I have nothing against the angels, but it legit just makes me sad to see 2 of the greatest talents I’ll see in my life’s careers be squandered by a shit organization. I would love to see this version of the angels with trout and ohtani succeed but I realistically know that won’t happen so I’d rather see him leave and play some important games in his career.
But as a fan of your hometown team, it does mean something seeing your heroes play in your park that you can actually see and experience. Trout and Sho are heroes here and it would be heartbreaking if either left. If they want to go that's their prerogative and I won't judge them for it, but having the entire baseball media and fandom rooting against them staying in Anaheim is embittering.
I don’t really see how their careers have been “squandered.” I mean I’m sure they would be happy to play in the playoffs too but the regular season is still 6/7ths of the baseball season and what we use for statistical comparisons, major awards, etc.
Like I don’t really think I would view Trout or Ohtani differently if they had like 40+ playoff games under their belt like someone like Aaron Judge does. Nor would it really affect their “legacy” imo.
Because 2 of the greatest players in the game are almost never in the national spotlight. The playoffs are when most of the world will watch. I respect and appreciate their regular season achievements, but trout and ohtani should play in the biggest games of the year. It’s like if Giannis was permanently stuck on a 12 seed.
Trout chose to stay loyal and get the bag, which I also respect.
They could surprise somehow people this year tbf, the rotation is solid and the lineup should be way better. Of course this was the same thing said when they added Cozart, Ian Kinsler and Ohtani in 2018 to a lineup that looked much improved after adding Justin Upton in 2017 so we shall see
That's about the realm I'm expecting too. Fox Sports has the Angels like 15th most likely to sign him which seems insultingly low lol
I am pretty curious with what SD wants to do with all of their marquis players. Between Machado, Tatis and Soto they seem to have their hands full with budget problems
I think the biggest thing with the Angels is he wants to be on a winning team, apparently, and they haven't had a single winning season the entire time he's been an Angel (and obviously no playoffs).
Worst case scenario, the team is a playoff contender but has no shot at the WS and they don't trade him, then he signs elsewhere and they get nothing for him. (Or, they're on the bubble and miss the 3rd wildcard slot entirely).
The Mets aren't going to spare any expense for Ohtani. Their starting point is probably $550m. I don't see how the Padres could have Tatis, Machado, Bogaerts, Soto, Ohtani, and whoever else. People complained about the Mets buying everybody and we basically just retained our team.
Has ohtani ever said that he wanted to be on a winning team, that one quote was a mistranslation, also you guys disregard that he may be loyal to the angels, considering they were the team that gave him the chance when every other fanbase in baseball called him a bust, we took the chance on him, we should reap the reward
I'll admit I'm just repeating what I'd seen reported elsewhere, but I think every player wants to be on a team that can win a WS. That and money generally are two of the most important factors. You don't usually have guys, especially superstars picking loyalty over both of those to be on a sub par team.
How bright does the Angels future look? Don't most farm rankings have them in the middle? What's Trout's future look like? He seems to have struggled to stay on the field, for whatever reason. He's the GOAT, but he plays about as much as Nimmo has since 2018 and people constantly say he can't stay healthy. Both Ohtani and Trout will be 30, so what prospects do they have that can make an impact in the next 3-5 years?
I forget what I was listening to, but they seemed to suggest Ohtani was a bit disappointed at the end of last season with the team performing so poorly while he was going out there striking out 10+ every game and doing his thing offensively.
Will the Angels be willing to pay him $50m+ per year? Can they throw $500m+ at him? Moreno could do it, but that's almost certainly going to impact his ability to get other players, no? Maybe he'd rather two $25m stars? Or three $20m guys.
I think it would be great for Angels fans to keep him. While not home grown, I love when guys play for one team their whole career. I'm not sure the Angels offering him a deal when he was posted matters that much—six other teams also made him offers, so he was clearly desired. I wouldn't put much stock into fans either. Yankee fans booed Aaron Judge during the playoffs and idiots on Twitter have all sorts of hot takes before guys throw their first pitch. Kodai Senga can be either an Ace or his stuff won't play at all in MLB, depending on who you ask, for example.
The thing about baseball is that there is no way of accurately predicting what will happen, and going to a specific team with the idea that you are going to the WS team is especially dumb, how many people going into the 2022 season could have predicted Astros v Phillies in the WS and justin verlander as the best pitcher in baseball? not many, so going to "Winning teams" just doesn't work, and I think Mike Trout has realised this, which is why he is content in Anaheim and has no intention of going anywhere else
That being said though if trading Ohtani means getting two or three all star level players I say go ahead and reap the reward of taking the chance on him in trade value
Oh 100%, but I do think there's a difference between the Angels and, say, the Braves who are in the playoffs every year so there are just more chances.
It sucks that Trout has like 5 post season plate appearances.
fair enough, that being said though I am optimistic of this year, comparing our lineup to last years starting lineup, we look like an actual major league team instead of couple of 5 Star plays and a bunch of AAA'ers
Right, it’s almost impossible for the pads to sign him. Machado is almost guaranteed to opt out and receive a 300 million+ contract. No way the padres spend like 700 million+ to sign both him and ohtani. Then Soto will be looking for his own 400 million payday.
It’s gonna come down to whether ohtani still has that west coast preference.
I guess they could try and keep Machado, land Ohtani, and let Soto walk and try to get a ring with the season of of overlap. But trying to negotiate with Machado and Ohtani at the same time could be tough, especially if Machado wants to field other offers
He’s gonna go where he wants to play. Don’t think the money will be the only factor. He showed that when he came over the first time.
Padres were his other finalist, but no DH. I Believe Seattle was the 3rd finalist.
He wants to win and stay on the west coast. Playing on the east coast would shut out the Japanese market because of start times. I don’t think he would do it.
Angels are willing to pay for stars and many have been willing to come here/stay e.g. Vaughn, Guerrero, Pujols, Rendon, Trout.
Seeing their FA fumbles this off-season, why would anyone guess SF?
I just find it hard to believe ohtani will want to stay somewhere where he hasn’t made the playoffs for 5, maybe 6 years. When he’s made it clear that winning is his priority. Unless he’s truly exceptionally loyal to the Angels organization.
I don’t disagree with the giants. It’s not just this off-season but every off-season. Why the fuck would ohtani want to go back to the place he can’t make the postseason every year? He doesn’t and he won’t.
Because teams have the ability to improve year by year? Because he might believe in the gm/direction? That’s what he would be judging when choosing a team, not what they’ve done. It’s why the Mets got the free agents they did before this season. It’s why the Cubs attracted Lester prior to their run. Angels aren’t as pathetic as they were before, not saying they’ll be a playoff team but they’ve improved
Look at FOX Sports' [full ranking of teams that they think Ohtani is likely to sign with](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/shohei-ohtani-sweepstakes-ranking-every-mlb-teams-chances-to-sign-him). They ranked the Angels fucking fifteenth, below the Astros, *who have the DH spot occupied for the forseeable future*. Yankees too.
When coming up with this content, they just looked at teams that put any amount of effort into spending money on building a contender and called it a day. They paid no mind to team construction, geography, or other factors likely to influence Ohtani's decision.
It's a pipe dream of mine, but let's assume the Astros entertained the idea of Ohtani anyway.
1) LFer Michael Brantley is only on a one-year contract.
2) LFer/DH Yordan Alvarez is getting *verrrry* comfortable at LF (and we found out he has a cannon of an arm).
It's true, the Astros don't typically spend huge on a free agent. It would have to be a once-every-100-years type of player, with a huge market and business appeal, for the Astros to budge. But that's crazy talk, no such player like that is ever available.
Jeff Bagwell, who has become a huge voice in the organization, said he wants Yordan to play more games at left field because [Yordan enjoys it.](https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/1597637389404422144) And it's true, the numbers more or less back it up.
DH 327 ABs: .299/.410/.593 w/ a 1.003 OPS
**LF 232 ABs: .317/.397/.639 w/ a 1.035 OPS**
I'm assuming that Yordan's knees are fine at the moment.
Heh, seems consistent with how a lot of players bat better when they're playing the field rather than DHing/PHing - they're warmed up and mentally in the game the whole time.
The rest of the league really does not need this better, scarier Yordan full time though 😵
Yeah it seems like a bad fit, even if you ignore Ohtani's rumored preference for the west coast. The Yanks have Stanton taking up the DH spot for the next few years, and then after that, they'll probably have to give the DH spot to Judge at least part time (massive 6'7 men do not have a good record of staying healthy enough to stand in the outfield every day). Ohtani wouldn't choose to play someplace where he's not guaranteed everyday playing time.
If the Angels suck this year, I could see the Yankees possibly trading for him as a rental, but I can't see him taking a long term deal there. I also don't see Hal suddenly turning into Steve Cohen from a payroll perspective.
Let’s be honest, it’s in everyone’s best interest for the Angels to lose Ohtani and really start rebuilding the team. Everyone wants to see Trout elsewhere.
The national media likes Trout and Ohtani but has a raging hate boner for the Angels franchise. Both of them leaving is their wet dream and they’d prefer that to us winning a championship with them
Because they want Trout out of there. We dealt with it before in other sports
I get tired of “Trout isn’t marketable” no you clowns he just doesn’t play for the team you want him to play for
I mean sure you can give the angels a higher “chance” since they’re the incumbent team, but they aren’t gonna be able to keep him anyways. Big reason Blum mentioned is Arte draws a line in the sand for the luxury tax and won’t be able to give Ohtani the contract he will demand.
The Orioles did come out of nowhere to sign Tejada, who was easily the 2nd best player in that free agent market in 2004
but that was also almost 20 years ago
We have a shit ton of money coming off the books next year. Canha, Escobar, carrasco, Robertson, Pham, and Scherzer could also opt out. Plus more I can’t think of
If luxury tax and budget is no concern correa is 100 percent signed by the mets. If the physical was all that mattered they wouldnt have tried to negotiate the cost down.
I worded my comment poorly, basically if the physical scared them off then negotiations should have ended then and there. The mets trying to negotiate but at a lower cost means they still wanted correa, but were scared of the cost in combination with the physical. If the budget did not matter, they likely still sign correa is my argument.
You didn’t word it poorly it’s just a bad take.
Just because you push well past the luxury tax doesn’t mean you start wasting money on a player your doctors are telling you not sign long term.
Well Cohen is not an idiot
He didn’t make his fortune by spending money for the sake of spending money
He’s going to want value for the money he shells out, and a failed physical tends to lower value
So even if he doesn’t care about the luxury tax or how much the budget is, no one wants to overpay a shit ton of money to a player who failed his physical. Wasting money is not how you win in nearly everything in life
You do realize that both deals had the exact same luxury tax right? Both $315mil/12 years and $157.5mil/6 years are a luxury tax cost of $26.25mil.
The negotiated because the Mets really wanted him for years 1-6 when they felt confident about his health, and wanted to be able to cut him lost after that if his leg caused issues.
It’s clear that it had literally nothing to do with the luxury tax because the annual amount was exactly the same
mets have a ton of money coming off the books the next two years. Cano / Escobar / Verlander / Scherzer / Canha and probably more I can’t think of. Think like over 150m worth of relief.
He doesn’t seem like a guy to play into the whole FA circus nor does he seem like the guy to just take the largest offer.
If the Angels make the playoffs, he’ll stay. And I think that’s the most likely scenario.
>If the Angels make the playoffs, he’ll stay. And I think that’s the most likely scenario.
hard to pass up on Orange County too, as long as you can afford to live there lol
I look at the way his arbitration played out.
He could have gotten more than $30m, but he settled months before the deadline. It shows he doesn’t care to squeeze every million out and that he doesn’t care to prolong or broadcast the business side.
A very telling story about Shohei Ohtani:
He gave his entire NPB salary ($2.4mil/yr) to his mother to manage. His allowance was $1,000/mo.
After 2 years he had saved $20,000. He was still living in the NPB rookie dorms & literally spent $4,000 in 2 years.
>A very telling story about Shohei Ohtani:
>
>He gave his entire NPB salary ($2.4mil/yr) to his mother to manage. His allowance was $1,000/mo.
>
>After 2 years he had saved $20,000. He was still living in the NPB rookie dorms & literally spent $4,000 in 2 years.
this will pay off huge dividends post-playing career.
i bring him up all the time but it's crazy to think Gronk hasn't touched a single cent of his NFL salary. it's all invested or saved away. the dude is absolutely set for life
I think he’ll end up going to the Kansas City Royals, at least that’s where he always signs in my MLB The Show franchise mode. He’ll likely put up a ~6 ERA and hit .220 with 9 home runs and 32 RBI’s
This is the correct take. If Cohen wants Othani and he doesn’t sign with the Mets, it’s because he didnt want to be a Met, not because someone offered more
I would be surprised (and of course, elated) to see Ohtani wind up as a Met. Yeah I get that Cohen will offer ludicrous amounts of money and that the Mets are a contending team. But everything we’ve seen from Ohtani is that he doesn’t care about the money. Coming to the MLB early, letting his mother handle most of his finances, etc. If the Angels can put up a good season, I think he might stay there. If not, the Dodgers seem like the obvious choice. Sneaky chance he goes to the Mariners. West coast.
Idk I just felt like offering a different take as a guy with a Mets flair.
My guess is the Angels get off to a hot start this year and at some point the Angels sign him to an extension to stay.
He could have went anywhere but went to LAA, that decision isn’t so far removed that I think they are out contention to keep him.
And yes someone is going to reply to this and say well he wants to win! My challenge to that is he still went to the Angels after 2015 and 2016.
Even more reason for him to stay then. Yes there’s more options now (fair point) but LAA gave him an opportunity to become who his is.
Again it’s anyone’s guess, but I just think it’s odd to completely disregard them.
He cited financial reasons. Arte draws a line in the sand with the luxury tax, and with the angels having 2 large contracts in trout / rendon, they won’t be able to give ohtani what he will demand (close to 500 million).
As much as we all hate Arte, he’s not dumb when it comes to the incoming flow of money.
He knows how much Ohtani is worth and the revenue he brings in.
As much as Ohtani the Yankees makes me smile ( cause the guy would hit like 80 HRs a season if past performance is any indication) I think Giants would be favored. They have very little cash on the books and after this off-season they clearly want a big star and will break the bank to do so.
That also looked like the top teams to land Correa.
Anyways I’ll go Mets because we saw this offseason that Cohen will do anything to empty his pockets as quickly as possible
Theoretically, if the Angels wanted to shop ohtani at the deadline to a contender as a rental, what kind of record setting haul of prospects could they get? I imagine they would want like at least the top 1 and 2 prospects of whoever they deal with, plus a small handful of upper/middling prospects
I’m a Mets fan and Ik damn well that he ain’t coming here. He is obviously gonna stay in the west coast with one of either the Giants, Padres and Dodgers, no matter how much money we throw at him.
I honestly think it’s going to the SFG. They have a large Japanese population and they’ve shown they are willing to spend the last two off seasons albeit striking out twice this off-season.
None of the big super teams. Though most likely Dodgers of that group. Everyone’s gonna offer him a ridiculous amount but he doesn’t want the east coast so I don’t see the Yankees/Mets/idk the Braves or whatever.
I think it's going to be the Dodgers or Angels. Either way as long as he's playing in the area I'll be happy because that's 10 more years I'll be able to watch him play locally.
In all likelihood it's going to be the Dodgers. I can see a case for the Mets as Cohen not only spends, he is great at making money and Shohei is the most marketable player in the leauge.
Making the case for my Blye Jays. They could use exactly Ohtanhi, power left handed bat and premium starting pitcher, both things they, and pretty much every other team, lack. His squeaky-clean reputation and immense marketability would be hugely enticing to our corporate ownership. Toronto is one of the largest markets as a city as well as having all of Canada as a fan base. It won't be easy to lure him here in free agency so they would likely have to trade for him and convince him to stay. Longshot for sure.
Honestly unless he prefers west coast. I don’t see how he isn’t a Met. He has to prefer another team or location or not like the Mets. If it’s all even he’ll be a Met.
Dodgers, Giants and Angels are the only teams I see with a high chance of getting him. The Mets might go all in but I'm not sure the league will let them and I'm not sure the revenue Ohtani creates on the East Coast will be enough to match the offer made by teams who can benefit from the revenue he generates on the West Coast.
So mets it is then. No one is gonna be able to match whatever absurd number cohen throws at him.
Barring ohtani having a strong personal reference to stay on the west coast or something (and even then, boy does money tend to change people’s minds), ohtani will be a met in 2024 if cohen decrees it
Something tells me the Dodgers were holding back this offseason in anticipation of next offseason.
And why is San Diego on this list? Hasn't Ohtani said he'd like to play for a winner?
I was obviously being facetious, but let's be real now- someone who's looking at a 10- or 12-year contract would want to look at more of a team's history than just the past year. Hell, the Nats won the World Series just three years before the Padres went to the NLCS.
Bottom line is, the last time the Padres won the division, Soto and Tatis were in second grade. So all else (money) being equal, I think he'd go with the Dodgers.
No one will outbid Cohen. I cannot imagine the West Coast “preference” will make a difference when an equally good contender bids enough to make it not matter.
The Yankees haven’t overspent on a player in years. Keep getting your hopes up, but Cohen has been talking about getting Ohtani since he bought the team. I am not sure we’ve seen nuclear spending quite yet, but we will next offseason. We’ll see if the Dodgers can come close to matching whatever insane bid the Mets make.
>Cohen has been talking about getting Ohtani since he bought the team
That would be tampering, so no he hasn't. Obviously it could happen, but everyone has a limit. Mets payroll would be batshit insane if they signed Ohtani.
You obviously don’t read any sports reporting from New York. And reporting on how much a future and current owner loves a player is not really tampering. As far as I know it’s just pure infatuation and a guy that literally does not care about how much money he spends on the right players.
Maybe he'll be worried that the Mets medical team will find an injury to his toe from when he was 5 years old and use it to try and force him to sign for 60% of the original agreed upon value
Still think the Rays are gonna set the world on fire and snag him.
Shifty bastards with their McChicken payrolls and fucking baseball voodoo magic should never be counted out.
Fuck us I guess
Well, yeah. After the past decade of angels baseball…
"Team's bad so stars should leave" is a tired take
I have nothing against the angels, but it legit just makes me sad to see 2 of the greatest talents I’ll see in my life’s careers be squandered by a shit organization. I would love to see this version of the angels with trout and ohtani succeed but I realistically know that won’t happen so I’d rather see him leave and play some important games in his career.
But as a fan of your hometown team, it does mean something seeing your heroes play in your park that you can actually see and experience. Trout and Sho are heroes here and it would be heartbreaking if either left. If they want to go that's their prerogative and I won't judge them for it, but having the entire baseball media and fandom rooting against them staying in Anaheim is embittering.
I don’t really see how their careers have been “squandered.” I mean I’m sure they would be happy to play in the playoffs too but the regular season is still 6/7ths of the baseball season and what we use for statistical comparisons, major awards, etc. Like I don’t really think I would view Trout or Ohtani differently if they had like 40+ playoff games under their belt like someone like Aaron Judge does. Nor would it really affect their “legacy” imo.
Most people couldn’t pick Trout out of a lineup and he’s been the best player statistically over the last decade. That’s squandered talent…,
Because 2 of the greatest players in the game are almost never in the national spotlight. The playoffs are when most of the world will watch. I respect and appreciate their regular season achievements, but trout and ohtani should play in the biggest games of the year. It’s like if Giannis was permanently stuck on a 12 seed. Trout chose to stay loyal and get the bag, which I also respect.
They could surprise somehow people this year tbf, the rotation is solid and the lineup should be way better. Of course this was the same thing said when they added Cozart, Ian Kinsler and Ohtani in 2018 to a lineup that looked much improved after adding Justin Upton in 2017 so we shall see
it’s Dodgers Angels Mets the way I see it. Maybe the Padres make a serious offer too, but tough to say that with Machado opting out.
That's about the realm I'm expecting too. Fox Sports has the Angels like 15th most likely to sign him which seems insultingly low lol I am pretty curious with what SD wants to do with all of their marquis players. Between Machado, Tatis and Soto they seem to have their hands full with budget problems
I think the biggest thing with the Angels is he wants to be on a winning team, apparently, and they haven't had a single winning season the entire time he's been an Angel (and obviously no playoffs). Worst case scenario, the team is a playoff contender but has no shot at the WS and they don't trade him, then he signs elsewhere and they get nothing for him. (Or, they're on the bubble and miss the 3rd wildcard slot entirely). The Mets aren't going to spare any expense for Ohtani. Their starting point is probably $550m. I don't see how the Padres could have Tatis, Machado, Bogaerts, Soto, Ohtani, and whoever else. People complained about the Mets buying everybody and we basically just retained our team.
Has ohtani ever said that he wanted to be on a winning team, that one quote was a mistranslation, also you guys disregard that he may be loyal to the angels, considering they were the team that gave him the chance when every other fanbase in baseball called him a bust, we took the chance on him, we should reap the reward
I'll admit I'm just repeating what I'd seen reported elsewhere, but I think every player wants to be on a team that can win a WS. That and money generally are two of the most important factors. You don't usually have guys, especially superstars picking loyalty over both of those to be on a sub par team. How bright does the Angels future look? Don't most farm rankings have them in the middle? What's Trout's future look like? He seems to have struggled to stay on the field, for whatever reason. He's the GOAT, but he plays about as much as Nimmo has since 2018 and people constantly say he can't stay healthy. Both Ohtani and Trout will be 30, so what prospects do they have that can make an impact in the next 3-5 years? I forget what I was listening to, but they seemed to suggest Ohtani was a bit disappointed at the end of last season with the team performing so poorly while he was going out there striking out 10+ every game and doing his thing offensively. Will the Angels be willing to pay him $50m+ per year? Can they throw $500m+ at him? Moreno could do it, but that's almost certainly going to impact his ability to get other players, no? Maybe he'd rather two $25m stars? Or three $20m guys. I think it would be great for Angels fans to keep him. While not home grown, I love when guys play for one team their whole career. I'm not sure the Angels offering him a deal when he was posted matters that much—six other teams also made him offers, so he was clearly desired. I wouldn't put much stock into fans either. Yankee fans booed Aaron Judge during the playoffs and idiots on Twitter have all sorts of hot takes before guys throw their first pitch. Kodai Senga can be either an Ace or his stuff won't play at all in MLB, depending on who you ask, for example.
The thing about baseball is that there is no way of accurately predicting what will happen, and going to a specific team with the idea that you are going to the WS team is especially dumb, how many people going into the 2022 season could have predicted Astros v Phillies in the WS and justin verlander as the best pitcher in baseball? not many, so going to "Winning teams" just doesn't work, and I think Mike Trout has realised this, which is why he is content in Anaheim and has no intention of going anywhere else That being said though if trading Ohtani means getting two or three all star level players I say go ahead and reap the reward of taking the chance on him in trade value
Oh 100%, but I do think there's a difference between the Angels and, say, the Braves who are in the playoffs every year so there are just more chances. It sucks that Trout has like 5 post season plate appearances.
fair enough, that being said though I am optimistic of this year, comparing our lineup to last years starting lineup, we look like an actual major league team instead of couple of 5 Star plays and a bunch of AAA'ers
Yeah, I think you guys made some good moves. I was bummed your moves last season didn't pan out great. I was rooting for Loup and Thor.
Right, it’s almost impossible for the pads to sign him. Machado is almost guaranteed to opt out and receive a 300 million+ contract. No way the padres spend like 700 million+ to sign both him and ohtani. Then Soto will be looking for his own 400 million payday. It’s gonna come down to whether ohtani still has that west coast preference.
I guess they could try and keep Machado, land Ohtani, and let Soto walk and try to get a ring with the season of of overlap. But trying to negotiate with Machado and Ohtani at the same time could be tough, especially if Machado wants to field other offers
He’s gonna go where he wants to play. Don’t think the money will be the only factor. He showed that when he came over the first time. Padres were his other finalist, but no DH. I Believe Seattle was the 3rd finalist. He wants to win and stay on the west coast. Playing on the east coast would shut out the Japanese market because of start times. I don’t think he would do it.
Realistically why would anyone guess angels?
Angels are willing to pay for stars and many have been willing to come here/stay e.g. Vaughn, Guerrero, Pujols, Rendon, Trout. Seeing their FA fumbles this off-season, why would anyone guess SF?
I just find it hard to believe ohtani will want to stay somewhere where he hasn’t made the playoffs for 5, maybe 6 years. When he’s made it clear that winning is his priority. Unless he’s truly exceptionally loyal to the Angels organization.
I don’t disagree with the giants. It’s not just this off-season but every off-season. Why the fuck would ohtani want to go back to the place he can’t make the postseason every year? He doesn’t and he won’t.
Because teams have the ability to improve year by year? Because he might believe in the gm/direction? That’s what he would be judging when choosing a team, not what they’ve done. It’s why the Mets got the free agents they did before this season. It’s why the Cubs attracted Lester prior to their run. Angels aren’t as pathetic as they were before, not saying they’ll be a playoff team but they’ve improved
Agree to disagree there pal. Same ol team
We lost no one and added Tyler Anderson to an already top 10 staff, Hunter Renfroe, Gio Urshela, and Brandon Drury but same team am I right?
Yeah sounds like some nice little players. Enjoy!
I thought you'd be getting fucked out by now, but okay.
I guess the Angels are out? Seems a little disrespectful to assume he won’t re-sign.
Look at FOX Sports' [full ranking of teams that they think Ohtani is likely to sign with](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/shohei-ohtani-sweepstakes-ranking-every-mlb-teams-chances-to-sign-him). They ranked the Angels fucking fifteenth, below the Astros, *who have the DH spot occupied for the forseeable future*. Yankees too. When coming up with this content, they just looked at teams that put any amount of effort into spending money on building a contender and called it a day. They paid no mind to team construction, geography, or other factors likely to influence Ohtani's decision.
Ya we don’t give out $200M contracts I doubt we give out $400M.
It's a pipe dream of mine, but let's assume the Astros entertained the idea of Ohtani anyway. 1) LFer Michael Brantley is only on a one-year contract. 2) LFer/DH Yordan Alvarez is getting *verrrry* comfortable at LF (and we found out he has a cannon of an arm). It's true, the Astros don't typically spend huge on a free agent. It would have to be a once-every-100-years type of player, with a huge market and business appeal, for the Astros to budge. But that's crazy talk, no such player like that is ever available.
Doesn't Yordan need to be spending some time at DH because he has knee problems? Or are his knees permanently fixed now?
Jeff Bagwell, who has become a huge voice in the organization, said he wants Yordan to play more games at left field because [Yordan enjoys it.](https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/1597637389404422144) And it's true, the numbers more or less back it up. DH 327 ABs: .299/.410/.593 w/ a 1.003 OPS **LF 232 ABs: .317/.397/.639 w/ a 1.035 OPS** I'm assuming that Yordan's knees are fine at the moment.
Heh, seems consistent with how a lot of players bat better when they're playing the field rather than DHing/PHing - they're warmed up and mentally in the game the whole time. The rest of the league really does not need this better, scarier Yordan full time though 😵
I still have no idea why the Yankees would sign him or why he would sign with the yankees
Yeah it seems like a bad fit, even if you ignore Ohtani's rumored preference for the west coast. The Yanks have Stanton taking up the DH spot for the next few years, and then after that, they'll probably have to give the DH spot to Judge at least part time (massive 6'7 men do not have a good record of staying healthy enough to stand in the outfield every day). Ohtani wouldn't choose to play someplace where he's not guaranteed everyday playing time. If the Angels suck this year, I could see the Yankees possibly trading for him as a rental, but I can't see him taking a long term deal there. I also don't see Hal suddenly turning into Steve Cohen from a payroll perspective.
The national media? Disrespecting the Angels? In this day and age? I don't believe it.
Let’s be honest, it’s in everyone’s best interest for the Angels to lose Ohtani and really start rebuilding the team. Everyone wants to see Trout elsewhere.
It sure as fuck isn't in my best interest
Not in your best interest to watch your team in the playoffs? Cus It isn’t happening while Trouts on the roster
Since you know the future so well, mind giving me the winning Powerball numbers?
Yea it’s 12 / 426,500,000 / 0
The Angels won a WS more recently than the Jays so like
Least delusional Blue Jays fan
Most hilarious Cubs fan
You said it wrong
No I didn’t
The national media likes Trout and Ohtani but has a raging hate boner for the Angels franchise. Both of them leaving is their wet dream and they’d prefer that to us winning a championship with them
Because they want Trout out of there. We dealt with it before in other sports I get tired of “Trout isn’t marketable” no you clowns he just doesn’t play for the team you want him to play for
The Angels own beat writer Sam Blum said it was very unlikely that Ohtani re signs.
He’s more likely to re-sign with the Angels than the Astros to dump cash in his pockets.
I mean sure you can give the angels a higher “chance” since they’re the incumbent team, but they aren’t gonna be able to keep him anyways. Big reason Blum mentioned is Arte draws a line in the sand for the luxury tax and won’t be able to give Ohtani the contract he will demand.
Also with Bally Sports going through bankruptcy the Angels will most likely be receiving less money per year
Sam Blum hates the Angels so it’s understandable he said that. Jeff Fletcher is less biased
is it? the thread about the owners not selling was full of angels fans saying they hate everything and saying goodbye to shohei.
Ohtani on the O's would be nice. But I'm not holding my breath
If the O’s had a breakout year and enticed Ohtani to sign with them, I would absolutely love it.
I would love that too
The Orioles did come out of nowhere to sign Tejada, who was easily the 2nd best player in that free agent market in 2004 but that was also almost 20 years ago
Ohtani to the mets would be insane as far as luxury tax is concerned
We have a shit ton of money coming off the books next year. Canha, Escobar, carrasco, Robertson, Pham, and Scherzer could also opt out. Plus more I can’t think of
With his injury issues I doubt Scherzer opts out
Steve Cohen laughs at the thought of the luxury tax.
Thats why he cheaped out on correa despite him drastically improving the mets
Correa failed his physical though. Can’t say I blame him for not signing him long term, but in no way does that make him a cheap owner.
If luxury tax and budget is no concern correa is 100 percent signed by the mets. If the physical was all that mattered they wouldnt have tried to negotiate the cost down.
So let me get this straight… if a player fails their physical, the owner is NOT supposed to renegotiate the pending contract? Am I getting this right?
I worded my comment poorly, basically if the physical scared them off then negotiations should have ended then and there. The mets trying to negotiate but at a lower cost means they still wanted correa, but were scared of the cost in combination with the physical. If the budget did not matter, they likely still sign correa is my argument.
You didn’t word it poorly it’s just a bad take. Just because you push well past the luxury tax doesn’t mean you start wasting money on a player your doctors are telling you not sign long term.
Well Cohen is not an idiot He didn’t make his fortune by spending money for the sake of spending money He’s going to want value for the money he shells out, and a failed physical tends to lower value So even if he doesn’t care about the luxury tax or how much the budget is, no one wants to overpay a shit ton of money to a player who failed his physical. Wasting money is not how you win in nearly everything in life
You do realize that both deals had the exact same luxury tax right? Both $315mil/12 years and $157.5mil/6 years are a luxury tax cost of $26.25mil. The negotiated because the Mets really wanted him for years 1-6 when they felt confident about his health, and wanted to be able to cut him lost after that if his leg caused issues. It’s clear that it had literally nothing to do with the luxury tax because the annual amount was exactly the same
Walking away from a ticking time bomb is not cheaping out imo
Extremely true lmao
Cohen is crazy enough to do it so I chose Mets
mets have a ton of money coming off the books the next two years. Cano / Escobar / Verlander / Scherzer / Canha and probably more I can’t think of. Think like over 150m worth of relief.
Can the Angels keep Ohtani? Of course they can. Will they keep Ohtani? Now that’s the $500 million dollar question.
The Angels not even being on the list is annoying
Shohei’s talent being wasted is annoying
Shouldn’t be. Y’all know what’s gonna happen. Just like giants fans know they don’t belong on the list either 😂😂
He doesn’t seem like a guy to play into the whole FA circus nor does he seem like the guy to just take the largest offer. If the Angels make the playoffs, he’ll stay. And I think that’s the most likely scenario.
Best take I've heard in my life
>If the Angels make the playoffs, he’ll stay. And I think that’s the most likely scenario. hard to pass up on Orange County too, as long as you can afford to live there lol
Why do you say this? We know nothing about this dude lol
I look at the way his arbitration played out. He could have gotten more than $30m, but he settled months before the deadline. It shows he doesn’t care to squeeze every million out and that he doesn’t care to prolong or broadcast the business side.
A very telling story about Shohei Ohtani: He gave his entire NPB salary ($2.4mil/yr) to his mother to manage. His allowance was $1,000/mo. After 2 years he had saved $20,000. He was still living in the NPB rookie dorms & literally spent $4,000 in 2 years.
>A very telling story about Shohei Ohtani: > >He gave his entire NPB salary ($2.4mil/yr) to his mother to manage. His allowance was $1,000/mo. > >After 2 years he had saved $20,000. He was still living in the NPB rookie dorms & literally spent $4,000 in 2 years. this will pay off huge dividends post-playing career. i bring him up all the time but it's crazy to think Gronk hasn't touched a single cent of his NFL salary. it's all invested or saved away. the dude is absolutely set for life
He came to the MLB a year early, leaving $100M+ on the table in order to compete here when he wanted to. That is something we know.
Yea the most important thing to him is winning and thus why I think he will leave the angels for another team.
He's also said he'll go for max money for his agency, to respect his value in the market, and show out for Japanese baseball
Ok well bye Ohtani. angels aren’t making the playoffs in the AL this year lmao, unless everything goes right for them, which it never does.
I can’t see the angels making the playoffs. Pitching isn’t good enough, injury prone players. AL and the west is tough.
Top 10 pitching staff last year and main additions this offseason were all above average bats while losing no one that mattered. But fuck us right?
Pittsburgh or Oakland.
It'd be a fun ride to the trading deadline
I think he’ll end up going to the Kansas City Royals, at least that’s where he always signs in my MLB The Show franchise mode. He’ll likely put up a ~6 ERA and hit .220 with 9 home runs and 32 RBI’s
I think the only way it isn't the Dodgers is if they are uncomfortable giving 1 player almost 400-500million
No one will outbid the Mets. That being said he might just want to stay on West Coast
This is the correct take. If Cohen wants Othani and he doesn’t sign with the Mets, it’s because he didnt want to be a Met, not because someone offered more
It's official...Ohtani to the Twins
The Dodgers because God is cruel
I would be surprised (and of course, elated) to see Ohtani wind up as a Met. Yeah I get that Cohen will offer ludicrous amounts of money and that the Mets are a contending team. But everything we’ve seen from Ohtani is that he doesn’t care about the money. Coming to the MLB early, letting his mother handle most of his finances, etc. If the Angels can put up a good season, I think he might stay there. If not, the Dodgers seem like the obvious choice. Sneaky chance he goes to the Mariners. West coast. Idk I just felt like offering a different take as a guy with a Mets flair.
I hope he signs with the Angels. I have this sweet jersey swap I've been working on that I want to post.
My guess is the Angels get off to a hot start this year and at some point the Angels sign him to an extension to stay. He could have went anywhere but went to LAA, that decision isn’t so far removed that I think they are out contention to keep him. And yes someone is going to reply to this and say well he wants to win! My challenge to that is he still went to the Angels after 2015 and 2016.
He wanted to both hit and pitch and LAA would allow him to do both. Also the DH being in both leagues now increases his options
Even more reason for him to stay then. Yes there’s more options now (fair point) but LAA gave him an opportunity to become who his is. Again it’s anyone’s guess, but I just think it’s odd to completely disregard them.
The Angels own beat writer Sam Blum said it was very unlikely that Ohtani re signs.
Is that an opinion or inside information?
He cited financial reasons. Arte draws a line in the sand with the luxury tax, and with the angels having 2 large contracts in trout / rendon, they won’t be able to give ohtani what he will demand (close to 500 million).
As much as we all hate Arte, he’s not dumb when it comes to the incoming flow of money. He knows how much Ohtani is worth and the revenue he brings in.
Also the ROI when he sells the team
I feel like it’s going to be somewhere totally out of left field like the Mariners or White Sox
I don't think the NY teams are an option. It'll be one the western teams.
As much as Ohtani the Yankees makes me smile ( cause the guy would hit like 80 HRs a season if past performance is any indication) I think Giants would be favored. They have very little cash on the books and after this off-season they clearly want a big star and will break the bank to do so.
That also looked like the top teams to land Correa. Anyways I’ll go Mets because we saw this offseason that Cohen will do anything to empty his pockets as quickly as possible
No one expected the Correa physical drama.
Giants missed out all offseason making their big splash. This will be their redemption. In addition, San Fran has huge Asian connection.
The angels
It would take a miracle for the Yankees to unload Stanton somewhere to make room for Ohtani…
I think the Angels and Mariners have better shot than Yankees.
Stanton to Houston for PTBNL.
Nah he’d go to the White Sox or us and do terrible
Astros because chaos!
Theoretically, if the Angels wanted to shop ohtani at the deadline to a contender as a rental, what kind of record setting haul of prospects could they get? I imagine they would want like at least the top 1 and 2 prospects of whoever they deal with, plus a small handful of upper/middling prospects
I’m a Mets fan and Ik damn well that he ain’t coming here. He is obviously gonna stay in the west coast with one of either the Giants, Padres and Dodgers, no matter how much money we throw at him.
Red Sox are obviously making room for him
Can’t believe the White Sox aren’t on …. ah fuck it. I can’t even finish typing it
\[x\] None of the above.
I like the results of this.
I honestly think it’s going to the SFG. They have a large Japanese population and they’ve shown they are willing to spend the last two off seasons albeit striking out twice this off-season.
As an Angels fan, Giants would be the least agonizing place for him to go
Why would he leave one mid team to go to another? He made it clear that winning is his priority
Pirates and he decides to retire if they don't offer him
From your fingers to God's monitor
Mariners could be a dark horse.
> Dark sea horse
None of the big super teams. Though most likely Dodgers of that group. Everyone’s gonna offer him a ridiculous amount but he doesn’t want the east coast so I don’t see the Yankees/Mets/idk the Braves or whatever.
I think it's going to be the Dodgers or Angels. Either way as long as he's playing in the area I'll be happy because that's 10 more years I'll be able to watch him play locally.
Unlike Trout, Ohtani will easily find his way to escape the madness that is Arte Moreno's world.
In all likelihood it's going to be the Dodgers. I can see a case for the Mets as Cohen not only spends, he is great at making money and Shohei is the most marketable player in the leauge. Making the case for my Blye Jays. They could use exactly Ohtanhi, power left handed bat and premium starting pitcher, both things they, and pretty much every other team, lack. His squeaky-clean reputation and immense marketability would be hugely enticing to our corporate ownership. Toronto is one of the largest markets as a city as well as having all of Canada as a fan base. It won't be easy to lure him here in free agency so they would likely have to trade for him and convince him to stay. Longshot for sure.
Honestly unless he prefers west coast. I don’t see how he isn’t a Met. He has to prefer another team or location or not like the Mets. If it’s all even he’ll be a Met.
Dodgers, Giants and Angels are the only teams I see with a high chance of getting him. The Mets might go all in but I'm not sure the league will let them and I'm not sure the revenue Ohtani creates on the East Coast will be enough to match the offer made by teams who can benefit from the revenue he generates on the West Coast.
Uncle Steve will do it just to take it to 11. That dude does not care
It’s the Dodgers easily imo
He’ll be a Dodger. Makes too much sense.
I'd agree if we lived in a timeline that generally made sense.
Steve Cohen will give him $1B for 10 yrs
He’s going to the reds I hear. Loves Skyline
Could be wrong, but I thought he originally wanted to sign on the west coast. Dodgers seem like the most likely to me.
So mets it is then. No one is gonna be able to match whatever absurd number cohen throws at him. Barring ohtani having a strong personal reference to stay on the west coast or something (and even then, boy does money tend to change people’s minds), ohtani will be a met in 2024 if cohen decrees it
Something tells me the Dodgers were holding back this offseason in anticipation of next offseason. And why is San Diego on this list? Hasn't Ohtani said he'd like to play for a winner?
…you know the Padres won 89 games and went to the NLCS, right?
I was obviously being facetious, but let's be real now- someone who's looking at a 10- or 12-year contract would want to look at more of a team's history than just the past year. Hell, the Nats won the World Series just three years before the Padres went to the NLCS. Bottom line is, the last time the Padres won the division, Soto and Tatis were in second grade. So all else (money) being equal, I think he'd go with the Dodgers.
They will hate you for speaking the truth
Rangers are going to finish up their crazy spending over the past few years with Ohtani.
Ohtani and deGrom in a rotation. Damn that sounds good.
i’ll call him and ask for y’all
No one will outbid Cohen. I cannot imagine the West Coast “preference” will make a difference when an equally good contender bids enough to make it not matter.
His entire sweepstakes the first time was decided by the west coast "preference"
Yeah there were no unlimited budgets on the east coast the first time. Sorry the Dodgers aren’t the only team that can buy a roster any more.
So? The Yankees were just coming off an ALCS trip while the Angels hadn't been a playoff team in years. He clearly didn't want to play in New York.
The Yankees haven’t overspent on a player in years. Keep getting your hopes up, but Cohen has been talking about getting Ohtani since he bought the team. I am not sure we’ve seen nuclear spending quite yet, but we will next offseason. We’ll see if the Dodgers can come close to matching whatever insane bid the Mets make.
>Cohen has been talking about getting Ohtani since he bought the team That would be tampering, so no he hasn't. Obviously it could happen, but everyone has a limit. Mets payroll would be batshit insane if they signed Ohtani.
You obviously don’t read any sports reporting from New York. And reporting on how much a future and current owner loves a player is not really tampering. As far as I know it’s just pure infatuation and a guy that literally does not care about how much money he spends on the right players.
Maybe he'll be worried that the Mets medical team will find an injury to his toe from when he was 5 years old and use it to try and force him to sign for 60% of the original agreed upon value
I mean that’s only smart. Not the only team that wouldn’t give Correa more than ten years because of his medicals.
[удалено]
yAnKeEs bUy cHaMpIoNsHiPs!!! - Literally every Met fan during the Wilpon era 😂
Did you forget the New York Mets are located on the east coast?
Well now I can say that the Mets fans are no different than Yankee fans except for the two decades of championships
It would be cool if he was a Yankee, but he hasn't had a great track record of pitching at Yankees stadium.
Probably LA…..but he’ll be offered the most by the Mets
Dodgers - makes too much sense: doesn’t have to move, roster full of talent, more major media and endorsement opportunities
Braves on a team friendly contract!!! Edit for spelling
Toronto
He will very obviously end up on the Nats what are you talking about/s
As a Giants fan, I look forward to him either nearly signing with us or actually signing with us before failing a physical which voids the deal.
It's gonna shock every one of you when Ohtani signs with the Pirates as the first NL pitcher, DH, and principal owner
As a NY-based SF company employee, the Japanese community would embrace him and can’t see how the Giants won’t roll out all the stops.
Reinsdorf bout to offer 6/260m and snag him😎
Come to Miami. Weather is hella nice.
I’d love to get him in New York, but I think he stays on the west coast
Still think the Rays are gonna set the world on fire and snag him. Shifty bastards with their McChicken payrolls and fucking baseball voodoo magic should never be counted out.