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By Jon Weisman
In the days since the Dodgers announced new additions atop their front office, some noteworthy profiles have emerged, offering a window into their souls.
Yeah, that’s right — I said it. Their souls.
Newest of these is Mark Saxon’s story at ESPN Los Angeles on Dodger general manager Farhan Zaidi. An excerpt:
… There is a perception, right or wrong, that fans in Los Angeles won’t get behind a team unless it has name-brand talent at every position. Zaidi doesn’t necessarily disagree that outside-the-box thinking might be harder in the bigger market.
“We’re going to have to be innovative and resourceful, but one thing we’ve talked about is there’s a very high bar for being on the L.A. Dodgers’ 25-man roster,” Zaidi said. “We have less of an ability to tinker and less room for error. That, I think is a very real thing, and it just has to do with the standards and expectations of this market.”
Leave it to someone who studies markets to understand the one he’s in.
Zaidi was also the subject of David Waldstein’s piece Monday in the New York Times:
… He and his siblings, who grew up fans of the Italian national team, went to France in 1998, having secured tickets from the Philippines’ underused allotment at the FIFA office in Manila — an early case of leveraging market inefficiency.
They also went to the next World Cup, in 2002. After an England-Argentina match in Sapporo, Japan, Zaidi, his two brothers and his sister had no place to stay, so they persuaded local officials that they were Argentine, which allowed them to sleep at a local barracks being used to house fans.
That made Zaidi a Canadian of Pakistani descent who grew up in the Philippines supporting Italy masquerading as an Argentine. …
Earlier this month, Dylan Hernandez of the Times had this profile of president of baseball operations Andrew Freidman:
… While still in elementary school, Friedman developed a routine. His mother would drop him off at the visiting team’s hotel, where he spent the early afternoons asking players for autographs. Tim Raines, his favorite, once signed 90 cards for him.
His mother would then pick him up and drive him to the Astrodome in time for batting practice.
“My dream was to be one of them,” Friedman said. “So I loved watching everything they did — how they prepared, what they did during batting practice, what they did between innings.”
By the time Friedman was joined by his father shortly before the start of a game, he often was loaded down with autographed bats and balls.
“He spent so much time there, they thought he was a player’s kid,” Kenny said. …
Sunday, J.P. Hoornstra of the Daily News introduced Los Angeles to senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes, the former Arizona and San Diego general manager:
… During his unemployment, Byrnes took the opportunity to spend more time with his wife and two daughters, “about 100 days in my flip flops.” He didn’t have to wait long for a job offer.
At first Friedman called to talk about hiring Byrnes in Tampa. Then, when he left the Rays at the end of the season, Friedman called to offer a job in Los Angeles. In some ways they worked together before joining the Dodgers.
“As GMs, sometimes we try to compare notes with the small-market challenge,” Byrnes said. “We tried to create a competitive advantage.” …
Both Hoornstra and Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles had short chats with director of player development Gabe Kapler. From Saxon:
… “Gabe has a tremendous mind, a thirst for knowledge and he’s a great leader of people,” Friedman said. “His passionate enthusiasm is something that I think is going to resonate throughout our entire minor-league operations.”
Kapler said the thrill of being part of a new kind of front office, one that features one Doctor of Economics, general manager Farhan Zaidi, a former financial trader, Friedman, and a total of five former or current GMs, was what lured him out of Malibu to take the farm director job for the Dodgers. They envision it as a baseball think tank.
“I’ve always looked for opportunities to be inspired when I come to work,” Kapler said. “I certainly have that at Fox. Now, it seems I’m going to have that with a pretty special group of men and women with the Dodgers.”…
One other piece worth noting: Pedro Moura’s column in the Register, “Good baseball executives don’t possess fear factor.”
Michael Green
The “Dodger Way” that was so successful under the O’Malleys began, as much as Walter O’Malley would have hated to admit it, under Branch Rickey. And no one since Al Campanis has sounded as much like a Rickey disciple as Friedman and his crew, granting that Campanis forgot a lot of those lessons.
Asher B. Garber
Really nice video introducing Farhan Zaidi. Thanks for that.