Dodgers hire Farhan Zaidi as general manager, Josh Byrnes to head scouting operations

The Dodgers hired Farhan Zaidi as general manager and Josh Byrnes as senior vice president of baseball operations Thursday.

The moves are the first major ones under Andrew Friedman, who arrived in Los Angeles from Tampa Bay last month as the new president of baseball operations.

Zaidi (ZY-dee) joins the Dodgers as the 11th general manager in club history. The 37-year-old executive spent the last 10 years with Oakland, most recently serving as the club's assistant GM and director of baseball operations. Zaidi will focus on the major league club and player acquisitions.

Zaidi has an economics degree from MIT and a doctorate in economics from California-Berkeley. He replaces Ned Colletti, who is now a senior adviser to team president and CEO Stan Kasten.

With the A's, Zaidi's areas of expertise included providing statistical analysis for evaluating and targeting players in the amateur draft, free agent and trade markets. He also worked on arbitration cases, minor league contracts and worked closely with coaches to analyze data from advance scouting reports.

Zaidi previously served as business development associate for Small World Media, the fantasy sports division of The Sporting News, and also worked as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group.

Byrnes will supervise the Dodgers' scouting and player development operations after previously working for two of the club's NL West rivals, Arizona and San Diego. The 44-year-old had previous stints with Cleveland, Colorado and Boston.