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| Zaidi will be LA's new GM. Photo Credit: USA Today Sports |
The Dodgers are set to name Athletics assistant general manager/director of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi as their new general manager later this week.
By: Michael Hanley
This is a major hire in many regards but one reason stands out amongst the others: Zaidi will be the first Muslim GM in American pro sports history, quite an accomplishment for him to achieve in his baseball career.
This will be the 37 year old's first general manager job in his career. He is very well regarded in his ability to scout and oversee development of young players through a farm system, much like he did with the Oakland A's. Numerous players that went on to be big contributors of the big club came through the minor leagues that Zaidi oversaw and structured specifically to the style and player they wanted those at the time prospects develop into.
He was said to have been an instrumental part of signing Yoenis Cespedes while with the Athletics according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. That ability to connect and be able to sign international prospects and any players in the grand scheme of things will be very key in his role with the Dodgers.
Now with the new ownership of the team committed to putting a winning product on the field and putting up big money in order to do so, LA will always be in play for the top prospects and free agents on the market in the off season. Zaidi will need to show that skill to work and negotiate with a variety of players and agents who will have their own agenda and numbers in terms of length of deals and how much money they think they deserve.
Not every player he targets will be a success and he will miss on some as every GM in baseball does but if he can get on board some players that only only he wants but Andrew Friedman, ownership and the fans clamor for, he will endear himself very quickly to them all and will further enhance the chances of success for the team to get over that hump that has been the NLCS for them the last couple of years.
Zaidi will also need to continue to add and strengthen the burgeoning farm system that has made big strides in recent seasons thanks to the work of the scouts and Stan Kasten who have turned the minor league system of the Dodgers into one that is producing top level players that they can build around for the future.
He has a track record of success in this area with Oakland and will need to showcase that again as the franchise looks to add more homegrown players to the roster and rely a little less on big prized free agents to help them win at a consistent level.
The Dodgers also will add former Padres GM Josh Bynes as an adviser to the team. He was fired back in June as the team struggled with a losing record and overall poor performance. He was the GM in San Diego since 2011. Before coming to the Padres he was previously the GM of the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2005-2010.
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