Shohei Ohtani Signs with the Angels

[toonsterwu]

I actually think this makes some sense for Otani, if his goal is to somewhat establish his own legacy. He'll get some AB's, primarily at DH, but perhaps even as a corner OF, if he wants it. The main thing, and Otani must realize it by now, is he must come through as a pitcher, but if he does ... that rotation doesn't look that bad, particularly if Richards/Shoemaker are healthy and back to form. The rotation needed an ace for guys to slot in better spots, and if Otani provides that, the rotation suddenly looks ... decent. In the 2nd half of the season, their pen might've found some structure with former Cubs farmhand Blake Parker perhaps establishing himself as the closer. With Upton/Trout/Simmons, there's a decent positional core. Still probably need a couple bats to really emerge as a dangerous World Series threat, but they should be a competitive squad in the AL. The system's still a bit thin, with chips far away, so Eppler probably needs to spend, or get creative, but with Moreno/Trout ... he probably had to anyways. Someone like Neil Walker makes some sense for them, as a potential top of the order hitter to slot in at 2nd.

 

Then, there's the non-baseball side of things that Raisin touched on. There's the huge Japanese population, but more importantly, it's really simple - he's in the LA market. That should get him a bunch of endorsement opportunities.

 

Edit: Should add that the Angels, and not sure if this mattered to Otani, have a "sleeper" system. This system could really pop in a year or two ... or it could flatline, but there's a lot of raw intriguing pieces that Eppler has gambled on in an attempt to rebuild the system. It's possible a surprise like Michael Hermosillo could end up taking an OF spot. Some of the first round picks haven't been the best (Taylor Ward, Matt Thaiss), but even those guys still have chances at big league careers.

[Backtobanks]

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I would think that an Asian millennial probably wouldn't be overwhelmed by a virtual reality presentation.

[imb]

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I would think that an Asian millennial probably wouldn't be overwhelmed by a virtual reality presentation.

 

[17 Seconds]

i never really had my hopes up for ohtani, but it is frustrating that we keep missing out on all the good international free agents

[Transmogrified Tiger]

i never really had my hopes up for ohtani, but it is frustrating that we keep missing out on all the good international free agents

 

The Cubs have a World Series ring(Torres for Chapman) and Quintana(Eloy) because they got the very best IFAs in a particular class.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

i never really had my hopes up for ohtani, but it is frustrating that we keep missing out on all the good international free agents

 

The Cubs have a World Series ring(Torres for Chapman) and Quintana(Eloy) because they got the very best IFAs in a particular class.

 

They also got the top rated Cuban prospect (possibly the best IFA overall) in 2012 and turned him into Wade Davis.

[17 Seconds]

i never really had my hopes up for ohtani, but it is frustrating that we keep missing out on all the good international free agents

 

The Cubs have a World Series ring(Torres for Chapman) and Quintana(Eloy) because they got the very best IFAs in a particular class.

 

you know what i meant. i considered changing it to "best" instead of "good" for clarification, but i'm too lazy. i'm not complaining about the front office or anything like that, i just think it would be cool to come away with one of these tanaka/darvish/ohtani level guys. i understand that the majority of teams haven't gotten to have it happen to them either.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

i never really had my hopes up for ohtani, but it is frustrating that we keep missing out on all the good international free agents

 

The Cubs have a World Series ring(Torres for Chapman) and Quintana(Eloy) because they got the very best IFAs in a particular class.

 

They also got the top rated Cuban prospect (possibly the best IFA overall) in 2012 and turned him into Wade Davis.

 

If that doesn't count we can just pretend Heyward was vacationing in Vancouver or something when he signed.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

i never really had my hopes up for ohtani, but it is frustrating that we keep missing out on all the good international free agents

 

The Cubs have a World Series ring(Torres for Chapman) and Quintana(Eloy) because they got the very best IFAs in a particular class.

 

you know what i meant. i considered changing it to "best" instead of "good" for clarification, but i'm too lazy. i'm not complaining about the front office or anything like that, i just think it would be cool to come away with one of these tanaka/darvish/ohtani level guys

 

If you're not going to consider Soler, a guy who had played in a high level foreign league and was highly sought after, then you're drawing from an incredibly narrow pool. Even on your list you have Darvish, who had a 50 million posting fee in Theo's first offseason when they were nowhere close to contention, and Tanaka, who has never hit 200 IP and is so good he decided not to opt out of that deal because his arm is held together with bits of string. I'd have liked to have any of those 3 too, but it's a big leap for me to be frustrated by the outcomes or to feel like there's been some persistent shortcoming.

[17 Seconds]

 

The Cubs have a World Series ring(Torres for Chapman) and Quintana(Eloy) because they got the very best IFAs in a particular class.

 

you know what i meant. i considered changing it to "best" instead of "good" for clarification, but i'm too lazy. i'm not complaining about the front office or anything like that, i just think it would be cool to come away with one of these tanaka/darvish/ohtani level guys

 

If you're not going to consider Soler, a guy who had played in a high level foreign league and was highly sought after, then you're drawing from an incredibly narrow pool. Even on your list you have Darvish, who had a 50 million posting fee in Theo's first offseason when they were nowhere close to contention, and Tanaka, who has never hit 200 IP and is so good he decided not to opt out of that deal because his arm is held together with bits of string. I'd have liked to have any of those 3 too, but it's a big leap for me to be frustrated by the outcomes or to feel like there's been some persistent shortcoming.

 

you're reading too much into my comments. i'd think that you would know that i know the significance of guys like soler, torres, and jimenez. i was talking about these top tier, major league ready guys that become big fun stories leading up to their decisions. i'm not complaining about our success in ifa. really i just want one of these japanese phenoms badly, so i made a short post to pout.

[We Got The Whole 9]

One thing I've seen is Rosenthal saying the Angels landed him because Eppler started scouting him back in HS, and before he signed the teams reportedly in the lead (Ms and Pads) were in such a position because they had been scouting and building the relationship since HS also. From the little we have heard from Otani's camp, this came down to the bond he felt, which would corroborate with what Ken said. I have to believe Thoyer had been doing the same, but I haven't heard it, FWIW. That would surprise me. There's no way we were behind in scouting and courting this dude from the beginning, right?

[Sammy Sofa]

 

you know what i meant. i considered changing it to "best" instead of "good" for clarification, but i'm too lazy. i'm not complaining about the front office or anything like that, i just think it would be cool to come away with one of these tanaka/darvish/ohtani level guys

 

If you're not going to consider Soler, a guy who had played in a high level foreign league and was highly sought after, then you're drawing from an incredibly narrow pool. Even on your list you have Darvish, who had a 50 million posting fee in Theo's first offseason when they were nowhere close to contention, and Tanaka, who has never hit 200 IP and is so good he decided not to opt out of that deal because his arm is held together with bits of string. I'd have liked to have any of those 3 too, but it's a big leap for me to be frustrated by the outcomes or to feel like there's been some persistent shortcoming.

 

you're reading too much into my comments. i'd think that you would know that i know the significance of guys like soler, torres, and jimenez. i was talking about these top tier, major league ready guys that become big fun stories leading up to their decisions. i'm not complaining about our success in ifa. really i just want one of these japanese phenoms badly, so i made a short post to pout.

 

The non-robots get you, dude.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

One thing I've seen is Rosenthal saying the Angels landed him because Eppler started scouting him back in HS, and before he signed the teams reportedly in the lead (Ms and Pads) were in such a position because they had been scouting and building the relationship since HS also. From the little we have heard from Otani's camp, this came down to the bond he felt, which would corroborate with what Ken said. I have to believe Thoyer had been doing the same, but I haven't heard it, FWIW. That would surprise me. There's no way we were behind in scouting and courting this dude from the beginning, right?

 

The Cubs did scout him coming out of HS but the two teams most likely to sign him back then were the Dodgers and Rangers (though San Diego GM AJ Preller was with Texas back then). FYI, no Japanese HSer has signed with a big league team due to a handshake agreement between MLB and NPB so the scouting of Ohtani out of HS was getting into tenuous territory. Some teams with good relationships in Japan might have been more wary of getting involved.

[Little Slide Rooter]

If we couldn't have him, I'm glad he went to a team that is no threat to us. Or to anyone else for that matter.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

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The Cardinals did the same thing in their pitch to Stanton:

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Lol:

 

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[Cubswin11]

Lol:

 

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They have to to be one of the worst front offices in all of sports, not even just MLB.

[UMFan83]

Some details on the Cubs Ohtani meeting

 

[Gilby]

That's kind of a big honor for Hendricks. Shows how much Theo thinks of him. Good for Kyle.

[Regular Show]

Some details on the Cubs Ohtani meeting

 

 

Was Hendricks the only player that attended? I like Hendricks and I'm glad he went, but I have to think Bryant and Rizzo would have a bigger impact on Ohtani. Apparently, Ohtani was really impressed by Trout and received a phone call from him before he decided to join the Angels.

[Banedon]

I feel betrayed.

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

That's kind of a big honor for Hendricks. Shows how much Theo thinks of him. Good for Kyle.

 

Hendricks also lives in the LA area, so it might have just been a proximity thing.

[JennieGarthAlgar]

Im going to venture a guess and say Japanese just so happens to be one of the 5 languages Kyle taught himself how to speak for fun

[TysonCBulls423]

That's kind of a big honor for Hendricks. Shows how much Theo thinks of him. Good for Kyle.

 

Hendricks also lives in the LA area, so it might have just been a proximity thing.

 

Hendricks is in Chicago this winter, he works out at my gym. He's actually a really nice guy.

[Regular Show]

That's kind of a big honor for Hendricks. Shows how much Theo thinks of him. Good for Kyle.

 

Hendricks also lives in the LA area, so it might have just been a proximity thing.

 

Hendricks is in Chicago this winter, he works out at my gym. He's actually a really nice guy.

 

Really? If you say so Tyson Chandler...