The Giants didn't land two-way Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, but it wasn't for a lack of trying.
Ohtani signed a historic 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which includes unprecedented deferrals that stunned the MLB world when details emerged Monday.
After striking out on Ohtani, the Giants reportedly agreed to a six-year, $113 million contract with Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee on Tuesday. Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi spoke with reporters on a conference call shortly after news broke, and while he couldn't discuss the reported move for Lee since the contract isn't official, he provided a detailed timeline of the organization's pursuit of Ohtani.
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Zaidi revealed that Ohtani's camp sought preliminary offers early in the offseason and that the Giants put forth what would have been the "largest contract in major league history" in an effort to show how aggressive and interested they were in him. Zaidi said Ohtani's camp then took some time to weigh the initial offers before coming back with refined terms and figures, to which the Giants quickly agreed.
Zaidi also confirmed rumors that the Giants hosted Ohtani in a Dec. 2 visit to Oracle Park.
"The whole time, obviously, we were very interested in having them come to visit San Francisco, meet some of our folks, meet in person, talk about things," Zaidi said. "As was reported, that did happen last weekend right before the Winter Meetings, and had what we thought was a really productive meeting with the player's representative. Pretty small group but addressed what we thought were some of the concerns, our long-term plan, which we're very bullish on, and thought those meetings were really productive and felt really good about things after that."
Zaidi shared that, during the MLB Winter Meetings, Ohtani's camp then proposed to all of the remaining teams a contract structure similar to the eventual agreement with the Dodgers, to which the Giants obliged.
San Francisco Giants
"What they proposed, conceptually, wasn't a sort of formal offer to us, of course, but what looks like the exact deal they wound up finalizing," Zaidi said. "It certainly was an unusual deal, we certainly understood the benefits to the player but also to the team. And again it was movement from our previous offer, but it was something we thought we could manage. So, we kind of quickly turned that around and said we were agreeable to it."
The Giants were on board with everything Ohtani's camp requested and were told that ultimately it was in the player's hands now, as Ohtani took his time to decide which offer to accept as financial negotiations came to a close. Zaidi and the Giants asked Ohtani's camp if they could do anything to improve their position and got the sense, after their three contract offers, that every team's proposal was in a similar range.
San Francisco was confident in its offer, but Zaidi admitted that doubt started to creep in because of Ohtani's preference to remain in Southern California.
"I think we at certain points felt really good about our chances," Zaidi said. "At other points, as you always do, you have some questions or doubts because you know it's very competitive.
"One thing that -- both in our direct conversations with the player and his agent but also in our sort of background work, talking to people through the industry -- it did seem geography mattered. It wasn't an absolute must or a deal-breaker, obviously, given the pool of teams that was interested. We did sense there was a preference to stay in Southern California, and we knew that would be a challenge for us."
The Giants submitted what was their final offer, and after 24 hours without a resolution, it became clear Ohtani and his camp were headed in a different direction.
While the Giants didn't come away with Ohtani, Zaidi made it clear that the organization -- from top to bottom -- was committed to doing everything it could to land the two-time AL MVP.
"Just wanted to lay out a little bit of that sequence," Zaidi said. "One, to show the level of commitment that we had from our ownership group in this pursuit, and really, every financial target and request from their camp was met and met pretty quickly.
"And two, to clarify any other questions about the timeline, what may have happened and just lay out with full transparency the sincerity of our effort and the fact we pulled a number of levers to try and make things happen, and there were ways in which we were disadvantaged in terms of player preference -- geography, in particular -- that at the end of the day, this is sort of what free agency comes down to it, a choice for a player, and when you're talking about a generational player who's going to have great choices and probably be able to check every box he's looking for."
The Giants -- similar to prior superstar free-agent pursuits -- again were there in the end and had an offer similar to what the player eventually signed. Now, with their Ohtani pursuit in the rearview mirror, Zaidi and Co. will continue to seek upgrades to a roster they hope will contend for a playoff spot in 2024.