When the Giants hired Farhan Zaidi in 2018, he came up the coast with a reputation for being one of the sharpest executives in Major League Baseball -- and also one of the industry's best fantasy football players.
Zaidi's fantasy football prowess became well-known after he won the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse league three years in a row, and former Dodgers like Alex Wood and Joc Pederson have referred to that dynasty since joining the Giants. Zaidi was known for being a good talent evaluator in football, too, but Dodgers players grumbled about his ability to seemingly find every edge, with Clayton Kershaw once referring to him as a "big loophole guy."
Zaidi, then, was the perfect person to give the final (maybe?) word on the Pederson-Tommy Pham feud.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
The Giants' president of baseball operations joined KNBR 680's "Tolbert & Copes" on Friday, where he broke it all down, admitting that the slap was upsetting but that he found a lot of humor in Pederson's subsequent explanations, which he jokingly compared to "congressional testimony" given how detailed they were.
"I was in the Dodgers league with Joc," Zaidi said. "He definitely likes to poke the bear, whoever the bear is. I've been on the receiving end of that. I mean, look, at the end of the day, obviously there was a suspension involved and you never like to see violence. Obviously, Joc is a big boy and he was fine, but it was a little unnerving. Our players were pretty upset about it, understandably so. If that happens in the middle of a game it's a really big deal and god knows it would probably still be going on.
"But the fantasy aspect of it, I can understand. I've known Joc for a long time and his press conferences where he was reading the details of this stuff, he was really just trying to be sincere and forthcoming, but yeah I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the whole thing. But that's fantasy football in a nutshell. It's a bunch of grown people acting like kids. It's a lot of acting. It's a lot of play-acting, and I guess sometimes it goes a little too far."
The slap led to nearly a full week of coverage, with even Mike Trout having to weigh in. He was the commissioner of the league and Pham blamed him for some of the controversy. Earlier this week, Trout had to answer questions about his role as commish as he held a pre-planned press conference before a series against the Philadelphia Phillies, his childhood team.
San Francisco Giants
Find the latest San Francisco Giants news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
Trout shrugged off most of the questions, saying it was just guys who got competitive. "Everybody loves fantasy football," he said. "Who doesn't?"
During his KNBR appearance, Zaidi said he can empathize with Trout. He was the commissioner of a league in college and told a story about how he once got an angry email from another team's owner that "I still have nightmares about today."
Zaidi said he understands that emotions run high in fantasy leagues, but urged everyone to remember it's just a game.
"I have a lot of fun in leagues going right to the edge of the law," Zaidi said, laughing. "Maybe (Pederson) was doing a little bit of that, and that gets people's blood boiling, clearly."