MLB Rumors: SF Giants-Shohei Ohtani link, Paul Skenes debut, Tigers confidence

MLB Rumors: Could the San Francisco Giants be Shohei Ohtani favorites?

In 2017, Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels after meeting with seven teams. The San Francisco Giants were one of those seven teams, but at the time couldn’t promise Ohtani the opportunity to play a part-time DH role because the designated hitter had yet to be approved in the National League.

Times have changed, and Ohtani is soon to be a free agent once again. Could San Francisco be in play? The Giants former general manager sure thinks so.

"“It would be interesting if he could have picked a National League club, who would he have picked at that time? He might not want to disclose that. But I would say the fact we were one of the seven finalists bodes well,” Bobby Evans said, per The Athletic. “I felt the process was legitimate and fair. I have no sour grapes. We made our best effort. And I appreciated the fact he had an open mind. A lot of teams that put together presentations and didn’t get in the door, which I’d have to believe was an even worse feeling.”"

Evans went on to say the Giants pitch involved using a six-man rotation, which Ohtani was receptive to. However, they couldn’t offer the DH, which was a fatal flaw. Evans also said that there was a perception Ohtani wanted to play for a team who hadn’t featured a prominent Japanese player beforehand. San Francisco debuted Japanese-born pitcher Masanori Murakami in the 1960’s, but theoretically that was far before Ohtani’s time.

With San Francisco in need of its star, expect some interest from their end.