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 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

The Giants made an in-person pitch to Sasaki in Los Angeles but were told he's narrowed his list of potential teams and they aren't on it.