Farhan Zaidi mistake continues to bite SF Giants long after his departure

Former SF Giants pitcher Kevin Gausman is just one of a number of former Giants in the MLB playoffs. His continued success after leaving the Giants is just another reminder of the mistake Farhan Zaidi made by not keeping him around.

Gausman was one of Zaidi's patented pitcher reclamation projects. He brought in the veteran for the 2020 season after a number of rough seasons and quickly it became clear that Gausman was on the mend.

Failure to re-sign Gausman was a big Farhan Zaidi mistake for SF Giants

In the shortened 2020 season he had a 3.62 ERA in 59 and 2/3 innings. He followed that up in 2021 with a 2.81 ERA in 33 starts and 192 innings pitched in what was an All-Star campaign.

After that miracle 2021 season in which the Giants won 107 games to win the NL West and came ever so close to taking down the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, they could have doubled down to try and capitalize on the success they had.

Instead, the Giants did not bring Gausman back in free agency as he signed a five-year $110 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. Gausman had nothing but good things to say about his time with the Giants and he eventually revealed that the Giants never made him an offer which, if true, borders on malpractice.

Gausman has gone on to be an incredibly consistent pitcher with Toronto over the last four seasons. He has a collective 3.48 ERA over the last four seasons and has pitched at least 174 and 2/3 innings in each of those seasons.

What Zaidi opted to do instead was bring back Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Wood on shorter-term deals as well as Alex Cobb. The Cobb signing turned out well, but the DeSclafani and Wood deals did not and some four years later the Giants are still prioritizing pitching in the offseason.

Imagine a Giants rotation with Logan Webb, Gausman, and Robbie Ray, one of Zaidi's greatest trade acquisitions, as the top three in the rotation. That rotation has the potential to be one of the best in baseball and it could have been possible if Zaidi and the Giants were more aggressive following that 2021 season.

There was an understandable reticence to give starting pitchers on the wrong side of 30 big contracts because the Giants got burned a bit by Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain in their later years. But with Gausman he has continued to be an elite starting pitcher.

In Game 1 of the ALDS over the weekend, Gausman delivered a strong performance, pitching 5 and 2/3 innings against the New York Yankees and struck out Aaron Judge at a critical juncture in the game. Maybe there is some alternate universe where Gausman is delivering great playoff performances like that for the Giants.

It was disappointing when Zaidi and the Giants did not bring Gausman back after 2021, and four years later it is even more clear that it was a mistake.