Posey details extent of Giants’ recruiting pitch to Sasaki

The Giants will not sign Japanese free-agent pitcher Roki Sasaki, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

San Francisco’s general manager, Zack Minasian, revealed on a Zoom call with president of baseball operations Buster Posey and local Bay Area reporters on Monday that the Giants were informed they are not a finalist for the 23-year-old’s services.

Posey joined KNBR 680’s “Murph & Markus” on Tuesday morning, where he was asked about the Giants’ recruitment of Sasaki and revealed what went into their pitch.

“First and foremost, I’m appreciative of our team,” Posey said. “Zack, all his efforts, [Senior Director, International Operations & Baseball Administration] Jose Bonilla, who did uncounted hours of work of preparation for that meeting. SFG Productions put together a really great video that spanned from the Bay Area to Arizona, just featuring our facilities and a lot of the city as well and what San Francisco has to offer culturally, from a food perspective.

“That’s my first response, is that I’m appreciative of all the work that went into that recruiting process. We put our best foot forward, I don’t think there’s anything else you can do. I know the group feels that way, it wasn’t a last-minute, haphazard, last-ditch effort. Zack had been on Roki for a long time, and unfortunately it didn’t work out.”

The finalists for Sasaki are the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported Monday, citing sources.

While Los Angeles is believed to be the overwhelming favorite to land Sasaki, San Diego being one of the three finalists means there is a high likelihood the electric, young arm will land somewhere in the NL West.

Which would be bad news for Posey and the Giants.

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