Nevius: Early returns on Farhan Zaidi are Giants got right guy

When the Giants went looking for a president of baseball operations, they wanted to get outside the box.

So they hired Farhan Zaidi, a 41-year-old Muslim who was born in Canada, raised in the Philippines and played cricket in Pakistan. He also has an economics degree from MIT and a doctorate from Cal.

Consider the box vacated.

That’s a lot to unpack, but here’s the interesting part. After his coming-out party last week, there seemed to be one overriding theme - what a engaging, bright fellow he is.

He definitely passed the guy-you’d-like-to-have-a-diet-Coke-with test at his first press conference. As many have surely said before, he is instantly likeable.

For doubters, we offer proof of his charm-ability. Team President Larry Baer said he set up a two-hour job interview and Zaidi held him in thrall for six and a half hours.

Now, part of that is, for all their talk about not needing to have a top guy at last week’s GM meetings, the Giants really, really wanted one there. This was a speed date. Baer interviewed Zaidi on Friday and hired him on Monday. Baer probably wanted to get a good sense of him as quickly as possible, so they kept talking.

Still, six and a half hours is a lot of thrall.

But you can see how it ?happens. Like a lot of smart, unconventional thinkers, Zaidi tosses out little factoids that make you to stop and go hummm.

Asked what kind of hitters he likes, everyone braced for another debate over “launch angle.” But Zaidi said he looks for “guys who can hit velocity.”

And the reason, he said, is that in this day of 97-100 mph-?throwing relievers - and with the trend to bring in a procession of flamethrowers late in games - your hitters may be facing dead red for a third of the game or so. So you need guys who can hit the heater.

Hummmmm.

Zaidi’s smarts have become such a theme that you worry that he’s in danger of being over-praised.

No one has yet claimed he can move objects with his mind, but let’s just stipulate that he’s smart and wait to see how things turn out.

Zaidi does have great PR skills. He praised Madison Bumgarner lavishly, then slipped in that “everything has got to be on the table.”

His track record with the A’s and Dodgers is that he’s not afraid of trades. Giants fans worry that if the team deals Bumgarner, he will go somewhere else and put together a vintage MadBum season.

And that’s a concern. But so is Bum’s decline in velocity and increasing dependence on breaking stuff.

I could see a trade.

On the other hand, Zaidi also praised Bumgarner’s ability to go into the late innings. Everything is on the table.

It’s another reason reporters warmed to Zaidi quickly. He wasn’t doing the platitude dance. He tossed out some real nuggets to ponder.

For instance, he said the team needed to “get younger and more athletic.”

So that’s two messages sent. First, “everything” is on the table, and second (outfielders take notice) he wants to be younger and more athletic.

So this is just a hunch, but I wouldn’t run out and get a Bryce Harper Giants jersey just yet.

Two things. First, Zaidi said during his presser that “No one player, no one move is going to turn the team around.”

Which we can probably overanalyze. There’s obviously still a chance that the team will write a $300 million-plus check for Harper and hope he is the tentpole for the franchise.

But that hasn’t been Zaidi’s M.O. He’s more about value for payment. He is on record as doubting the wisdom of long-term contracts, wondering why teams think more than three years into the future.

He talks of stocking a roster with mid-range contracts, defined by depth and athletic all-around players.

Zaidi has been on board for canny signings and unexpected choices. The Dodgers’ red-haired, garden gnome third baseman, Justin Turner, had been released by the Mets and was preparing to sign a minor league contract in 2014 when the Dodgers signed him for $1 million. Turner is a star now, but his subsequent four-year, $64 million contract is no bank buster.

The problem is, finding hidden gems is the hardest way to do this. Zaidi will have some trading pieces to swap, but not many. And they’d better be the right deals. You only get one chance to trade a World Series hero pitcher like Bumgarner. If you blow it, people will not soon forget.

As for the analytics-vs.-tobacco juice debate, it will work out. Manager Bruce Bochy gets huffy when it is suggested the team might need more spreadsheets and percentages, but this will come down to Ws and Ls.

For now, the new guy probably knows San Francisco better than SF knows him. When he came here with the Dodgers, he said he always made a point to walk from downtown to the ballpark. He liked to feel the energy of the city.

Good start.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cw.nevius@pressdemocrat.com. Twitter: @cwnevius