The A’s promoted Dir of Baseball Operations FARHAN ZAIDI to Assistant GM & Dir of Baseball Operations. Zaidi served in his previous role since ’09. He has a B.S. in Economics from MIT and a Ph.D. in Economics from the Univ. of California-Berkeley (A’s). CSNBAYAREA.com’s Joe Stiglich notes Zaidi is entering his 10th season with the A’s, and "spent the past several seasons providing statistical analysis for potential trades, free agent acquisitions and draft picks.” Zaidi also “assists on arbitration cases, minor league contracts and analyzing advance scouting reports.” Prior to joining the A’s in ’05, he “worked as a business development associate for Small World Media, a division of The Sporting News.” He also was a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group (CSNBAYAREA.com, 2/4). In S.F., Susan Slusser writes “one of the most creative forces in the A’s front office is becoming one of the hottest names” in MLB. Zaidi has “moved beyond the number-crunching that was initially his specialty.” A’s GM BILLY BEANE said, “He’s absolutely brilliant. ... The ability to look at things both micro and macro is unique, and Farhan could do whatever he wants to do, not just in this game, but in any sport or any business. I'm more worried about losing him to Apple or Google than I am to another team." Slusser writes the A’s “have one of the most diverse front offices in pro sports, and Zaidi's background is especially unusual: He is Canadian and one of few Muslims in baseball,” along with Cubs Assistant GM SHIRAZ REHMAN (S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/5).
