Farhan Zaidi, President of Baseball Operations for the San Francisco Giants, is in danger of losing his job. That’s not secret at this point in time. He has spoken about the situation and his thoughts on it recently, but on Thursday, he went on local radio to express a regret that he has had through his tenure.
On the “Tolbert & Copes” show, Zaidi talked about how he handled young players coming up through the system. There have been plenty of complaints in Giants world about this, whether it be the handling of Marco Luciano or Luis Matos, and Zaidi recognizes that.
“When I look back at the last couple of years, the question I have is, ‘Should we have created more opportunities for some of our young players to keep getting opportunities? Because really, that’s how we get to the other side of this. The treading water, the disappointing .500 seasons, is just creating more opportunities for our young players, and letting them sink or swim a little more. I think we’ve had some success with that, and I think we just have to go to that well a little more,” he told the hosts.
There are instances of them doing the ‘sink or swim’ that have worked out. Patrick Bailey is the starting catcher after playing just 28 games above High-A. Tyler Fitzgerald has become the everyday shortstop, posting an .840 OPS and will likely get some Rookie of the Year buzz.
However, there are plenty of other players, more highly touted prospects, that they didn’t let ‘sink or swim.’
Luciano had four different stints in the Majors this season, but never got any consistent playing time in any of them. Even if he was posting the .562 OPS that he did, by keeping him for months at a time in the Big Leagues while not giving him playing time is detrimental to his growth.
The same could be said for Matos. He played a lot in May, but as soon as he started struggling, never received a fair shot at earning more time, other than an at-bat here and there.
It seemed that after trading Jorge Soler, there would be open at-bats at DH for the younger players who hadn’t gotten a lot of run. Yet, that was not the case. And keeping those players on the roster and now allowing them to get everyday at-bats does nothing but hurt them in their development. Consistent at-bats helps players work out the kinks, and that has not happened.
Of all the reasons that Zaidi is on the hot seat, this is one of the biggest. He has found his gems, Mike Yastrzemski and LaMonte Wade Jr. are everyday players, after all. However, he has not given his top prospects the opportunity to grow, and he clearly regrets that.
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