Landmark San Francisco Giants Free Agent Signing Among Most Valuable Ever

The San Francisco Giants made one of the most valuable free agent signings in baseball history over three decades ago.

Jun 24, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Former San Francisco Giants player Barry Bonds waves to the crowd before the game against the Chicago Cubs at Oracle Park. / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

In recent years, it has been a struggle for the San Francisco Giants to land big-time free agents in the offseason.

Convincing top-of-the-market hitters to come to the franchise has been a challenge, but it isn’t from a lack of trying. Ownership has the money to lure these kinds of players, but there are other factors at play.

The cost of living in San Francisco is very expensive and their ballpark, Oracle Field, isn’t exactly a hitter's haven. Free agents, who may be looking to improve their value for future contracts, don’t want to risk their numbers being suppressed.

While their success has been far and few between, it wasn’t always like that. Just over three decades ago, the franchise made one of the biggest free agency acquisitions in MLB history.

The Giants landed superstar outfielder Barry Bonds, signing him away from the Pittsburgh Pirates with a six-year, $43.75 million contract. At the time, that was an unprecedented deal, the largest overall value and annual payment.

It is rare that a player of that caliber hits unrestricted free agency. Normally teams will sign them to an extension or if they are traded, an extension is signed by the acquiring team. Shohei Ohtani, Alex Rodriguez, when he landed with the Texas Rangers, and Juan Soto this offseason are prime examples of perfect storms like Bonds to San Francisco.

It was a move highly regarded by David Schoenfield of ESPN. In his opinion, the home run king was the No. 3 most valuable free agent signing in the history of the sport.

“Yes, with an exclamation point. Bonds would sign a couple more deals with the Giants, including a five-year, $90 million contract as a free agent after 2001. In all, he led the NL seven times in WAR while with San Francisco,” he wrote when answering the question about whether the deal worked or not.

It was a deal that Giants owner Peter McGowan revealed in 2022 nearly didn’t come to fruition. Bonds was ready to sign a deal with the New York Yankees that would have matched the contract of Ryne Sandberg as the highest-paid player in the game.

In 1992, the Atlanta Braves attempted to acquire him before Pirates manager Jim Leyland heard about it.

It gave McGowan, who was still in the process of purchasing the franchise, a chance to get involved and work out the massive deal. Both sides have to be thrilled with how things turned out.