The biggest storyline surrounding the San Francisco Giants heading into the offseason is whether or not they will keep Farhan Zaidi after missing the playoffs again. Zaidi has spoken about it, but recently a former coworker of his came to his defense. On a local Bay Area radio show, Oakland Athletics executive, Billy Beane, went to bat for Zaidi.

Zaidi worked under Beane from 2011 until 2014, where the Giants President of Baseball Operations worked his way up to assistant general manager before he left for a job with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Oakland legend had nothing but nice things to say about Zaidi and his time working with him.

“I’m obviously a little biased. I adore Farhan; he’s brilliant … there’s no funnier, warmer, more enjoyable person to be around, and so in that sense — and listen, I’ve worked with this guy. This guy is really, really smart, very smart. He cares so much. … When Farhan left [the A’s] to [work with] the [Los Angeles] Dodgers, I think my kids cried. I mean, that’s how much they adored [him]. My wife felt the same way,” he said while on the ‘Murph & Markus’ show on KNBR.

While in college, Zaidi read the book ‘Moneyball’ and was so inspired that he applied to work for the A’s, and then worked himself up from there. He was Beane’s right hand man during his time there and Beane thinks that he wouldn’t be jobless for long should he be fired.

“Here’s what I would say: If that man’s a free agent [this offseason], there will be no shortage of people who would love to have him with them. You’re asking the wrong person … because I’ve been with this guy. He’s brilliant. He’s a wonderful human being, and so am I biased? Maybe. But also, objectively, I’ve seen this guy work,” he continued.

When the Giants nabbed Zaidi from the Dodgers, it was considered a great hire. Even a couple years in, when San Francisco won 107 games, he was praised. However, that has been in for his time with the Giants.

There are things have led to where Zaidi is at, such as the team not playing their youngsters, that has caused some of the frustration.

All that being said, his track record will almost guarantee that he gets another front office job quickly, as Beane said. Now, it’s time for the San Francisco brass to make a decision.

The San Francisco Giants are coming off a rebounding win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday as they defeated the Redbirds in thrilling fashion, 6-5. The win gives the Giants a chance to fight on Sunday, the final game of the MLB season, for a .500 record for the first time since 2022. 

San Francisco will turn to rookie pitcher Hayden Birdsong (5-5, 4.66) to get it done on the hill. The 6’4” right-hander will be making his 16th start of the season after making his MLB Debut for the Giants this past June. The 23-year-old is coming off a win against the team’s division rivals, Arizona Diamondbacks, in his last start. Birdsong allowed only two earned runs across five innings of work and struck out six batters in the contest. 

Birdsong and the rest of the Giants will finish the 2024 campaign with a matchup against another young arm as the Cardinals will send a rookie pitcher themselves to the mound in Michael McGreevy. The former first-round pick for St. Louis will make his third career start on Sunday after making his MLB Debut at the end of July. McGreevy, a left-hander, last pitched at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies, where he allowed three runs on five innings of work. Not surprisingly, he also allowed his first home run in the elevation at Denver. 

Both teams will not be heading to the MLB Postseason, which begins on Tuesday. Therefore, Sunday’s game is all about something to build off of heading into the offseason.

Here are the lineups for tonight’s matchup:

San Francisco Giants
1 RF Mike Yastrzemski
2 LF Jerar Encarnacion
3 1B LaMonte Wade Jr.
4 3B Matt Chapman
5 DH Michael Conforto
6 SS Tyler Fitzgerald
7 2B Brett Wisely
8 C Curt Casali
9 CF Grant McCray

Giants third baseman Matt Chapman enters Sunday, the final game of the season at 27 home runs. If he records at least one more on the season, it will be the second best season in his career in homers. His best is a 36 home run campaign in 2019.

St. Louis Cardinals
1 2B Brendan Donovan
2 LF Alec Burleson
3 DH Paul Goldschmidt
4 CF Lars Nootbaar
5 1B Matt Carpenter
6 RF Jordan Walker
7 SS Thomas Saggese
8 C Pedro Pages
9 3B Jose Fermin

The first pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET in San Francisco at Oracle Park. The game will be available on NBC Sports Bay Area and Bally Sports Midwest. 

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