Here’s the pitch: I will take a central and vital part of our society, and make it cheaper, quicker, and easier to use. 

On one stage, a charismatic, black turtle neck-clad woman speaking in a low baritone convinces her whole audience with hypnotic control. On the other, a balding, gnome of a man in a checkered business shirt squeaks away, charming other high members of society into realizing the merit of his ideas.

As each speech finishes, uproarious ovations ringing through the hall, both presenters are flooded with offers of support. At the front of one line are former lords of government and venerated members of high society George Shultz and Henry Kissinger. At the other, prestigious, money-rich Larry Baer and Greg Johnson excitedly queue up. 

These celebrated visionaries are Elizabeth Holmes and Farhan Zaidi. 

Holmes once shone from a self made pedestal high above society, gracing stages, magazine covers, and the collective American imagination championing the power of ingenuity and hard work. Her start-up company, Theranos, was valued at $10 billion.

But her revolutionary technology, running blood tests from a harmless finger prick, eventually proved folly. She fell from living in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country to a cell block inside a federal prison in Texas on convictions of fraud.

Zaidi also once shone from a self made pedestal high above the baseball world, gracing the collective baseball imaginations championing analytics and modern approaches to baseball. He quickly rose from anonymous data analyst to celebrated assistant, before making his own star as general manager and soon President of Baseball Operations of the San Francisco Giants.

He too has been charged with fraud by Giants fans, with the trial set to go from April to November next year. He’ll be represented by new manager Bob Melvin, a grizzled veteran of the courtroom. The prosecution will be represented by a collection of upstart firms: McCovey Chronicles, Around the Foghorn and Giants 365—short on knowledge and skill, but filled with passion.

In preparation for Zaidi’s trial, it’s helpful to look at Holmes’ similar case. 

Both were admitted to prestigious universities—Zaidi graduating from MIT and Holmes dropping out of Stanford. Both left plenty of other opportunities to start their careers from scratch, where they remained largely under the radar before both blossoming into stars.

Theranos announced a groundbreaking contract with Walgreens to distribute their blood testers all over the country. The Giants won 107 games in 2021. On the back of those achievements, Forbes named Holmes one of the richest women in the country, and Major League Baseball named Zaidi Executive of the Year.  

Though, something was brewing under the surface. Whistleblowers were helping to get the word out that something smelled fishy. For Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes, it was a mostly anonymous staffer, Erika Cheung, who leaked internal reports. For the Giants and Farhan Zaidi, it was another low level staffer, Mauricio Dubón, who did the accusing.

Holmes and Zaidi both brushed past these, firing back quickly before moving on to further promote the brand. But now people started questioning. Could you really do all those tests with that small of a blood sample? Could you really replace Kevin Gausman in the aggregate with six short term contracts over two offseasons? Can you really buy random Mariners minor leagues and win through strategic advantages? 

They both still stayed strong, making more fantastical claims they couldn’t deliver on. Holmes claimed a research partnership with Johns Hopkins University that used blood to detect the onset of pancreatic cancer years in advance. There was no such partnership.

Zaidi publicly made clear his goals of the 2022-23 offseason being to get a star everyday player, and become younger and more athletic throughout the roster. They ended up with a motley crew of Mitch Haniger, Michael Conforto, Ross Striping, Sean Manaea and Taylor Rogers. 

Things kept falling apart. Federal regulators began questioning Theranos labs. Other regulators pointed out the flaws in Zaidi’s plan. As it became more and more clear something was seriously wrong, both leaders sought to elevate themselves above the fray, instead putting the blame on and firing their top lieutenants, Sunny Balwani and Gabe Kapler. Zaidi even conned his way into a further contract extension through placing the blame on his hand picked manager. 

And that’s where we stand now. Holmes was convicted and sentenced to time in prison. Zaidi has been accused, but still has one more season to prove his plan wasn’t a total farce.

The evidence on both sides of his case is substantive. On one hand are the countless player acquisition and in game management gaffes that gave the prosecution plenty of material. The two longest free agent contracts of the Zaidi era, three years to both Tommy La Stella and Anthony DeSclafani, have been failures.

After limping to the 2023 Trade Deadline with just two true starting pitchers, instead choosing a bulk relief system, Zaidi acquired only an ancient AJ Pollock and the useless Mark Mathias for the playoff push. Mathias then pinch hit for Brandon Crawford in a key late-game at-bat against Aroldis Chapman, bucking a 13-year veteran for a waiver wire nobody, in the name of platoon splits. 

Even some of the likely arguments in favor of Zaidi have faults. The 2021 Season wasn’t a total fluke, but it might’ve only been the product of players already in the organization before Zaidi took over. He’s been exceedingly successful on flyers, whether through waivers, minor trades, or low risk free agent contracts.

However, more costly free agent contracts have been disappointments. The constant roster churn of minor transactions has obliterated clubhouse culture, and created distracting uncertainty, such as an eve of Opening Day acquisition of Matt Beaty after previously committing to staying in house. 

Instead, as with Holmes’ case, the biggest tool for the defense will be Zaidi himself. By all accounts, he is an amiable, fun guy to be around. With that charm, he will have to make the case that he really does love baseball.

He’ll have to remind people that he had so many other career options with a PhD in Economics but chose to go into baseball. He will have to convince jurors that he’d rather be milling around at batting practice than sequestered in a dark office crunching numbers.

 And most importantly, he’ll have to show the court that he can change. 

Tune in on March 28th for the start of the trial. 

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