Friedman hires Oakland assistant GM Farhan Zaidi to be Dodgers GM. MIT grad with a doctorate from Berkley, everyone is lauding the hire.

 

Very cool background article about him

 

http://m.sfgate.com/athletics/article/A-s-...and-5205023.php

http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/dodg...1104-story.html

 

Another Zaidi article......Pakistani raised in Philippines with a family of basically academic freaks, baseball is truly becoming globalized

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-190201826.html

 

And if you surveyed all the current players, 75% or more would probably agree with him.

 

That's the biggest issue for any "Ivory Tower/young breed" GM, gaining respect, learning the lingo and providing insights that actually help the players and their careers...being able to translate "saber" language into "clubhouse" language. Part of it is the "disrespect" of being cut or evaluated by someone who's never played the sport, whether that's right or wrong to feel, it's there for many athletes unless that coach/GM becomes so effective with his approach that nobody questions it.

 

We saw it in the Hosmer article if you read that...about a writer trying too hard to "be cool" and relate to the players.