Like every competent team in baseball, the Giants were in on the hot-shot Japanese free-agent pitcher, who, like Shohei Ohtani before him, is limited to signing a minor-league deal with a Major League team. That massively discounted rate allowed every team to sign him.

The Giants have just $5.146 million in bonus pool money, tied for the lowest of any team. They can give all of that to Sasaki if they wish. San Francisco also has one other way to raise more money. MLB rules allow teams to trade for up to 60% of their bonus pool money. So, the Giants could push it to close to $8 million.

The Giants were very excited to introduce future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander on a Zoom call Monday morning, but the last couple of days have also brought some disappointment. General manager Zack Minasian confirmed that the Giants met with Roki Sasaki last month but said they have been informed that they are out of the running