Giants Pivot Away from Big-Ticket Arms, Eye More Measured Pitching Additions
Giants fans hoping to see Tatsuya Imai take the mound at Oracle Park next season might want to temper expectations. Despite early offseason buzz connecting San Francisco to the Japanese ace, the club is reportedly backing away from the high-stakes bidding war that Imai is expected to command.
According to league sources familiar with the Giants’ offseason strategy, the team isn’t planning to make the kind of nine-figure investment it would take to land Imai-or any of the other top-tier arms currently on the free-agent market. Instead, the front office is shifting its focus toward more financially manageable options, aiming to reinforce the rotation and bullpen without locking into long-term, high-cost commitments.
This doesn’t mean the Giants are sitting out the pitching market entirely. Quite the opposite.
The plan, as it stands, is to bring in at least one starting pitcher and continue building out the bullpen. That includes finalizing an agreement with lefty reliever Sam Hentges and pursuing additional arms on shorter-term deals.
It’s a pragmatic approach for a front office that’s already committed serious money to position players like Willy Adames and Rafael Devers in recent seasons. With those contracts on the books, the Giants appear to be threading the needle-trying to stay competitive without overextending financially in a market where top pitching talent is demanding massive deals.
That pivot became more apparent after a high-level meeting at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas. Giants executives Buster Posey and Zack Minasian, along with new manager Tony Vitello, sat down with super-agent Scott Boras to request medical reports on Imai and several other Boras clients, including Ranger Suárez, Max Scherzer, and Dylan Cease. Cease, notably, has already inked a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Blue Jays-setting a tone for what it’ll take to land elite arms this winter.
For the Giants, this isn’t unfamiliar territory. They’ve chased international stars before-Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki-but have come up short each time. That history, paired with Imai’s status as arguably the most coveted international free agent this offseason, led many around the league to believe San Francisco might finally break through.
But with the front office now signaling a more restrained approach, it’s clear the Giants are playing the long game. They’re still in the market, just not at the top shelf. And that brings us to the next big question: Who will be the next pitcher to call Oracle Park home?
That answer’s still to come, but one thing’s clear-the Giants are working the margins, not swinging for the fences.