The private jet-tracking, bunk reporting and sworn secrecy distracted from a harsh reality for the Giants: Shohei Ohtani is a Dodger, and he was probably always going to be a Dodger.
Coming off two mediocre seasons, the Giants simply couldn’t pitch Ohtani on the type of consistent playoff contention he sought, the type of winning the Dodgers have sustained over the past decade.
So, just like last winter, the Giants and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi are left to pivot to Plan B. After Ohtani’s world record $700-million deal, the Giants still have all the same needs — a marketable star, a 30-home run hitter for the first time in two decades, a core of everyday contributors.
No one player will fill all their holes. But there is an avenue available to the Giants that could put them back on track to contention, and that’s fortifying the starting rotation. To do so, they need to devote their attention and resources to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who might just be the best pitcher alive.
That’s no exaggeration. Yamamoto has never thrown an MLB pitch, but he posted a 1.42 ERA over the past three seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball — the second-best baseball league in the world. In that stretch, he has given up only 15 home runs in 557.2 innings.
The biggest number in favor of Yamamoto? He’s 25 years old. That makes him the rare free agent who might actually contribute for the duration of a long-term deal.
If the Giants signed Yamamoto, they’d be getting all of his prime years. They’d have the best 1-2 starting rotation punch in Logan Webb and Yamamoto. They’d have an identity as a team built around an excellent pitching staff.
Webb and Yamamoto as co-aces, plus wunderkind Kyle Harrison and 2023 All-Star Alex Cobb, is the foundation for a terrific rotation. They’d be able to consistently shorten games for a bullpen that already has pillars in Camilo Doval, the Rogers twins, and Ryan Walker.
Elite pitching, in a pitcher’s park, with a lineup that can only get more dynamic compared to last year, is a blueprint for contention, if not a callback to the halcyon days at Third and King.
Even though reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell is available, and Tyler Glasnow and Corbin Burnes could be had in trades, Yamamoto’s age, star potential, and international appeal make him a unique option for the Giants organization.
The three-time Japan Pacific League MVP won’t come cheap. Even though many fans might be new to the name, Yamamoto isn’t a secret. He’ll have suitors in every major market (yes, even the Dodgers). His contract could approach $300 million, rivaling Gerrit Cole’s landmark nine-year, $324 million deal.
The Giants can afford it. They were willing to dish out that kind of dough for Carlos Correa, last year’s Plan B. When that fell through, Plan C — the Manaea-Conforto-Stripling-Rogers pu pu platter — set the team back.
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The Giants can’t afford to settle for Plan C again.
Zaidi worked for the Dodgers under Andrew Friedman, the man known for saying if you’re rational about every free agent, you won’t land any. Now that Ohtani is a Dodger, it’s time to put for Zaidi to put that lesson into practice and offer an irrational contract to Yamamoto.
