SAN DIEGO -- An eventful Winter Meetings came to a disappointing end for the Giants, who learned early Wednesday morning that top free-agent target Aaron Judge would be returning to the Yankees.

Judge agreed to a nine-year, $360 million deal to stay in New York, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, spurning an opportunity to return to his native Northern California and become the next face of the Giants.

With Judge off the board, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and the rest of San Francisco’s front office will be forced to pivot to Plan B, though they’re expected to remain aggressive in their pursuit of impact players this offseason.

“There’s always going to have to be a breath after this decision one way or another,” Zaidi said. “That’s kind of where we’re at. But we’re expecting to stay busy.”

BIGGEST REMAINING NEEDS

1. Infield
The most logical path forward for the Giants likely involves delving more seriously into the deep class of free-agent shortstops, which has two remaining All-Stars in Carlos Correa and Dansby Swanson. San Francisco has been linked most heavily to the 28-year-old Correa, who is likely to command the heftiest deal since he’s the youngest member of the group.

Trea Turner set the benchmark by agreeing to an 11-year, $300 million deal with the Phillies earlier this week, but the Judge sweepstakes showed that the Giants have the financial resources to make that type of commitment.

San Francisco already has a four-time Gold Glove Award winner in Brandon Crawford, but the club would like to add more players at premium positions to upgrade their defense, which was a glaring weakness in 2022. Manager Gabe Kapler said he has not had any conversations with Crawford about a potential position change, but the 35-year-old veteran could be asked to shift to third if the Giants land Correa, who won the Platinum Glove as the league’s best defender in 2021.

2. Outfield
While they were unable to woo Judge, the Giants landed another power-hitting outfielder in Mitch Haniger, a Bay Area native who signed a three-year, $43.5 million deal on Tuesday. San Francisco would like to make one more addition to its outfield mix, which could make it suitors for a center fielder such as Brandon Nimmo.

Landing a player like Nimmo would give the Giants the ability to shift Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Slater to the corners, strengthening their defense across the board. Nimmo is expected to be in demand this offseason, so San Francisco could also explore options on the trade market, such as A’s center fielder Ramón Laureano and Pirates All-Star Bryan Reynolds.

3. Rotation
The Giants also have a glaring hole in their starting rotation, as left-hander Carlos Rodón is a free agent and expected to have plenty of teams bidding for his services now that fellow aces Justin Verlander and Jacob deGrom have landed with the Mets and Rangers, respectively.

San Francisco hasn’t ruled out a reunion with Rodón, but the club has generally preferred to target pitchers who would be more amenable to short-term deals. The Giants have shown interest in Japanese ace Kodai Senga, but they could also be attracted to a bounce-back candidate such as lefty Sean Manaea.

RULE 5 DRAFT

The Giants didn’t select any players during the Major League portion of the Rule 5 Draft, though they ended up acquiring one shortly thereafter. San Francisco sent cash considerations and a player to be named later to the Reds in exchange for catcher/outfielder Blake Sabol, who was taken from the Pirates with the fourth pick in the Rule 5 Draft.

Sabol, 24, hit .284/.363/.497 with 19 homers and 75 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022. He could be an option to serve as a left-handed-hitting complement to Joey Bart behind the plate, though he’ll have to stay on the 26-man roster for the entire 2023 season or be offered back to the Reds due to his Rule 5 designation.

The Giants lost right-handed reliever Nick Avila to the White Sox and then saw their Double-A roster raided during the Minor League phase, when eight more players were poached by other organizations.

ZAIDI’S BOTTOM LINE

“Our goal is to be as good of a team as we can possibly be. I know I sound like a broken record there, but we have great fans and they’ll get behind a good team, a playoff team. We really believe that. We weren’t a playoff team last year. I think some of the criticisms or some of the dissatisfaction is just an offshoot of the fact that we were sitting at home in October. If we’re playing in October, I think everything will go a lot better. I think that’s what our fans are looking for.”