Based on sources and quotes on SF Giants so far this off-season – it seems like all signs point to the Giants signing Ha-seong Kim.

https://www.mlb.com/news/ha-seong-kim-a-free-agent-possibility-for-giants?partnerID=mlbapp-iOS_article-share

According to a source, Kim has already generated “lots of interest” in the early days of free agency, while a second source said the Giants are focused on signing the 29-year-old.

It starts with this article by Mark Feinsand from MLB.com, where he states that from sources that the Giants are focused on signing Ha-seong Kim.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/giants/article/posey-giants-prioritize-pitching-defense-move-19890597.php

The focus is on trying to make pitching and defense a strength. They’ll be looking for a shortstop to play next to Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman, Posey said. Tyler Fitzgerald, who had a breakout year while earning the lion’s share of playing time at shortstop after Nick Ahmed didn’t work out, could move to second base or elsewhere.

“If we could find a shortstop, that’d be great,” Posey said. “Tyler Fitzgerald did a great job at short last year. I think he has value and in multiple spots on the field. I do think it’s hard to play multiple spots at the same time during the season. Whether he’d be better suited to play second base long-term is a discussion we’re having.”

In the article above and quotes above – Buster Posey states he wants to emphasize on pitching and defense. Kim has been one of the best defensive infielders since he came in the league and was a gold glove finalist in 2022 at SS and then the utility gold glove winner in 2023. He also has pretty great metrics as well, though he does grade out better at DRS than OAA and at 2B rather than SS.

It is clear while they like Fitzgerald, they would rather have him play 2B or be a super utility guy.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5905307/2024/11/08/sf-giants-payroll-reduction-2025/

This is from Andrew Baggarly's article about the reduction of payroll earlier this week. I will highlight just a few portions that discuss situation/scenario.

Fans might ask: Should the potential loss of a couple draft picks limit the aggressiveness of one of the game’s most historic franchises, especially at a time when they have so much work to do to achieve relevance with their National League West rivals? Maybe not. But highly compromised amateur drafts in back-to-back years is hardly the way a new president of baseball operations wants to begin his tenure — especially a development-minded executive like Posey who has stated that the path to sustained winning is through the farm system.

Adames might represent the best combination of offensive production at a position the Giants consider a priority to address, but Kim’s lack of draft compensation will make him a more attractive target.

Between Tyler Fitzgerald and Casey Schmitt, the Giants might feel comfortable ham-and-egging it at shortstop for a few weeks if they were to sign Kim and need to give him more time to ramp up the end stages of his recovery.

TLDR – A lot of early reports showing Giants are interested, Buster Posey has quotes where he wants to focus on defense which is one of Kim's biggest strengths at SS, and then Andrew Baggarly's article about reduction in payroll and Kim's appeal of having no QO attached due to likely not wanting to sacrifice draft picks for a new front office that wants to rebuild the farm all seem to point towards the Giants are targeting and will sign Kim.

Of course – I am not guaranteeing anything. For all we know, maybe we find out Buster Posey is the absolute king of smokescreen and everything he says to the media is meaningless, or they end up changing their mind because Kim's shoulder is worse than they thought, or maybe Giants lose a bidding war to Kim to a team that wants him even more, or maybe Willy Adames is willing to play for the same amount of money for the Giants as Kim or something. But I do think a lot of signs point towards Kim being signed by the Giants right now.

Also, I wrote an OC on here a few months ago about how Ha-seong Kim would be a good addition to this team and go in-depth. I do look back and laugh because in my last sentence I said he is not a Boras client, thus he wouldn't sign the Matt Chapman opt-out deal he did last year, but he decided to switch to Boras in beginning of October.

https://reddit.com/r/SFGiants/comments/1f5wpkp/oc_why_the_giants_should_go_after_haseong_kim_in/

I would still say everything in my write-up still applies in that he would be a good signing that brings a lot to the table. I know he had shoulder surgery and at the time, maybe it was just a minor shoulder issue that would heal on its own. I think if the Giants go after him then they must feel good about his medicals and are confident he will be back.