In their ongoing quest to add a superstar to their lineup, the San Francisco Giants are going to be major players in the race to sign Juan Soto away from the New York Yankees in free agency.

Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Giants are considered "legit" players in the Soto sweepstakes and will meet with the AL MVP finalist at some point.

However, Jayson Stark of The Athletic reported the Giants don't yet have a meeting set up with Soto.

Heyman cited the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers as teams aside from the Giants and Yankees known to be interested in Soto, along with two mystery teams at this point.

The outfielder already has plans to meet with the Yankees and Mets owners, but the Giants reportedly aren't yet on the schedule.

The Giants' interest in Soto isn't a surprise because they desperately need to add some punch to their lineup. They ranked in the bottom half of MLB in runs scored, home runs and weighted on-base average last season.

San Francisco hasn't had a player hit at least 30 homers in a season since Barry Bonds in 2004. LaMonte Wade Jr. was the only player on the 2024 team who posted an on-base percentage over .340 with at least 100 games played.

Giants fans have been through this process of watching their team pursue a star in free agency many times before. They reportedly came in with a nine-year, $360 million offer to Aaron Judge two years ago that prompted the Yankees to increase their offer to retain the 2022 AL MVP.

New York's best offer to Judge before the Giants came in was eight years and $320 million. When that deal didn't come together, the Giants pivoted their pursuit to Carlos Correa. They had a 13-year, $350 million agreement with the star shortstop that fell through due to concerns about his ankle that arose when he took a physical.

Before the 2019 season, the Giants pursued Bryce Harper before he agreed to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies.

It's gotten to the point with the Giants where you can almost feel sorry for them because they're at least an organization that's trying to spend money, but no one will take it from them. Plenty of teams don't even bother to try adding to their payroll, even if it's for a transcendent star like Soto.

The Giants haven't won a playoff series since the 2014 World Series. Their only postseason appearance in the past eight season was in 2021 when they won an MLB-high 107 games during the regular season before losing to the Dodgers in the NLDS.

MLB.com's Mark Feinsand noted the expectation within the league is the floor for Soto's contract is 10 years and $500 million. He previously turned down a 15-year, $440 million offer from the Washington Nationals in the summer of 2022 that prompted them to trade him to the San Diego Padres.

Soto, who was named a 2024 AL MVP finalist on Monday, hit .288/.419/.569 with 41 homers and 109 RBI in 157 games for the Yankees last season.