Harper → Jersey → Otani's missed offseason loser, this time aiming for 264 home runs and a big first basemanThe pressure to spend SF's money
Oct 02, 2025
|
|
Among the many reasons for failing to advance to the postseason for four consecutive years since 2022, it is most painful that the FA market failed to bring the player it wanted.
The history of San Francisco's FA failure begins with Bryce Harper. Harper signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies in February 2019. At the time, there was another club that offered him a total of more than $300 million, and that was San Francisco.
NBC Sports reported on March 2 of that year that the Giants offered Harper $310 million for 12 years, but were willing to bet more than that. If he had offered more than $330 million in consideration of California's state taxes, the contract would have been concluded,' he said. In other words, San Francisco was behind in the post-tax salary.
|
|
In December 2022, San Francisco also had a bitter taste. Aaron Judge, who hit 62 home runs, the most in an AL season, even reached the stage of signing a contract. The condition is $360 million for nine years. At that time, Judge flew to San Francisco after the first round of negotiations with his original team, the New York Yankees, and met with San Francisco leaders, including CEO Larry Bear, president Blue Zaidi, and manager Gabe Kapler. We ate together and toured Oracle Park in our home stadium.
However, Judge announced a few days later that he would stay with the Yankees. This is because the Yankees, who offered $320 million for eight years during the first round of negotiations, raised the condition to $36 million for nine years and showed 'sincere'. If it's the same value, we have no choice but to choose the Yankees.
A year later, Shohei Ohtani and the Toronto Blue Jays went as far as 'Final' along with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, which were considered the biggest FA players of all time, but the winner was the Dodgers, who offered $700 million for 10 years. At the time, San Francisco President Blue Zaidi said, `We finally made an offer equivalent to the terms agreed with the Dodgers.' In other words, Ohtani's mind has already leaned toward the Dodgers.
He also made an aggressive offer to Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was posting around the same time, but San Francisco did not get the expected result.
|
San Francisco has produced 30 home runs for the first time in 21 years since Barry Bonds in 2004 when Willy Adames hit 30 home runs this season. San Francisco was desperate for a big shot after Bonds retired. Harper, Judge, and Ohtani are all big guns who can hit more than 30 home runs.
San Francisco, which recently dismissed head coach Bob Melvin, plans to reinforce the offseason as soon as it appoints a new head coach. Recruitment of big guns should be the top priority. You need to bring in a big gun that can set off more than 30 to 40 cannons.
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, who declared FA immediately after the end of the season, naturally draws attention.
Immediately after the end of the final regular season game against the Miami Marlins on the 29th of last month, Alonso publicly announced that he would give up his $24 million option next year and go to the FA market. He played in all 162 games this year and recorded a batting average of 0.272 (170 hits in 624 at-bats), 38 homers, 126 RBIs, and 0.871 OPS, leaving satisfactory results.
|
Another official said "There are not many big guns in this market. I think a lot of teams will give him the conditions he wants." Alonso's ransom could soar.
In this regard, MLB.com predicted on the 1st that 'Last winter, Mayor Alonso was lukewarm with many teams including the Phillies, Blue Jays, Giants, and Red Sox showing interest, so no club offered the long-term contract he wanted. Four of the five teams are likely to look again at Alonso this offseason. The Giants, who need more big guns in the centerline, could bring Alonso to share with Rafael Devers as a first baseman and designated hitter'
In other words, he expected San Francisco to enter the Alonso scramble.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
