The last major free agent deal the San Francisco Giants made was signing Aaron Rowand to a 5 year, $60 million contract in 2008. Before that, it was Barry Zito, whom the Giants locked up for 7 years at $126 million in 2007—then the largest contract ever given to a pitcher.
Since then, the Giants haven’t inked more then a two-year deal to a single free agent who was not their own. Although Zito’s Game 5 performance in the 2012 NLCS alone was worth every cent of his deal in the minds’ of many Giants fans (#RallyZito), both his and Rowand’s contracts became expensive albatrosses that hung over every subsequent front office decision.