For the second straight offseason, the San Francisco Giants failed to sign the top player in free agency despite reportedly being open to paying as much as necessary to acquire their services.
Entering the 2022 offseason, the San Francisco Giants’ primary goal was to bring local product Aaron Judge back to the Bay Area to be the face of their franchise. Furthermore, heading into that year’s free agent market the organization was seen as a serious threat to steal away the New York Yankees star.
Related: Shohei Ohtani signing – Five thoughts on the $700 million contract
Yet despite their best efforts, and even with a hometown advantage, the 2022 American League MVP chose to return to New York on a far from outlandish nine-year deal worth $360 million. The failure was a major disappointment for a franchise that has lacked a superstar talent for some time, and it likely motivated them in their pursuit of Shohei Ohtani this month.
San Francisco Giants were willing to match deferral filled Shohei Ohtani took from Los Angeles Dodgers
However, just like last year, the Giants were unable to land the AL’s MVP for this past season. Over the weekend, Ohtani agreed to a massive 10-year, $700 million contract to switch sides from the Los Angeles Angeles to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The number is so astronomical that it would seem like the Dodgers were probably willing to go to lengths that other franchises were. Well, that may not have been the case.
On Tuesday night, The Athletic MLB writer Andrew Baggerly reported on how far San Francisco was willing to go to land the two-way superstar last week.
“Ohtani camp presented Giants the exact deal that Ohtani ended up finalizing with LA. ‘We were agreeable to it,’ Giants President Farhan Zaidi said. Then Giants were told it was in Ohtani’s hands. Obviously, Shohei picked Dodgers.”
– Andrew Baggerly
On Tuesday, the Giants agreed to a deal with Korean baseball star Jung-Hoo Lee that will be worth as much as $113 million.