MESA, Ariz. -- The A’s trade with the Giants to acquire right-handed pitcher Burch Smith last week broke down a barrier between the clubs that existed nearly 30 years since they last made a deal together. You can expect the next one to come much sooner.

There had long been a philosophical difference between the two Bay Area baseball neighbors and the way each went about building a team. The A’s, of course, have found success balling on a smaller budget with clubs featuring talented young players who were inexpensive while also making savvy free-agent signings.

The Giants went about assembling their rosters a bit differently, routinely ranking among the highest payrolls in baseball as they dished out large contracts to essential pieces of their championship teams. But that strategy all changed when Farhan Zaidi, a disciple of A’s executive vice president Billy Beane, took over as San Francisco’s president of baseball operations in 2018.

“I think they saw things one way and we saw things another way and did things a little bit differently,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Now with Farhan over there, I think there are a lot of similarities in how both organizations see things.”

The A’s are known to be one of the more active clubs in the league when it comes to transactions. Since Zaidi joined the Giants, there has been an overhaul of his club’s roster with a flurry of moves in that time. At some point, it just seems destined for him to connect with A’s general manager David Forst on a deal again.

“They’re an active front office. They make a lot of moves,” Zaidi said of the A’s. “Over the last year, we’re an organization in a little bit of a transition and we’ve been making a lot of 40-man roster moves. Being two higher-volume operations right now, you figure that we’ll match up on some things down the road.

“I’m just very confident that if there’s a deal to be made between the two organizations, it will happen.”

There’s also a great level of comfort in the conversations between Zaidi and Forst. In a baseball front office world where there could be certain angst between clubs feeling a potential trade partner might be trying to pull a fast one, Zaidi and Forst have developed a friendship that goes beyond the game after their time working for the A’s as assistant general managers to Beane from 2011-14.

Zaidi referenced his time as general manager of the Dodgers when he made a 2016 trade with the A's to acquire Josh Reddick and Rich Hill as an example of the elevated level of trust between the two sides that might not have existed were he working out a deal with another club.

“When you are talking trades with another team, there’s always a little bit of intrigue and you’re not sure if what you’re being told is 100 percent accurate or a misdirection,” Zaidi said. “We’ve just known each other so long that there is complete trust. That was a benefit when I was in L.A. and we made the deal for Reddick and Hill. They trusted me when I said what I would do and I trusted them when they said they had other potential offers and what I would have to add.

“When you have a personal level of history and trust with the GM on the other side, it makes it easier, for sure.”

With the A’s looking to reach the postseason for a third year in a row while the Giants find themselves looking to replenish their roster, don’t be surprised if you see another more impactful deal between the two sides in the near future.

“I obviously have a personal relationship with those guys. We’re two teams that aren’t in the same league and aren’t in the same division, and a lot of times, those teams are the best trade partners,” Zaidi said. “This was a trade involving a player we designated off the roster, but we obviously have a working relationship, and I don’t see why we couldn’t make bigger deals down the road.”