Zaidi leaving LA to head Giants' baseball ops

LOS ANGELES -- Thirteen years after the Dodgers hired Ned Colletti from the Giants to be general manager, the Giants have hired Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi to be their president of baseball of operations.
The Dodgers had no comment on the Giants' announcement.
Zaidi, who turns 42 on Sunday, becomes the latest, and highest-ranking, Dodger to be lured away in the last two years, a common occurrence when a club is successful enough to reach the World Series in back-to-back seasons.
General manager now goes to the top of the Dodgers' shopping list, which already shows openings for third-base coach and hitting coach, after Chris Woodward was hired to manage the Texas Rangers and Turner Ward became hitting coach of the Reds.
Zaidi returns to the Bay Area four years to the day after the Dodgers hired him from the Oakland A's, where he was an assistant general manager known for statistical analysis. His background includes a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor's Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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The Dodgers have one of the largest front offices in professional sports, and even with the loss of Zaidi, they employ former Arizona and San Diego general manager Josh Byrnes as senior vice president of baseball operations, David Finley as vice president of scouting and former Houston general manager Gerry Hunsicker as senior advisor.
Last winter, Dodgers vice president Alex Anthopoulos and baseball operations director Alex Tamin went to Atlanta as general manager and assistant GM, Minor League director Gabe Kapler joined Philadelphia as manager, bullpen coach Josh Bard became the bench coach of the Yankees, assistant hitting coach Tim Hyers joined the Red Sox as hitting coach, Minor League pitching coach Matt Herges became the Giants' bullpen coach and scout Aaron Sele went to scout for the Marlins.