SAN DIEGO (AP) — Farhan Zaidi got a text message from Aaron Judge’s representatives early Wednesday morning. And just like that, it was over.
It was time to move on.
With Judge returning to the New York Yankees on a $360 million, nine-year contract, the San Francisco Giants are mulling over their next move after they missed the playoffs this year.
“We always knew this was a possible outcome, and so we’ve done a lot of work on our other options,” said Zaidi, the team’s president of baseball operations.
“We’ll kind of re-evaluate our board and still looking for ways to improve the next team.”
Zaidi, the team’s president of baseball operations, is keeping his cards close to his vest, but there remains plenty of intriguing possibilities on the market as baseball’s winter meetings concluded on Wednesday.
All-Star shortstops Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson are free agents, along with left-hander Carlos Rodón after his terrific year for Giants. Speedy center fielder Brandon Nimmo could be a nice fit for San Francisco’s expansive outfield at Oracle Park.
“We have the support of ownership, but we’re not being mandated to get to a certain level payroll-wise,” Zaidi said. “We have the flexibility to do that if the opportunities are right.”
Judge’s contract — baseball’s biggest free agent deal ever — dominated the conversation at the winter meetings Wednesday, but pitchers Jameson Taillon, José Quintana and Kenley Jansen all joined new teams, and the Philadelphia Phillies took U.S. Navy aviator Noah Song in the Rule 5 draft.
Taillon joined the Chicago Cubs, agreeing to a four-year contract that is worth roughly $68 million. A person familiar with the negotiations confirmed the deal to the AP on condition of…