming into their own a few years after his departure.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow