Get To Know Farhan Zaidi

by bigelephant on Jun 6, 2005 12:13 PM PDT Comment 17 comments

On this slow off day for the boys, i was cruising the various saber sites looking for some interesting articles when i came across an interview by jc bradbury over on "sabernomics".

"bigelephant note": if you're a big saber fan and can forget for a moment that jc is a huge braves fan, you'ii discover he operates a kick-ass blog over there.

anyway, the interview that caught my eye was posted on may 28th by jc with a's front office #3 guy Farhan Zaidi. when zaidi was hired by the a's back in feb "oaktowntribesman" posted the announcement- and received 2 response....so i'm not sure how interested some of you with this. but i think if you take the time to go over to jc's site you'ii be facinated, and possibly envious, of the work farhan does with
the a's. it's a remarkable snapshot of how the a's (beane/forst) use statistical analysis for some of their decision making.

quick query: is there a next "farhan" posting on AN????

if you're interested:

http://bradbury.sewanee.edu/wordpress/index.php/2005/05/an-interview-with-farhan-zaidi/

cheers

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Farhan

Present.

California here I come, right back where I started from, Californiaaaaa, Californiaaaaa, here I coooooome (June 24th). (OC, i was inspired)

by ohad on Jun 6, 2005 12:23 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

present?

What does that mean?

by novaoakland on Jun 6, 2005 12:46 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

ohad answered my ?

"is there a 'next farhan' who posts on AN"

The "Free Matt Watson from Sacramento-Redux" Committee is back in business...taking new memberships...crap!!!

by bigelephant on Jun 6, 2005 12:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ok I am dumb

Not sure how i missed that.

by novaoakland on Jun 6, 2005 3:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

how did i know.......

The "Free Matt Watson from Sacramento-Redux" Committee is back in business...taking new memberships...crap!!!

by bigelephant on Jun 6, 2005 12:27 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

the most interesting part to me

were the comments below the interview. One Braves fan remarked that cox exploits the tendency of most teams to pitch a steady diet of fastballs to rookies for the first hundred bats or so, even though most players coming up to the big leagues should be able to hit a fastball (struggling with offspeed stuff would be more common). According to this fan Thomas came up late enough so that he was hitting well right up to the end of the season, when pitchers started exploiting the holes in his swing.

by OaklandSi on Jun 6, 2005 12:39 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

ya, i read that too

some interesting stuff there about our friend "two-buck-chuck".

The "Free Matt Watson from Sacramento-Redux" Committee is back in business...taking new memberships...crap!!!

by bigelephant on Jun 6, 2005 12:46 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

great line

"When I found out I was going to interview with Billy and David, I spent the week before the interview preparing non-stop, for probably 18 hours a day. And I would say every last minute was worth it."

That's just the kind of attitude you hope someone this important to your organization has about their position. Good to see we've found more fertile ground for the A's brain trust.

footlong stadium dog with mustard and onions

by Tim J on Jun 6, 2005 12:46 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Billy ...

if you're reading, I already spend close to that much time prepping for a non-existant interview with you ...

The next time I slap a guy's ass, can we all just assume it's because I wish I was a baseball player?

by devo on Jun 6, 2005 12:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

hey devo

you can do it!!! you're just a Phd away...dream the dreams of dreamer's my friend!

The "Free Matt Watson from Sacramento-Redux" Committee is back in business...taking new memberships...crap!!!

by bigelephant on Jun 6, 2005 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

PhD Nothing

I'm working on a PhD right now, but I'm pretty sure Billy's not hiring engineers. You're not just a PhD away...you're a PhD in economics, statistics, or math away, plus some good luck and connections!

Fearing Mecir since 2000.

by salb918 on Jun 6, 2005 1:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

blez should interview mr. zaidi

for the "statheads"

by xbhaskarx on Jun 6, 2005 5:32 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

what a great job

my younger brother lived on the same floor in a dorm as farhan's younger sister. that sounds like such a fantastic job and he seems like he appreciates it.

what i found particularly interesting is how he says he has a newfound respect for all the gm's in the game, and especially billy. it's not just the trades, etc but the overall job that's so incredibly demanding and takes a lot of skill to do. it's easy to criticize some gm's as being "dumb" but it's not always that simple.

by nycfan on Jun 6, 2005 5:57 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Moneyball Man's trades aren't looking too good

Moneyball Man what have you done you've tooken a team in contention for the division.Now there in contension with the Devil Rays oh wait the D-Rays swept the A's.Maybe the Beltran-less Royals.

by leeroy on Jun 6, 2005 8:31 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

i like that we can now rate nonsense like this...

by xbhaskarx on Jun 6, 2005 8:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I may not be Farhan...

but I am Bill James, bitch.

Wouldn't have said that had I not gotten word earlier that Dave Chappelle is alive and well, contrary to other reports I'd been hearing, such as one from Newsweek. But in light of recent events it wouldn't surprise me if Newsweek's editors were the ones checking into South African mental health clinics...

But then again, I can see how they could easily mistake Dave Chapelle for Alex Rodriguez.

and, I haven't actually clicked on this link, but is this the blog that was formerly known as Old Fishing Hat or some other such inviting name that served to conjure up images of cyberspace southern hospitality? I guess changing the name from that to "Sabernomics" is one way to separate the goats from the sheep so to speak...haha

Don't ask me to buy you a wristwatch Don't ask me to buy you a Sony Car Discman Don't ask me to give you car fare Don't ask me for a cotton picking thing"

by Cutthemullet on Jun 6, 2005 10:13 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs