SAN FRANCISCO — When Aaron Judge digs his cleats into Oracle Park’s right-handed batter’s box Friday, his first time playing in San Francisco in his major-league career, a collective thought will rattle through the minds of thousands in attendance. What if? It’s a question that’s been posed several times in recent years. With Judge’s visit to Oracle Park following Bryce Harper and Shohei Ohtani’s respective visits, Giants fans have been reminded of the team’s recent run of shortcomings in free agency, left to ponder when an elite talent will flock to San Francisco.
“We’re always in on the big guys, but we never sign them,” said fan Miles Hurd, 25. “We never end up with the big guys. We always end up going after second-tier free agents.
We don’t really sign the big studs.” Judge’s decision to pick New York over San Francisco after a now-infamous report suggested he was leaning toward the Giants didn’t unfold in a bubble. Rather, the Northern California native spurning the Giants was one of several instances where they couldn’t lure a superstar to the Bay.
They were finalists to sign Harper, who elected to sign with the Phillies . They missed out on Ohtani twice — first when he came to the United States, second this past offseason when he signed with the Dodgers for $700 million. Going back a decade, Jon Lester picked the Cubs over the Giants.
The Giants did agree with Carlos Correa on a mega deal after missing out on Judge, but Correa never .