Over the course of the offseason, then-free agent slugger Jorge Soler was widely rumored to be a potential Red Sox target. The former Miami Marlins designated hitter was coming off a strong season in which he hit 36 home runs, but despite Boston’s need for a right-handed bat, Soler wound up signing with the San Francisco Giants.

Speaking to reporters in the visitor’s clubhouse prior to Tuesday’s series opener, Soler said he and the Red Sox never had any serious discussions.

“As far as I know we were never close,” Soler said via an interpreter.

Soler signed a three-year $42 million deal with the Giants and has so far gotten off to a slow start. Entering Tuesday he was batting .216 with five home runs and eight RBI through his first 29 games, and the 32-year-old acknowledged that his performance hasn’t been up to par.

“I don’t think it has been a very good start of the year for me,” Soler said. “I have left a lot of men on base, I haven’t been able to drive them in and I think that’s the reason why the team signed me to do that and I haven’t done my job.”

In retrospect it’s hard to imagine how Soler would have fit on this Red Sox roster either. The club has already consigned Masataka Yoshida to full-time DH duty in order to play the more dynamic Tyler O’Neill, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela in the outfield, so a pure DH like Soler would have further crowded the roster.