SAN DIEGO — Farhan Zaidi could not sleep, so as the Giants’ president of baseball operations lay awake in the early hours of Wednesday morning, he let his mind drift to a place it had spent a lot of time over the past month: trying to imagine what Aaron Judge might ultimately choose.
San Francisco had assembled a detailed package in the hopes of luring the kid who grew up two hours east of Oracle Park, rooting for Rich Aurilia’s Giants teams, back home: They flew Judge to town and met with him in person. They engaged Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry to sing the Bay Area’s praises. They sent Judge a slick recruiting video. They also reportedly offered him $360 million. Zaidi could only hope that the combination would be enough to make the giant a Giant.
“I think there's the perception you can buy this decision, but really, you're trying to sell yourself as an option,” Zaidi said.
