Recap: How the front office rating works
This is one in a series of assessments of the performances of front offices for the 2024 season. Each front office is given a score based on the total Wins Above Average of the players they either traded for, signed via free agency or extension, or promoted from their farm system, since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason.
A front office’s score also includes the total Wins Above Average of players traded away or lost to free agency since the end of the 2023 postseason. The front offices are being presented in order of their total value from No. 30 (worst) all the way to No. 1 (best).
These ratings do not necessarily reflect the final standings. Front offices are measured based only on the talent they acquired or lost during the past 12 months. Players on multi-year contracts, or already under team control, don’t count toward this rating.
8. San Francisco Giants, Farhan Zaidi, president of baseball operations; Pete Putila, general manager, +3.8
Zaidi and Putila were the one front office team that took a fall this offseason. In a sense, it’s unfortunate since they actually improved the Giants, if only marginally, both in the standings (one game) and statistically (3.8 games).
What they failed to do is keep pace with their divisional and geographic rivals, the Dodgers. When the season ended with L.A. a full 18 games superior to San Francisco, the positions of Zaidi and Putila became untenable and they were replaced by a local legend, Buster Posey.
The Giants front office post-mortem notes that Zaidi and Putila were relentless in their efforts to keep up with the Dodgers. Their personnel moves since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason affected 70 major leaguers, the third largest churn — behind Miami and the White Sox — of any of the 30 teams.
Interestingly, five of those moves added a player to the Giants’ roster who delivered a minimum +1.0 game improvement based on Wins Above Average. You can count on one hand the number of front offices who added that much quality performance.
Five most impactful Zaidi-Putila moves in 2024
Transaction | Net Impact (Wins Above Average) |
|---|---|
Signed free agent Matt Chapman | +5.0 |
Purchased Matt White from Milwaukee | +2.0 |
Re-signed Donovan Walton | +1.8 |
Traded Ross Stripling to Oakland | +1.8 |
Promoted Tyler Fitzgerald | +1.7 |
It’s an impressive roster of additions, or it would be save for two intervening factors.
First, of the 70 moves made by the Zaidi-Putila front office, only 29 actually accrued to the team’s benefit. Another 36 hurt San Francisco — by small amounts in most cases, but those small subtractions moderated the roster improvements.
Second, of course, was the reality that whatever the Zaidi-Putila front office did, it wasn’t going to top what their rivals did merely by winning the free agent war for Shohei Ohtani. But that’s an issue worth discussing when this series gets to the Dodgers (spoiler alert: we have a few more teams to go before getting there).
With its +5.0 WAA gain, the Chapman signing plainly stood out. He got between $18 million and $20 million annually through 2027. For that money, the offensive numbers were just okay; a .247 average and .790 OPS. But Chapman’s fielding numbers were exceptional, among them 17 Defensive Runs Saved.
The real question, then, is whether Chapman, who will 32 this coming season, can replicate his performance over the next three seasons. But whatever Chapman does, he won’t be doing it for Zaidi or Putila.
The Giants' new regime, helmed by Posey and new GM Zack Minasian, have had a meaninful offseason, signing Willy Adames and Justin Verlander, among other notable moves. The issue is that, in the face of what the Dodgers continue to do, the team feels aimless, even with new drivers at the wheel.
Previous Rankings:
10. New York Yankees, Brian Cashman, senior vice president and general manager, +3.0
9. Milwaukee Brewers, Matt Arnold, senior vice president and general manager, +3.2
8. San Francisco Giants, Farhan Zaidi, president of baseball operations, Pete Putila, general manager, +3.8
Next: 7. Houston Astros, Dana Brown general manager, +4.2