Farhad Zaidi Reflects on Giants’ Failures to Sign Free Agents During His Tenure

The San Francisco Giants went in a new direction by firing Farhad Zaidi and he reflected on his time with the team recently.

Oct 7, 2021; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi talks with a reporter during NLDS workouts. / D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

Farhad Zaidi’s time with the San Francisco Giants will likely be remembered as a time of mediocrity.

He took over as president of baseball operation in 2018 and the Giants only made the playoffs one time. That year, in 2021, he was named the MLB executive of the year.

But, after this season, the Giants opted to move on, firing Zaidi and handing over the reins of the franchise to former catcher and three-time World Series champion Buster Posey.

So far, Posey has made a splash by signing shortstop Willy Adames to the biggest contract in franchise history. Now, the Giants are considered one of the favorites to land free-agent starting pitcher Corbin Burnes.

One of the criticisms late in Zaidi’s tenure was the team’s inability to land top-tier free agents.

Former @SFGiants executive Farhan Zaidi tackles the Giants issue in signing big stars, saying they "took big swings" pic.twitter.com/pWWOKPwtLO

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) December 18, 2024

Most notable was outfielder Aaron Judge, a California native who at one point received his highest offer from the Giants only to get a better one from the Yankees. The Giants also had a deal with Carlos Correa that went awry after a physical and lost in the bidding war for Shohei Ohtani last offseason.

Zaidi recently spoke to Foul Territory about his tenure with the Giants and said the process of signing a free agent isn’t that simple.

"When you talk about (Bryce) Harper, Judge, Ohtani, these are like three of the five best players in baseball," Zaidi said. "So I guess we took some big swings. Obviously, what happened with Carlos Correa was very unfortunate. But we took big swings and each of those guys — Bryce, I think, had some concerns about the ballpark, that can happen at times when you're trying to sign a position player. Not always, but it's something that position players have some concerns with.”

Adames didn’t appear to have any concerns about San Francisco when he signed his seven-year deal. Same goes for third baseman Matt Chapman, who signed a long-term extension with the Giants just before Zaidi was fired. He was also able to lure outfielder Jung Hoo Lee in free agency, though he missed most of the season due to an injury.

There was no criticism of San Francisco on his part, as he praised Posey’s first major move in his job.

He believes San Francisco, as a whole, is an asset to luring top talent.

"I really push back hard on this narrative nobody wants to play in San Francisco, nobody wants to play for the Giants,” he said. “It's a great city, it's a great organization. I have been so happy in my time in San Francisco and I wish the organization the best and I know they're going to be able to attract players and Willy Adames just a couple of weeks ago is the last example."