What was the defining moment of Farhan Zaidi's tenure with the SF Giants?

Farhan Zaidi's tenure with the SF Giants is officially confirmed as the club parted ways with him on Monday. There were a few mistakes that led to this, but one stands out above the rest: not re-signing Kevin Gausman.

What was the defining moment of Farhan Zaidi's tenure with the SF Giants?

I'm not here to reopen an old wound, but Zaidi's tenure might have looked very different if they had decided to keep the right-handed hurler after the 2021 season. The Giants had just set a franchise record with 107 wins and plenty of payroll flexibility and momentum heading into 2022.

Granted, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many things financially, but even the Colorado Rockies signed Kris Bryant to a seven-year, $182 million contract in the offseason. So who knows how strong these teams were?

It's also worth noting that the Giants spent quite a bit this winter. They signed multi-year contracts with Alex Wood, Anthony DeSclafani, Carlos Rodón and Alex Cobb. Even Matthew Boyd received a $5.2 million guarantee from the Giants this offseason.

Whether it was Zaidi's decision or whether ownership was a hard cap on the budget, letting go of Gausman proved to be a huge mistake. First and foremost, the righty pitcher thrived during his time with San Francisco, posting a 3.00 ERA in 45 appearances over two seasons with the Giants. That included a standout 2021 season in which he posted a 2.81 ERA in 31 starts and finished sixth in NL Cy Young voting. Additionally, Gausman and his family fit perfectly into the community.

If the Giants had re-signed Gausman, it likely would have meant they wouldn't have signed one of Cobb, Wood, DeSclafani or Rodón. Of course, keeping both Wood and DeSclafani proved to be a costly mistake.

And here's the even stranger detail: The Giants acquired Robbie Ray last offseason, assuming much of the balance of his five-year, $115 million contract. They invested as much money in some of these moves, if not more, than they would have spent to keep Gausman.

The Giants have been stuck at center for the last three seasons and that led to Zaidi's firing. Could they have done better if they had kept Gausman?

In 2022, they won 81 games, putting them a few games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, who made the playoffs that year with 86 wins. In 2023, they relied heavily on Logan Webb and Alex Cobb while the rest of the rotation consisted of openers and bullpen games. They slumped last month and finished with 79 wins, falling short of the 84 wins needed to make the playoffs.

The Giants may not make the playoffs in either of those years, but there's no denying that their record would have been better with Gausman. Perhaps this would have led to a more aggressive trade deadline strategy than acquiring AJ Pollock. Giving him up proved to be a costly decision in several ways. Now that's a moot point, but you can pretty much say what they were building before that decision and, in part, why that progress has slowed since then.