Until just a couple of days ago, the San Francisco Giants appeared to be a finalist for a top free-agent starter.
They need to bring in impact players across the diamond, so they pursued Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Jung-Hoo Lee this year and Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa last offseason.
Among those targets, they could only secure Lee.
As a result, they need more if they want to compete in the rapidly improving NL West.
They were keen on signing Japanese starter Shota Imanaga, who posted a 2.80 ERA in the NPB last season.
However, according to recent reports by MLB insider Jon Heyman, the Giants are no longer seen as the favorites and are stepping out of the race.
“Update: Hearing now Giants also looking elsewhere so they are not one of the 5 finalists,” he tweeted.
Update: Hearing now Giants also looking elsewhere so they are not one of the 5 finalists. https://t.co/mHNtOLMSyO
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 9, 2024
About an hour before that tweet, Heyman had stated that the “(Chicago) Cubs and (Boston) Red Sox seen as very much in play on lefthander Shota Imanaga. Giants another possible team among 5 suitors. Angels appear to be looking elsewhere at moment.”
At this point, the Cubs and Red Sox have to be seen as the favorites.
Their fanbases demand much more than what they have done so far to improve their rosters, so they are definitely feeling the pressure.
The Red Sox, at least, have made a couple of impact trades to bring in Tyler O’Neill and Vaughn Grissom, and they also signed Lucas Giolito for their rotation.
The Cubs have done nothing so far.
No moves, no trades, and no signings.
There are other dark-horse teams in the race, but it appears to be between the Cubs and Red Sox at this point.
The Giants?
Their next target remains a mystery.
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