Shiraz Rehman Hired by Chicago Cubs

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Shiraz Rehman of Phoenix, Arizona was hired this week as the assistant to the general manager for Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs. He left his position as director of baseball operations with the Arizona Diamondbacks to take the Cubs job. He had been in that position for three seasons, and spent six seasons overall with the Diamondbacks.

Rehman joined Arizona in December 2005 as a Baseball Operations Assistant and served for two years as the Manager, Baseball Operations after his promotion in January 2007. Rehman assisted General Manager Josh Byrnes and Assistant General Manager Peter Woodfork in all phases of managing the baseball operations department. He was hired there by former GM Josh Byrnes, who also served under Epstein in Boston.

In Arizona, Rehman’s primary responsibilities were with the Major League team, assisting in the maintenance of the club’s 40-man roster, providing financial and statistical analysis to support trade and player evaluation, and overseeing all transactions and Major League rules interpretation and compliance. He played a key role in the arbitration process, contract structuring and negotiations, and oversaw baseball analysis efforts for the team. Rehman also spearheaded the D-backs’ development of Baseball Operations technology and video solutions, and coordinated the department’s internship program. In addition, he managed much of the financial planning and budgeting processes for all of baseball operations.

In a news release, the Cubs described Rehman’s job will be to “support the general manager on potential player acquisitions” and also “develop the club’s evaluation database and coordinate the department’s technological efforts.” Rehman will crunch numbers as general manager Jed Hoyer prepares to sign free agents and make trades this offseason, which officially started Monday with the General Manager meetings in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Originally an intern under new Cubs president of baseball Theo Epstein in Boston in 2005, Rehman is a 1999 graduate of McGill University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting and was a starting infielder on the baseball team for four years, captaining the squad in his junior and senior seasons. He spent time as both a commodities trader and financial consultant for more than five years at Enron and Deloitte & Touche before obtaining his M.B.A from Columbia Business School in 2006.

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