Report: Former Giants executive Zaidi returns to Dodgers as adviser
Former San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi is returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.
Zaidi, who was fired by the Giants in September, has been hired by the rival Dodgers as a special adviser, a source told Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
In addition to advising the baseball operations department, Zaidi will assist Dodgers owner Mark Walter with operating his other sports properties. Walter, the CEO of Guggenheim Partners and the Dodgers' chairman, owns the Professional Women's Hockey League, is a co-owner of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks and English Premier League club Chelsea FC, and is a minority shareholder of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.
Zaidi, 48, served as Dodgers general manager from 2014-18. During that time, he helped Andrew Friedman build the team into a powerhouse, winning National League pennants in 2017 and '18.
The Canadian executive was lured to the other side of the bitter Dodgers-Giants rivalry in 2018. Under his watch, San Francisco reached the playoffs once, during a franchise-record 107-win 2021 season, only to lose to L.A. in the NLDS. However, that was the Giants' only winning record during Zaidi's six seasons running the team; he was dismissed in September after the club posted an 80-82 record.
Zaidi is not the first member of the 2024 Giants to defect to Los Angeles this winter. The Dodgers signed two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, who threw a no-hitter for the Giants in July, to a five-year contract in November.
Zaidi broke into baseball in 2005 with the Oakland Athletics where he served a number of roles under Billy Beane, including assistant GM.