clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Reports: Dodgers name Oakland assistant GM Farhan Zaidi general manager

A's assistant GM Farhan Zaidi will be named the next Dodgers general manager later this week, according to reports.

Farhan Zaidi and David Forst during the 2012 MLB Draft.
Farhan Zaidi and David Forst during the 2012 MLB Draft.
Getty Images

Ken Gurnick, MLB.com's Los Angeles Dodgers beat writer, dropped a bit of a bombshell tonight:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Dodgers will name Oakland&#39;s Farhan Zaidi the new general manager later this week, according to baseball source.</p>&mdash; Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) <a href="https://twitter.com/kengurnick/status/529831223494180864">November 5, 2014</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Zaidi has been credited with many of the moves made by Oakland's front office that led to much of the Athletics' regular-season success between 2012 and 2014, most notably pushing to sign Yoenis Cespedes and to move Brandon Moss from the outfield to first base.

Zaidi has a Ph.D. in Economics from U.C. Berkeley, and began working for the club shortly after receiving that degree in 2004.

The Dodgers organization is obviously moving in a decidedly different direction from the one set by Ned Colletti, who was relieved of his duties as general manager after the 2014 season. Colletti will remain as a senior team advisor, and the near-unlimited gobs of money he was allowed to throw at the free-agent market probably isn't going anywhere, but the fact remains that Zaidi was a central cog in Oakland's sabermetrics-inclined front office, one whose philosophies likely sound like gibberish in Los Angeles.