SF Giants News: OF Nori Aoki "excited" to play with the defending World Series champions

The SF Giants officially welcomed new acquisition Nori Aoki to the club on Tuesday, and the former member of the 2014 AL champion Kansas City Royals.

"I'm excited to be a San Francisco Giant," Aoki said Tuesday. "I've always liked the city of San Francisco, but not only that, have always had an admiration for the Giants and the history they have. Having played against them the past three years, I can see they really play together as a team, and this is a team that has a chance to play for a championship every year, so that's why I chose to sign with this club."

Handing Aoki a deal that could total $12.5 million in compensation with a $5.5 million club option and incentives, GM Brian Sabean sees the Aoki signing as a shift from targeting power to valuing speed.

"As we looked at how the team was possibly filling out," general manager Brian Sabean said, "and we saw it was not going to take a turn toward power, as we discussed internally, we value speed and defense, and this guy has been a very consistent player."

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