The San Francisco Giants are financially constrained and have no intention of bidding high to acquire Tatsuya Imai.

Tatsuya Imai, the ace right-handed pitcher of the NPB Seibu Lions, is currently challenging MLB through the posting system. Although he once stated he would "rather defeat the Dodgers than join them," recent reports indicate that the Giants, who are also in the National League West, will not offer any starting pitcher a nine-figure (over $100 million) contract this offseason, effectively withdrawing from the bidding competition.

According to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, sources within the team revealed that due to various financial considerations, the Giants do not plan to offer Imai the nine-figure contract he demands. This approach will also apply to other starting pitchers available on the free agent market, as the Giants aim to pursue more cost-effective reinforcements.

The report highlights that after signing Willy Adames to a $182 million deal last offseason, the Giants took on Rafael Devers' remaining $250 million contract in June. Currently, the Giants' strategy is to limit new expenditures to short-term contracts.

Baggarly notes that although the Giants could spend an additional $60 million without reaching the first luxury tax threshold from a payroll perspective, they must make a $17 million deferred payment to Blake Snell by January 15 next year according to current information regarding cash outflows.

Additionally, since they fired manager Bob Melvin during his contract term, the Giants still have to pay him $4 million next year. Moreover, to hire Tony Vitello from the University of Tennessee as the new head coach, they must pay his $3.5 million annual salary plus a $3 million buyout fee to the university.

Baggarly mentioned that while it is difficult to precisely estimate a team's annual baseball operating expenses, considering Snell’s deferred payments and the extra coaching staff costs, it is reasonable to infer that the Giants’ baseball operations budget this year is actually closer to last year’s level than the surface figures suggest.