From 2015 to 2018, Farhan Zaidi was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ general manager under President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. Soon after the end of the 2018 season, the San Francisco Giants hired Zaidi as their new President of Baseball Operations.
It feels like the Giants have signed a lot of former Dodgers during Zaidi’s tenure in San Francisco, and more often than not, the signing is immediately followed by Alex Pavlovic (and/or another beat writer) tweeting something like “Farhan really liked him as a Dodger” or “Farhan knows him from LA.” It also feels like, when the book is closed on their Giants tenure, these former Dodgers don’t end up being very well-liked by Giants fans. So, I decided to investigate how often Zaidi signs former Dodgers, and how often they end up with unsatisfying legacies.
Without further ado, here’s a breakdown of every former Dodger signed by the Giants since Zaidi took over prior to the 2019 season, in chronological order of signing.
1. Pat Venditte
LA 2018; SF 2019
I feel like we took Venditte for granted when he was in the league. He hasn’t pitched professionally since he was called up by the 2020 Marlins after half their roster caught COVID, and I feel like there’s a good chance I won’t see another switch-pitcher in MLB in my lifetime. He did only pitch in two games for the Giants, but I feel like I should’ve been more invested in those games than just thinking “oh, the switch-pitcher is on my team now.” Overall, other than the guy I saw with a Giants Pat Venditte jersey at Oracle Park in 2021, Venditte had a highly forgettable Giants tenure, but it still will be remembered fondly because he was a switch-pitcher.
2. Alex Wood
LA 2015-18, 2020, SF 2021-23
Wood was the first real “Farhan knows him from LA” signing. Wood’s first stint with the Dodgers spanned the exact same years as Zaidi’s Dodgers tenure and included a 2017 season in which Wood posted a 2.72 ERA and a .842 W-L%, the best in MLB that year. Wood became a fan favorite in 2021, his first year with the Giants, with his respectable 3.83 ERA and camera shots of him running out to the mound the millisecond a Giant made the third out. He took a step back in 2022, as did many Giants, with a disappointing 5.10 ERA. It was 2023, however, when Giants fans’ disdain for him was certified. He was supposed to be a starting pitcher but only pitched into the sixth inning once all year, and complained several times about his demotion to the bullpen despite finishing the year with a 6.08 ERA as a starter. Overall, he’s a free agent after the season, I don’t see any situation where the Giants would want him back, and I don’t know a single Giants fan who will remember him fondly.
3. Jake McGee
LA 2020; SF 2021-22
McGee’s one year in Dodger blue took place when Zaidi was already with the Giants, so he’s the first one in here whom Farhan did not, in fact, know from LA. Anyway, I feel like McGee’s 2021 is pretty forgotten. As stressful as it was to watch him throw 90.1% four-seam fastballs all year, he rocked a 2.72 ERA and racked up 31 saves while splitting the closer role with Tyler Rogers and eventually handing it over to Camilo Doval. He also won NL Reliever of the Month in July. Things fell apart for McGee in 2022, however, as his ERA nearly tripled (7.17) and he played his last game as a Giant on July 8. He had two unsuccessful short stints with the Brewers and Nationals, and that was it for his career. Despite an excellent 2021 season, his awful 2022 made sure that many Giants fans think of him as another failed former Dodger.
4. Scott Kazmir
LA 2016; SF 2021
Remember when Scott Kazmir was a Giant? Before the Giants signed him during 2021 spring training, the last time he had pitched was when he was a Dodger five years before! That story really was the extent of Kazmir’s Giants career. He had a 6.35 ERA in 5 games, but the 2021 Giants were good enough to go 4-1 in those games, and he never really cost the Giants any wins. He was a cool story, and I think most Giants fans would agree with that. Look out for him in 2026.
5. Joc Pederson
LA 2014-20, SF 2022-23
Joc Pederson was one of the first Dodgers players I learned to hate. I vividly remember rooting so hard against him in the 2015 Home Run Derby and calling him Joc PEDerson. I’m all for having fun on the baseball diamond as long as you’re not a Dodger, and Joc would really annoy me when he would jump and yell around the bases after hitting another home run in Joctober. Conversely, after a season removed from Los Angeles, I was very excited when the Giants signed Joc prior to the 2022 season. It had been forever since the Giants had had someone with that kind of power, and I couldn’t wait to see him hit a ton of balls into the water.
In terms of fan reception, Joc had a very up-and-down Giants tenure. Pederson #23 jerseys were very common around the ballpark, and he was one of the most well-liked players on a post-Posey team. And for good reason–that three-homer game is one of the best regular-season games I’ve ever watched, for example. However, as the season wound down, it became clear that this was going to be the first time in Joc’s career that his team would miss the playoffs (despite his career-high 146 OPS+). Then, he caught a lot of flack from the more online Giants fans after posting himself teaching his kid to do the Chop on Instagram. Ultimately, Giants fans quickly forgot about that when he accepted the $19,650,000 qualifying offer to return as the DH against righties in 2023. But Giants fans turned against him again after it was revealed that he would rather play a card game called Pusoy than study opposing pitchers, and then continued to post Atlanta Braves highlights on Instagram during the postseason.
On a post-Pusoy team, the fan reception to Joc is currently very split. He’s a free agent after this season, and after he couldn’t really do what he was paid to do (hit bombs against righties), it doesn’t make sense to bring back a platoon DH to a team that is trying to get away from that model. I’m sure that despite growing up a Giants fan, Joc would have reservations about returning to the only team he’s ever missed the playoffs with. At this point, he seems to be headed toward becoming another former Dodger who ended his Giants tenure on a sour note.
6. Andrew Vasquez
LA 2021; SF 2022
If you think I’m making this name up, I assure you I am not. He pitched in two games for the Dodgers in 2021 (both in their final regular-season series against the Giants), and his Giants tenure consisted of two no-hit relief innings in the 2022 season finale. I don’t think we need to spend much more time on him; I just wanted everyone to be included.
7. Scott Alexander
LA 2018-21, SF 2022-23
After being a solid piece out of the Dodgers’ bullpen for four seasons, the Giants picked Alexander up in May 2022 to let him rehab a shoulder injury. He showed promise out of the bullpen in his cameo in late 2022 to the tune of a 1.04 ERA, but that more than quadrupled in 2023, to 4.66. Even without the Mexico City Tax, that’s an underwhelming 4.21. Even so, Alexander provided a steadying presence in a bullpen that had Taylor Rogers as its only other traditional lefty reliever. He won’t be remembered with the disdain of fellow lefties Alex Wood or Jake McGee, but he is a free agent after this season and will probably go down as a forgettable Giant.
8. Ross Stripling
LA 2016-20, SF 2023
Stripling’s MLB debut was one of the first great regular season games I remember watching. Well, I shouldn’t say “watching.” I was at a family friend’s house in Santa Cruz following the game on At Bat Gameday upstairs while my mom talked with friends downstairs. I remember running up and down the stairs to update my mom: “No-hitter through six innings!” “No-hitter through seven innings!” “They took him out of the game!” “The first batter the new pitcher faced was Trevor Brown and he hit his first career home run to tie the game!” Fast-forward through seven years (wow) putting up solid numbers for the Dodgers and Blue Jays, and Stripling put up a 5.36 ERA and won zero games in his first season as a Giant. He holds the Giants single-season record for most innings pitched (89) and starts (11) in a season with zero wins. Couple that with his comments about being kept on the IL too long, and needless to say, he’s yet another former Dodger who’s become generally disliked by Giants fans. But he said he is opting in next year, so that makes him potentially the only person on this list with a chance to fix his reputation.
9. Matt Beaty
LA 2019-21, SF 2023
Beaty never actually wore the Dodgers uniform while Zaidi was employed by the Dodgers, but he was drafted and developed under Zaidi. I remember seeing multiple tweets about how Zaidi and Gabe Kapler were very high on Beaty and they loved him in LA. I also remember Giants fans being furious because Beaty made the Opening Day roster over Bryce Johnson (lol), because people still can’t comprehend that Farhan Zaidi’s Opening Day roster means nothing. Anyway, Beaty only ended up going 1 for 5 with an RBI in 4 games as a Giant, but at least he got to pitch.
10. AJ Pollock
LA 2019-21, SF 2023
Pollock is one of two players on this list who was never in the Dodgers organization at the same time as Zaidi. He will always be hated for what he stood for (Giants inactivity at the trade deadline) and not who he was. There’s not much else to be said about his 0 for 6 in his Giants career, but at least we’ll always have this ball that I thought for sure was going out.
All things considered, it seems like every former Dodger signed by Farhan Zaidi as Giants President of Baseball Operations falls under “forgettable” or “hated.” I’m not saying the Giants should never sign a former Dodger ever again, but it’s an interesting observation. If nothing else, I hope my observations gave you a lot of options in a future Immaculate Grid.
Oracle Outsider 