Farhan Zaidi will become the 11th general manager in Dodgers history. (Getty Images)
In case you missed it, the Dodgers are expected to name Farhan Zaidi their next general manager at some point this week. Compared to many assistant general managers, much was written about Zaidi during his 10 years (2005-14) with the Oakland A’s.
Part of that is because of his unique background: Born to Pakistani parents in Canada, raised in the Philippines (he played Little League in Manila), and one of only few Muslim executives in Major League Baseball. He is believed to be the first Muslim general manager in any sport. Zaidi addressed his pedigree in an interview with the Toronto Star:
While Zaidi says he doesn’t like to make “a big deal” of his unique ethnic and religious background, he’s “certainly proud of it” and what it reflects about the changing face of baseball, more than anything.
“One thing that I think is important to me is diversity in baseball, whether it’s ethnic diversity or religious diversity, gender, sexual orientation. I think diversity in any business or industry is a good thing and I certainly think that’s an aspect of our industry that can improve. To the extent that my ethnic background or religious background is a testament to increasing diversity, I think that’s a great thing.”
Already, Zaidi has let his talent do the talking. A’s general manager Billy Beane told the San Francisco Chronicle in February that “I’m more worried about losing him to Apple or Google than I am to another team.” (Surprise!)
As far as we know, Zaidi will become the first MLB general manager with a Ph.D., though he is not the only MLB executive with a Ph.D. Zaidi got his from UC Berkeley in behavioral economics, a branch of economics that incorporates elements of psychology, in 2011. At MIT, Zaidi studied public finance and development economics. He also led the undergraduate economics association, organizing lectures by the famous economist Paul Krugman.
Zaidi is one piece of the front-office puzzle. Even though he’s the GM, he is not the highest ranking baseball operations official. The buck stops with Andrew Friedman and, for decisions above his staggering pay grade, Stan Kasten. According to CBSsports.com, it could become an enormous puzzle.
One thing that Zaidi and Friedman have in common: Neither has managed a budget as large as the Dodgers’. Friedman was almost allergic to specifics in his introductory press conference last month, essentially leaving his work to answer the question of how he’ll drive this new luxury vehicle. While speaking at last year’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at MIT, Zaidi delved into the topic of how to build a baseball team:
If there isn’t some residual between how you evaluate players and how other teams evaluate them, then you’re just using industry values to put together the second-lowest payroll team in the league, and likely end up being the second-worst team. You kind of have to take those risks to outperform your payroll. Sometimes it’s going to backfire, just because you have to try to do something different.
If I was the Yankees, that wouldn’t be my strategy. All I’d have to do is be as good at scouting and analytics as everyone else, and my payroll gives me the advantage. If you don’t have that advantage, you have to do something else.
And now that Zaidi does have that advantage? Should be interesting.
