Recent interview with Farhan Zaidi had the Giants President of Baseball Operations talking nerd talk, about run differentials:
The Giants have turned upper management into believers.
Why does president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi feel a team with a 50-50 record is a legitimate threat in the NL Wild Card race?
“The team is fundamentally different, the roster is different,” Zaidi said. “That’s why I don’t think you can just look at this team’s run differential and make an assessment of our quote-unquote true talent level.”
“You do have to look at the totality of the season, that’s what the standings are based on, but I think one of the reasons we put a lot of credence in our recent play is because the composition of the team is very different,” Zaidi said Sunday.
“We know for us to continue on this path, that group of players is critical,” Zaidi said. “I’ve said a few times, there’s interest in a lot of of our relievers and we have interest in our relievers.”
Sam Dyson, Tony Watson and Reyes Moronta could all fill set-up roles for teams with visions of locking up a playoff spot. In Zaidi’s eyes, they’re already doing that.
“I’m not going to stop teams from calling, I’m going to have to have those conversations, that’s my job,” Zaidi said. “But we recognize that for us to continue to play that well, we’re going to have to continue getting the kind of performance from the bullpen that we’ve gotten.”
“I’m excited we’re playing well because it gives us options,” Zaidi said. “It doesn’t paint us into a corner where maybe we feel that pressure of, ‘Hey, we really have to reload for the next five years because we have a real investment of what’s going on here right now.”