The Giants clobbered the Orioles Tuesday night. But the buzz around the team right now is off the field—and no, I'm not talking about McCovey Cove Dave.
The Athletic's Andrew Baggarly went behind the scenes of the Matt Chapman negotiations:
According to sources, the Giants’ executive board led by Buster Posey became so frustrated by the lack of immediate progress between (Farhan) Zaidi and agent Scott Boras after talks began in August that the ownership group took action. Sources said (Buster) Posey personally dealt with Chapman to hammer out the basic structure of the contract, which includes a full no-trade provision — one of the sticking points that Zaidi had not included in the team’s initial proposal.
Zaidi and Boras pushed back on Tuesday, via Susan Slusser and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Those familiar with the Chapman negotiations said while Posey played a role in the talks, as expected, it was not to the extent described in a story by the Athletic over the weekend and that the structure of the deal was consummated by Zaidi and Scott Boras, Chapman’s agent.
Any way you slice it, this is a bad look for the entire organization, from ownership to Zaidi. The team is spiraling toward a losing season while a meaningless war of words takes place in the suites upstairs.
It shouldn’t matter who talked to who about what and when. The deal got done. We’re on to 2025. And yet, we’re not.
Unfortunately for Zaidi, the ownership group isn't going anywhere. He is.
I think the Farhan Zaidi era is over. We'll find out for certain in the next week or so.