Dodgers Make Zaidi, And Byrnes Hirings Official

The Dodgers made the hirings of Farhan Zaidi, and Josh Byrnes official Thursday with a press release. Zaidi the former Oakland assistant general manager to Billy Beane will serve as the Dodger’s eleventh GM. As both men were officially added to the Dodger’s restructured front office.

Meanwhile Byrnes will become the Senior Vice president of Baseball Operations. While Zaidi will be focused on the major league club, Byrnes’ responsibility will be to the Dodger’s scouting and player development department. Byrnes was the GM of two rival NL West clubs. He was GM of the Dbacks from 2005-2010, and the GM of the Padres from 2011-June 2014.

Front Office Goodness!-Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Here is the official statement released by the Dodgers.

The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced the front office additions of Farhan Zaidi as General Manager and Josh Byrnes as Senior Vice President, Baseball Operations

“It is very exciting for us to be able to add two exceptional, veteran baseball executives like Farhan and Josh,” said Dodger President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. “Farhan’s primary focus will be the Major League team and player acquisitions while Josh will concentrate on the oversight of scouting and player development. However, they will both work closely with me on all aspects of baseball operations in our efforts to make the Dodgers’ front office and team the best it can possibly be.”

Zaidi (pronounced FAR-hahn ZY-dee) becomes the 11^th general manager in Los Angeles Dodgers history and in that role his primary focus will be on the Major League club. He spent the last 10 seasons with the Oakland Athletics, most recently serving as the club’s assistant general manager/director of baseball operations. He joined the Athletics as a baseball operations analyst in 2005 before holding the title of director of baseball operations from 2009-13.

Prior to joining the A’s, Zaidi served as business development associate for Small World Media, the fantasy sports division of The Sporting News, and also worked as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group.

Zaidi, 37, earned his bachelor of science degree in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998 and a Ph.D in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2011. He currently resides in Oakland with his wife, Lucy.

Byrnes, 44, will supervise the Dodgers’ scouting and player development operations after previously serving as executive vice president/general manager for two of the Dodgers’ NL West rivals, the Diamondbacks (Oct. 2005-July 2010) and Padres (Oct. 2011-June 2014).

He began his front office career in 1994 with the Indians, working as an advance scout in 1995 and 1996 before being promoted to Director of Scouting in June 1998. In the fall of 1999, Byrnes became assistant general manager of the Rockies and moved to the Red Sox in the same role for the 2003-05 seasons, helping Boston to the 2004 World Series title.

Originally from Washington, D.C., Byrnes attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania, where he established school career records in home runs and RBI. He and his wife, Charity, have two daughters, Avery and Darby.