Shohei Ohtani rumors are ramping up, to the chagrin of SF Giants fans

MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported Tuesday the Giants are willing to go through the offseason song and dance again in the hopes of landing Shohei Ohtani.

“Sources tell me the Giants are set — they are setting their full hearts and finances to landing one of Shohei Ohtani or Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the coming weeks,” Morosi said.

“For an ownership group that’s looking for their chance to really stamp their time on this organization in this post-Buster Posey era for them, this is the exact right player at the exact right time for the right franchise for the Giants to go all in on Shohei Ohtani,” he later added.

You may remember Morosi from reports during the Judge saga about how the Giants and Judge had “a very productive meeting,” and “if you wanted to script a story setup that ends with Aaron Judge leaving the Yankees for the Giants, it would look exactly like where we are this morning.”

It might be easy, then, as a scorned Giants fan still mending the wounds of last offseason, to discount the news entirely, if not outright treat it as a sign the franchise will inevitably fail in their pursuit. This has been the tone for many on social media since the offseason began. A cursory glance at the replies or comments of anything mentioning this connection between the Giants and Ohtani shows just how little trust there is in it happening. The Giants aren’t even that many years removed from missing on Ohtani the first time around, and they’re already back to maybe even pursuing another great overseas talent.

But perhaps it may be in the best interest of the more cynical side of the fan base — which admittedly is a healthy majority at this point — to not lose sight of the forest for the trees with regards to Morosi.

It’s worth remembering that Judge bamboozled everyone — nobody believed Farhan Zaidi when he said he didn’t think Judge was coming to San Francisco — with his bait-and-switch decision to remain with the Yankees, including established national reporters. Morosi might have talked up the connection between the Giants and Judge a fair amount, but it’s clear from his reporting that he has an understanding of the organization’s thinking.

This is all to say that fans should trust that Morosi is giving an accurate report of the team’s interest. It might seem like deja vu for a fan base not ready to be hurt again, but that’s because this courtship for the most exciting player in baseball is actually happening. Still, just like the last time this happened, it ultimately comes down to whether Ohtani ends up signing on the line.