Building a winning organization takes a lot of hard work. Hiring the person who builds a winning organization takes some work but involves far more luck. Despite all his years of experience and focus on the team, Larry Baer went into this offseason with even more to lose than the fate of the franchise: his legacy. He had to nail the hire for President of Baseball Operations, a title he created specifically become the new face of the franchise — his franchise.
Farhan Zaidi was not an unconventional choice for President of Baseball Operations from an industry standpoint, but he was a radical candidate for a staid and stable franchise, one that Larry Baer had helped shepherd and maintain all these years.