URGENT REPORT: Giants OUT on Tatsuya Imai | Josuar Gonzalez MAY be on the table to IMPROVE Pitching

URGENT REPORT: Giants OUT on Tatsuya Imai | Josuar Gonzalez MAY be on the table to IMPROVE Pitching

The Giants are reportedly out on Emi. Where do they go from here? As it looks like they might be trying to save some cash. It’s all coming up on Locked on Giants. [Music] You are Locked on Giants, your daily San Francisco Giants podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. What’s up y’all? I’m Alan Styles. Welcome to Locked On Giants, part of the Locked On podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network. On the show, we provide daily episodes Monday through Friday talking about the San Francisco Giants in a way that combines passion analytics with the eye test and a little bit of fun. I’m from the Bay Area, but I live in Sacramento now and I host a show at Sacktown Sports 1140 as well as MCing at Sacramento Rivercats games. All in all, I’m lucky enough to cover team I’ve been a fan of all my life. There is a heater of an article from Andrew Baggerly of the Athletic and he is reporting that the Giants are out on Tatsuya Imayi. They are trying to save some cash and they are looking for more short-term deals as it comes to the pitching. So, we are discussing whether or not this is the direction they should go in. We should be in the thought process of looking at more trades and who that could cost. And last but not least, where they are headed next. This episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. So, hope everybody had a great weekend. And I hope that this doesn’t ruin it right now because the Giants have come out and said on their Christmas list they are trying to save money. They are not trying to spend a ton of money out there for Giants fans. Your Christmas list is not going to be filled out if I was on your list. This is from Andrew Baggerly and he says that the Giants are essentially out. Giants not inclined to spend what it takes to sign Tatsuya Imayi. That’s from sources. Now, they’ve kind of been saying this the whole time, right? And andrew Baggerly, he lays this out beautifully because he talks about the Giants not doing it and then he says why. And I know that as fans, we don’t care about the whole idea of their private equity and they sold 10% and what’s going on with the TV deals. I’m not saying that you should care about it, but there is a level of context there that Andrew does add that I think makes more sense. It’s not going to make you happy. It doesn’t make me happy. It doesn’t make me understand it even more when we know they’re worth about $4 billion. But that’s just the reality of the situation. So, let’s start here. Uh this is the the main uh crux of where he drops the uh the big one on Giants fans. So, Tatsuya Imi, the right-handed Sabu Lions ace, who might have the highest ceiling of any free agent starting pitcher this off season, would appear to be a perfect fit. maybe not to close uh the gap between the Giants and the World Series champion arch rivals on his own, but to imbue their fans with the hope that San Francisco might be starting to establish itself as an international destination. Immay to San Francisco Kohl’s were already glowing on the rumor circuit before the 27year-old pitcher perhaps strategically brought the Billows to a podcast interview last week and declared his preference to beat the Dodgers rather than join them. Except the Giants are choosing to sit this one out. According to club sources, because of a number of financial considerations, the Giants do not anticipate making the ninef figureure investment required to sign or any of the top pitchers on the free agent market. Instead, the club is focusing on more modestly priced alternatives. They expect to sign at least one starting pitcher, and they plan to add to their bullpen beyond the $1.4 million agreement in place with left-handed reliever Sam Henches. But after splurging on $182 million shortstop Lead Adamus last off seasonason and taking on more than $250 million while trading for corner infielder Raphael Devers in June. Their current preference is to limit their spending to short-term deals. So they’ve told us this before. I held out hope that they were still heading in the direction of we need to get one, right? Let’s get one guy and that’s it. I thought maybe they’d have two big price tags. So, by the way, that means the I don’t know if this is specific to pitchers, but it seems like the Giants are kind of telling us we were never going to spend on a hitter. If anything, we were going to spend on a pitcher and we’re also not doing that. So, all of these names that we’ve kind of talked about seems like it’s not a huge reason for us to talk about them. Let me break down, trust me, you’re going to get my reaction here. That’s probably gonna come up in the second segment. But I want to break down all the reasons here uh that the Giants are I mean, by the way, there’s a reason Andrew Bagley got this information. They want this to get out. They want it to be known to their fans. Hey, this is the direction we’re going. So, I guess they’re not let down, right? If your parents say to you, hey, it’s going to be a tougher holiday season. we’re not going to be able to get the ribeye and and get the filet minion and get you 12, 15 gifts, whatever it is, then you’re less likely to be let down. You’re still not going to be thrilled about it, relatively speaking. Of course, we know there are kids out there that don’t get anything, but at least you now know, okay, that’s what’s going on here. So this is how he I kind of highlighted uh the the main pieces from the financial standpoint. Uh there’s one factor here with Boris with Scott Boris. Buster Posey has not signed a Boris client since becoming president of baseball operations. So that there you go right there. Obviously that’s something that they’re going to have to Scott Boris isn’t going anywhere. They’re going to have to figure that out at some point. But that is where the Giants are right now. And here are some of the financial factors driving their decision. The Giants owe Blake Snell $17 million in deferred money on January 15th, 2026. Additional $15 million in deferred due to Snell in July 2027. Just insane. By the way, this guy is running around with the Dodgers, winning a World Series with the Dodgers, and the Giants are still paying him. That’s that deferred money stuff, man. Giants paying 10.5 million total to the managers. Okay. Next season. Melvin payout and Vello Tennessee buyout. Giants want to avoid appearing to take an operational loss so soon after selling 10% of the team to six street partners. Increase attendance to 2.9 million in 2025. But many tickets were discounted and their NBC Sports Bay Area revenue share declining due to RSN struggles and Comcast exfinity tiering issues. So the one thing that Baggerly also mentions in this is that the Giants aren’t the only team dealing with these uncertainties right now. Some some teams can decide that they want to take a chance with these uncertainties and some of these teams don’t want to do that. And it seems like the Giants don’t want to do that. All right. And by the way, it was purchased what in 1992 $100 million. Now it’s worth an estimated $4 billion. And the Giants have not fielded a top five payroll since 2019. Okay, so that is where the Giants are coming from. Let’s just say when we return, I’m going to give my thoughts because clearly uh this Giants ownership group, the Giants front office, clearly they’re confused. Clearly they are not really sure what direction they want to go in. And I am also starting to get very confused. And I know a lot of fans are also starting to get very confused. You don’t want to miss what I got to say on the other side. It’s time for me to react to this article and what in the world just happened. That’s all coming up on Locked on Giants. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fando.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. I have to tell y’all about my favorite jeans, my doers. Seriously, they’ve changed my life. Right now, I’m wearing the performance denim slimstay, and I cannot get over how comfortable these jeans are. I’ve been reaching for my Doers for everything. Running errands, grabbing dinner with friends, even heading to the ballpark because they look great, and feel even better. Here’s the thing. Doer jeans have five times the stretch of traditional denim, so you can actually move in them. They’re also antibacterial, which means they stay fresh longer, wear more, wash less. And they’re made with Coolmax technology that helps regulate body temperature and wick moisture, so you stay cool and comfortable as the day changes. Honestly, they feel as stretchy as my favorite joggers, but look like I’m dressed to go out on the town. Der is all about combining classic jeans style with athletic level comfort and performance. The best of both worlds. They actually pioneered the original performance denim, blending technical innovation with everyday clothing that looks sharp and feels incredible. Simply put, Derer makes the world’s most comfortable pants without sacrificing style. Once you try them, they’ll be your go-to pair. Trust me. And if you’re in San Francisco, check out Der store at 567 Haz Street. Pick up a pair for yourself or grab one as an amazing holiday gift. Mention my promo code locked on SF in store to get 15% off your first order. or shop online at shopder.com/lockedonssf for that same 15% off. That’s shopd.com/locktonsf. Your new favorite jeans are waiting. I simply just don’t understand what the Giants are trying to do here. We can sit here and we can talk about the money this, the money that. Fans don’t care about that. I don’t care. Right? I know it’s their job to care, but I do not care about this. The reality is this. Nobody made you sign Willie Adamis. And I get it. We’re making up or they are making up for the fact that Marco Luciano didn’t work out. They haven’t been able to hit on some of these draft picks. So, they have had to go out and pay. We get all that. But Rafie Des first base, I I don’t know what Bryce Eldridge is going to be, but you went out and you’ve got Rafie Devers. Okay, cool. You signed Matt Chapman to an extension. Cool. These are big money extensions. You went out and got Julie. Cool. All right. Now, let’s go get a pitching staff to match, right? And you just need one. Let’s go get a pitching staff to match since all these guys are only going to get older. No, we don’t want to do that. Now all of a sudden, the Giants don’t want to do that. Now all of a sudden the Giants don’t want to spend money. And even if it’s not II, maybe that is not their cup of tea, right? They’ve done extensive research on him. It seems like he’s our cup of tea, but let’s just pretend that they’re not. There are other guys out there and they’re not spending money on anybody. It’s not just about him. They’re not spending money on anybody. So, I’m just very confused here. Very confused as to what in the world the Giants plan is. These dudes are all late 20s getting to their 30s or already in their 30s in the infield. Then you go out and you spend this money on Rafie Devers or you make this trade which a lot of people think you’re paying him too much money which is all fine and good but now you want to be cheap with the pitching when by the way you’ve gone out and said time and time again ad nauseium oh we’re about pitching and defense we are well you’ve spent all your money on hitters you spent all your money on hitters that sometimes can’t hit. We just watch that and you’re in a pitcher’s ballpark. This is so confusing. And in the last segment, we’re going to talk about the trades that might happen if they still want to upgrade somehow. But this is going to upset some people. And some of you out there might say, “Well, Allan, they can still find value.” And and they can, and I hope they do because I would like to go back to the playoffs. I would like to see the Giants in the playoffs. I don’t want to have to see the Reds. I don’t want to have to see teams that have no business. I don’t want to say no business, but teams that I feel like the Giants should be better than at this point in time. More money, bigger market, should be able to bring guys in. I don’t want to see that. So, I am just a bit confused and I’m and I’m working on, like I said, I got the two little ones, but the plan is to be at some Giants games and I really want to find a way to ask some questions. Obviously, this wouldn’t be for the for the coaching staff, but on top of that, by the way, you got this coaching situation where you’re paying a premium for a dude. And I like I I like Tony Bell at Tennessee. I don’t know what he’s going to be in San Francisco, but you’re you’re paying a premium for a guy that’s never coached before, and you got to bring in other coaches with a lot of experience because he hasn’t coached before. So, this whole timeline, this whole timeline just isn’t making sense to me. That’s what I’m confused about. You bring in Tony Vitella, who’d probably be great for a young scrappy group. Checks notes. They don’t have a young scrappy group. They have guys that are late 20s, early 30s, all in the infield that are getting paid handsomely. That’s what they have. So, you start there with the coaching staff. The outfield is is the outfield. They’re going to try to upgrade it, I guess, internally or they might go get a a smaller contract there. But you keep on talking about the defense and the pitching, right? The outfield defense. I don’t know if they’re going to spend on that. And the pitching now they’re telling us, well, we’re not going to pay for the best pitchers out there. So, what they’re saying and what they’re doing completely is contradicting themselves unless they have some secret uh hidden gem that they’re going to be able to just run on out there because Cody Pond, I’m say 30 $40 million, too. So, you have to spend money. That’s that’s the issue here. And I’ll take it back to the Farhan thing. We all didn’t know can uh can the Giants spend money or not? Is this on Farhan or not? What is the situation? And I used to people used to get on me for saying, “Well, Allan, why are you defending?” I’m not defending him. I just don’t know if Farhan cares that much about spending somebody else’s money. Why would he say, “Hey, I don’t want to spend that money even though I can.” It seems like now again, the draft part of it they he missed. He missed. He missed. He missed. But it seems like he’s not spending money. And I know he had some of the moneyballesness to him, but he’s also not spending money because he’s not allowed to. So Buster comes in. To be honest with you, this is what it seems like to me. It seems like Buster Posey came in and decided that he wanted everything to just start rolling. Start rolling. Hey, we’re we’re busting out the black card. We’re busting out the platinum card. We want to show the fans that I’m Buster Posie. not far, Han, and we’re going to dig into this thing and get what we need done and go back to the playoffs and go back to World Series. That’s what we’re going to do. So, they go out there, they extend Matt Chapman. I know Buster was just coming into the fold at that point. They go out there, they sign Willie Adams. They go out there, they trade for Rafie Des, right? They go get Julie. All right. Now, we have spent all this money and ownership starts looking around say, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I know we said that you could bust out the black card, but the black card got limits too and now they have this situation where they’ve sold 10% of the organization and because of that now they have different financial stances that they have to take. So it’s almost as if they spent too much early trying to get everybody excited that it’s Buster Posie time and he can do what he wants and he’s not Farhan. And then they realized that maybe, just maybe, some of this wasn’t just the idea of Farhan not spending the money because they weren’t allowing him to do so. So now that he spent this money, whoa, hey man, now that we spent this money, now we got to go cheap. Well, based on the priority list, Buster spent his money on the wrong stuff. What it seems like Buster Posey did was he went out there and he was going to he wanted to make a really nice burger, right? So, he buys the most expensive buns. He buys the most expensive pickles. He finds some truffle ketchup. He finds this outstanding Dijon mustard. The best cheese you could possibly buy. It’s been aged for years. But you know what? They forgot. They forgot to buy the meat. They forgot to buy the beef, the chicken, the vegan meat, whatever it is. They forgot to do that. And now you got to go to a different part of the grocery store or maybe even a a cheaper grocery store to find the meat to make your really nice burger. They did it backwards. They did it backwards and it caught up with them and now they have to bargain bin shop in order to in order to compete in the NL West with the Dodgers. The Dodger here. Just just take one of our pictures. We got a ton. You’re still paying one of ours. Blake Snell. Do you remember him? That’s what they did. And now as fans, we have to sit here and hope that they hit on somebody on these shorter term deals. Makes absolutely no sense. Absolutely no sense. One more segment with you. Let’s talk about a name who now might be thrown around if the Giants decide to go the trade route since clearly they’re not trying to spend money. More locked on Giants coming up. The NFL season is here and honestly there’s nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. But let’s be honest, getting tickets can be a hassle between cues, login screens, and prices. Jumping at checkout is frustrating. That’s why I use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to fans. Game time is fast, easy, and backed by the Game Time guarantee. You’ll always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all fees are included, so the price you see is the price you pay. I pulled up Game Time and in just a couple tabs, I saw amazing deals. I’m talking about your favorite NFL games as low as $100. The app made it super simple. I could even see the exact view from my seat before buying. And zone deals, I love them. I picked a section and Game Time picks the seats, and I save big. Honestly, it’s faster, cheaper, and less stressful than any other way I bought tickets. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code L O C K E D O N M LB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go download Game Time today. Thank you for making Locked On Giants your first listen of the day. And thank you for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network. One more segment with you. That last one got a little fiery, but I haven’t been able to really do that since the season ended. And it’s not that I enjoy doing it, but I kind of enjoy doing it. I wish that I would more so be freaking out over the Giants making a move, but I guess this is the only alternative that we have right now. With that being said, this is from Mark Feinan of MLB.com and he says that there is a perfect I guess a trade candidate for every team, right? So, he picks the trade candidate, a prospect or a young guy uh that every team may move this off season. And it’s funny because this is the exact opposite player of who we talked about last week because they play off of each other both being shortstops and with the Giants not really planning on spending money. This is a situation that might come up. Now you have Mark Feinand saying Joe Suir Gonzalez is MLB pipelines number 82 overall prospect in the majors and number two on the Giants top 30. And while he’s still only 18 years old, he’s blocked at shortstop by Willie Adamus for the next 6 years. And San Francisco’s number four prospect Johnny Levelville, who is also 18 years old. So there’s organizational depth from which to trade in their attempt to bolster their pitching staff. He’s also number 28 overall on fan graphs. And you know the larger conversation that I want to have here where whether it’s Johnny Levelvel, whether it’s Josuar Gonzalez, whether it’s somebody else on that top 30 list is specifically with what just came out from the Athletic and Andrew Baggerly. It’s time for us to mentally prepare for one of these guys to be gone. And you just hope you keep the right one cuz that’s the other part of it, right? There’s always going to be a world where you have to move on from someone and you just hope that the other one doesn’t end up being better. He can be good, but just don’t be better than who we decided to keep. So, the Giants have a couple decisions to make since they uh want to save money and they don’t necessarily want to grab somebody on the free agent market and trades. That’s really the only other way they’re going to be able to get this thing done. and be able to bolster that pitching staff. It really can go back and forth. I mean, I know these guys are numbered and somebody’s number two and somebody’s number four, but all these guys have really high ceilings and all these guys, it’s a gamble. I mean, the reality is, and I’ve said this before, every team has a top 30 prospect list, right? where where those players end up and how good those players are supposed to be. Uh that’s what we’re still trying to figure out and that’s what we’re not going to know until they get their opportunity. Very similar to in baseball. Everybody’s got a leadoff hitter. Doesn’t mean every leadoff hitter is good. Everybody’s got a two-h hitter. Everybody’s got a three hitter. Everybody’s got an ace. An ace doesn’t mean that their ace is actually good. It’s just the best that they can put forth. So, the Giants have to do some deep deep digging here to figure out who it is they’re willing to move off of and just hope that they move off of the right person. Because if they move off of the wrong person, this would be a rocky start. You’re telling fans you’re not spending money. You’re telling fans that this isn’t happening and that isn’t happening. Because here’s the reality. I like Will Thomas. I think he’s a good player. I think Raphael Devers is a stud. I think Matt Chapman is a solid player. Do I think you needed to pay all three of them? No. Well, I’ll put it to you like this. Do I think you needed to pay all three of them with the current starting rotation that the Giants have? No. No. So, that’s where you’re at right now. And I know Matt Chapman’s got a trade clause. So they just have to decide how they want to move forward and where their timeline is. These guys are 18, but as it as Mark Feinstein said, Willie Adamus is going to be here for six years. These are not small contracts. So you start blocking these guys and I mean we talk about Gavin Keelin as well. You start blocking these guys and you’re not making the playoffs. That looks bad. That looks bad as heck. And some of them are going to get traded. Sure. But if you are going to be blocking these guys and we’re not getting to see young talent, it’s not just about Willie Adamis. It’s all all of the positions. You better be these guys better be balling out. Number one. And number two, you better be winning because if you’re not winning and you’re turning away or you’re you’re holding up these kids that could be good for you in the future, it just turns into what are you doing? And I hate to bring back up the whole situation with not paying for the pitcher, but or paying big money for a pitcher, but that’s why this thing just doesn’t make a ton of sense. This is you have decided. Nobody made the Giants decide that their timeline was right now. If they knew that they were going to take a firsttime head coach, you got Buster Posey, who I think most people would have given a lot of grace to. You’re bringing in a firsttime head coach, right? You could have lined this thing up to say, “Hey, the Dodgers are balling right now. Let’s just focus on getting our prospects uh in order, bolstering our farm system going in that direction.” But no, you came in and you spent that money on William. You spent that money on Rafie Des. You spent that money on Matt Chapman. So, it’s too late. It’s too late to try to turn back the clock and now say, “Well, actually, we’re not fully we’re not fully bought into to going all in right now.” You already kind of did that. You already did that because now you have everybody blocked up in your farm system that is getting better for the next six to 10 years. Bryce Eldridge can’t even play first base every day because you brought in Rafie Deers. But then you don’t want to pay for a pitcher. Again, the Giants I honestly it just feels like they don’t have an identity right now. It feels like they don’t have an identity right now. Even if these guys had two, three years left in the infield. You just signed these guys. You just signed them. So, it’s very bizarre. It’s very disheartening. Like I said, they are trying to make a really expensive burger, but they bought everything else besides the meat. And now it’s time for them to buy the meat and they don’t have enough money left. Now they got to go to a cheaper grocery store. they got to buy a cheaper cut of meat because they spent their money on things that they didn’t necessarily have to spend their money on at the time. So, here we are now and now it might cost them some top prospects because you might have to trade for a guy or we’re going to sit here and pray that one of the 14 pitchers that they threw out last season actually hits. Maybe they will. That’s what we’re going to have to wait and see. Thank you for watching Locked On Giants. Thank you for listening to Locked On Giants. Be sure to follow me on social media at the Southfile Styles with an I. Also on the official Locked On Giants account. We will talk to you tomorrow. It was a fun one. But where do we go from here? I guess you’ll have to tune in tomorrow and find out. We will talk to you tomorrow. Until then, peace.

The Giants are backing away from Tatsuya Imai — and the reasons stretch far beyond baseball. Today we break down the latest reporting from Andrew Baggarly that San Francisco is not inclined to spend at the level required to sign Imai or any of the top free-agent arms, despite meeting with Scott Boras and doing full medical homework. We go through why financial realities like Blake Snell’s deferred payments, managerial payouts, private-equity optics, and declining RSN revenue are pushing the Giants toward short-term, lower-cost pitching options instead of real frontline upgrades. We also dig into the long-running Posey–Boras tension, why the Giants haven’t landed a Japanese star in a decade, and why Buster Olney says SF is going cheap even as national outlets keep connecting Imai to the Giants. Plus, we take a hard look at top prospect Josuar Gonzalez — now being floated as a potential trade chip — and why fans should mentally prepare to lose one of the organization’s prized teenage shortstops if the Giants want to upgrade the rotation. Big episode today with spending philosophy, trade realities, and a frank look at how close — or far — the Giants are from joining the top tier of the league.

0:00 Report: Giants OUT on Imai
10:57 What is the plan?
20:46 Trading Prospects

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