Nori Aoki finalizes 1-year deal with Giants: 'I've always liked the city of San Francisco'

Mere months after falling one win shy of a World Series championship with the Kansas City Royals, veteran outfielder Nori Aoki finalized a one-year deal with the club that squashed his title dreams in October.

Aoki smiled as he pulled on a jersey emblazoned with the San Francisco Giants logo Tuesday at AT&T Park, extolling the virtues of the city by the bay moments after signing a one-year, $4.7-million contract.

"I've always liked the city of San Francisco," Aoki told reporters. "I've always had admiration for the Giants and the history they have, and having played against them the past three years I can see that they really play together as a team and this is a team that has a chance to play for a championship every year."

Aoki also took the opportunity to rhapsodize about his new teammate Madison Bumgarner, whose performance throughout the 2014 postseason - and the World Series, in particular - was truly historic.

"He’s a great pitcher and the Game 7, I didn't expect him to come out and throw as much as he did there." said Aoki. "He seems like he’s a pitcher with a lot of stamina and he’s always under control. He’s a very tough pitcher to play against. I’ve heard that Madison likes to wrestle so I think I’m going to initiate the wrestling when I first meet him."

Aoki hit .285/.349/.360 with 17 stolen bases over 132 games with the Royals last season and is expected to receive plenty of playing time in left field this coming year.