What was the defining moment of Farhan Zaidi's tenure with the SF Giants?

Farhan Zaidi's tenure with the SF Giants is officially in the books as the club parted ways with him on Monday. There were some mistakes along the way that led to this but one stands out above the rest: Not re-signing Kevin Gausman.

What was the defining moment of Farhan Zaidi's tenure with the SF Giants?

I am not here to reopen an old wound but Zaidi's tenure might have looked a lot different if they decided to keep the right-handed hurler after the 2021 season. The Giants had just set a franchise record with 107 wins and plenty of payroll flexibility and momentum heading into 2022.

Granted, the COVID-19 pandemic did hurt a lot of terms financially, but even the Colorado Rockies signed Kris Bryant to a seven-year, $182 million deal that offseason, so who knows how badly these were teams hurting?

Plus, it bears mentioning that the Giants did spend quite a bit that winter. They signed Alex Wood, Anthony DeSclafani, Carlos Rodón, and Alex Cobb to multi-year deals. Even Matthew Boyd received a guarantee of $5.2 million from the Gian.

So, whether it was Zaidi's call to make or ownership placed a hard cap on the budget, passing on Gausman turned out to be a tremendous mistake. First and foremost, the righty pitcher thrived during his time with San Francisco, posting a 3.00 ERA in 45 appearances across two seasons with the Giants. This included a stellar 2021 campaign in which he tallied a 2.81 ERA in 31 starts while finishing in sixth place in the NL Cy Young voting. Plus, Gausman and his family were an excellent fit for the community.

If the Giants re-signed Gausman, it likely would have meant that they would not have signed one of Cobb, Wood, DeSclafani, or Rodón. Of course, keeping both Wood and DeSclafani turned out to be a costly mistake.

And, here is the even weirder detail, the Giants acquired Robbie Ray last offseason and absorbed much of the remainder owed on his five-year, $115 million pact. They pretty much invested as much money, if not more, with some of these moves than what they would have spent to keep Gausman.

The Giants have been stuck in the middle over the past three seasons and that is what led to Zaidi's dismissal. Could they have done better if they kept Gausman?

In 2022, they won 81 games, which was a few games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, who reached the playoffs that year with 86 wins. In 2023, they relied heavily on Logan Webb and Alex Cobb while the rest of the rotation was stitched together with openers and bullpen games. They slumped in the final month and finished with 79 wins, falling shy of the 84 wins needed to reach the playoffs.

Maybe the Giants do not reach the playoffs in either of those years, but it is undeniable that their record would have been better with Gausman. Perhaps, that would have led to a more aggressive trade deadline strategy than acquiring A.J. Pollock. Passing on him proved to be a costly decision in more ways than one. It is a moot point now but you can pretty much draw a line in the sand with what they were building before that decision and partly why that progress had eroded since then.