SF Giants were wise to avoid these disastrous free agent contracts

As free agency is about to ramp up in major league baseball, the SF Giants are reportedly not looking to make a splash. This is frustrating, but it is important to remember that some free agent deals end up looking pretty bad.

It would be nice if the Giants made a run at someone like Tatsuya Imai, but that just does not seem likely. There has been reticence to hand out big contracts to starting pitchers in particular.

The Athletic recently took a look at some of the worst current contracts in MLB, and there are three players they highlight who could have easily ended up with the Giants.

SF Giants are glad they did not sign these overpriced free agents

Carlos Correa

The Carlos Correa saga is one that Giants fans will not soon forget. At the time, it was a fairly embarrassing and confusing episode that did not reflect well on the franchise.

However, looking back several years later the Giants definitely were wise to not go through with the 13-year, $350 million they had agreed to with Correa. That failed physical may have been a blessing in disguise.

Instead, Correa signed with the Minnesota Twins but was eventually dealt back to his original team the Houston Astros where he is owed $96 million over the next three years which is a lot of money even though his numbers were solid after re-joining Houston.

The Giants have to be happy that they made a deal with Willy Adames instead as their shortstop of the future after he had a solid first season with the Giants and hit 30 home runs despite a rough start to the season.

Sean Manaea

Another bad contract mentioned in the article was signed by Sean Manaea who is owed $50 million over the next two seasons by the New York Mets after posting a 5.64 ERA in an injury-riddled 2025 campaign.

Manaea was used in a weird role with the Giants for the one season he was with the team as he was a starter sometimes but was also used as a reliever often coming in after openers.

That seemed to be a gross miscalculation after the solid 2024 he had with New York but the fact that he came back down to earth shows he was probably too inconsistent for the Giants to keep around.

Kris Bryant

Of course, one of the worst MLB contracts has to be the seven-year, $182 million Kris Bryant signed with the Colorado Rockies. The Giants were the last team Bryant played with before signing with Colorado and San Francisco must be happy the did not bring him back as Bryant has been injured basically the whole time he's been with the Rockies and has not been very productive when he's been healthy.

The Giants did not show much interest in bringing him back after trading for him at the deadline during the miracle 2021 season and that looks incredibly wise in retrospect.

It is fun and exciting when a team spends big on free agents. When it works out it looks glorious and brilliant, but these contracts are a reminder that spending a lot does not always lead to success.