One of Farhan Zaidi's biggest SF Giants gaffes retires after nine seasons

Nick San Miguel

Texas Rangers v San Francisco Giants / Andy Kuno/San Francisco Giants/GettyImages

Former SF Giants legend Ross Stripling has decided to call it a career after nine MLB seasons. While he had a respectable career overall, the Giants signing him was one of the biggest gaffes of Farhan Zaidi's tenure with San Francisco.

Stripling announced his retirement on social media and his statement can be viewed here.

Zaidi signed Stripling to a two-year $25 million contract with the Giants prior to the 2023 season. Things...did not work out in San Francisco. The veteran had a 5.36 ERA in 2023 as he started 11 games and made 22 appearances.

Former SF Giants pitcher and Farhan Zaidi gaffe Ross Stripling retires

The Stripling signing made a good amount of sense at the time because he was coming off a very strong year with the Toronto Blue Jays in which he had a 3.01 ERA in 134 and 1/3 innings pitched. Plus, Zaidi was very familiar with Stripling dating back to their time together with the Dodgers. We know how Zaidi loved to sign former Dodgers and Stripling was even an All-Star with Los Angeles in 2018.

Yet, the signing simply did not pan out. Stripling struggled and one could argue that the team's opener strategy in 2023 did not help him out very much but he still just did not pitch well.

Thankfully, Zaidi cut bait on Stripling after that season and dealt him to the Athletics in exchange for Jonah Cox. Things did not get better for Stripling with the A's as he had a 6.01 ERA in 85 and 1/3 innings.

Unsurprisingly, Stripling reamined unsigned throughout the offseason as did other signings Zaidi made with the Giants that did not work out. At the age of 35 and coming off two rough seasons, teams were not exactly falling out of their seats to sign the veteran so it makes sense that he has decided to retire.

In all, he had a respectable MLB career. He had a record of 40-54 with a career ERA of 4.17. Those are not incredible numbers by any stretch but they are better than the vast majority of pitchers who ever pitch in the majors.

Giants fans may not remember him fondly and his name may only conjure up bad memories of the mistakes made by Zaidi, but he will at least be a fun bit of trivia for hardcore Giants fans going forward thanks to his short-lived tenure as a Giant.

Nick San Miguel

Nick San Miguel has been writing at FanSided since 2017. He began as a contributor writing about the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and became a Site Co-Expert for AtF in 2024. A die-hard Bay Area sports fan born 10 minutes from Levi's Stadium, he has also written about the San Francisco 49ers for Niner Noise as a contributor since December 2023. In October 2025, he joined Blue Man Hoop as a contributor to write about the Golden State Warriors. He graduated with a degree in History from San Diego State University and is now based out of Chicago. He is the same age as Oracle Park.