Ohtani to Dodgers for an ungodly amount of money

[gocubs218]

What’s an off that will “blow everyone out of the water”? 650 million? If we are in it this far, I doubt we lose him because someone outbid us. 

[Stratos]

2 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

I get that. And I don’t understand why it takes him this long to make a decision. However the fact is everyone is different. For me, I would be able to make a decision quickly. It frustrates me when people can’t. However I have a son in law who takes 30 minutes to pick a hat to wear when he goes out. Another 30 minutes to pick a pair of sun glasses. I don’t get it. But not my place to comment and I don’t have to understand it. Well maybe Ohtani is that sort of guy. Someone who is wishy washy and indecisive. Trying to rush him is only going to cause more angst. While you might be right, he does care about slowing things down, he still might not be able to decide quickly. 

We don't really know when the official pitches were all made, or where they are in the negotiation process.  Lots of major FA's sign later in the offseason than Dec. 02.  This is a 500-600m decision and the next 10-12 years of your life, I would think teams and the player/agents can't do that in a flash.

I have no expectations of when this will get done at this point.  Having a timeline of the Winter Meetings would be convenient for the teams but Ohtani doesn't care about Winter Meetings, he's in the drivers seat so his side will dictate the process and timeline.

[ToolDRT]

That guy isn’t really to be taken seriously though, right? How would he have all this info that none of the national guys have.

[Jason Ross]

25 minutes ago, David said:

Definitely didn't have you in mind with that post, to be clear. 

It's all good! I'm an over clarifier and just like people to know where I stand.

[Stratos]

43 minutes ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

It's mostly just because I hate the way he tweets, but I have Levine in the Nightengale/Charles the Cat tier. 

Regarding a couple of insiders I do trust, it feels like the coverage by Sharma and Mooney has been pretty light up to this point. I keep waiting for more nuggets from them, which I suppose further emphasis that nobody really knows. 

Levine seems to just throw stuff out there sometimes and not backed by much.

He could be the "unofficial guy" the Cubs use to leak stuff out that they want out there, so he may know more than Sharma etc.  He has the links with Marquee.

[JHBulls]

4 minutes ago, gocubs218 said:

What’s an off that will “blow everyone out of the water”? 650 million? If we are in it this far, I doubt we lose him because someone outbid us. 

For all anyone knows, a $650 million offer from one team might not beat a $500 million offer from another team. It all depends what Shohei wants in his career.

[Stratos]

34 minutes ago, David said:

 

Is this you tweeting this?

[Stratos]

32 minutes ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

Yeah, I had a similar takeaway. There is definitely some Weird Guy energy there that feels like would get old when he's not the best player in baseball anymore towards the end of the deal (I will use this to cope if he signs with the Dodgers and will completely overlook if he signs here).

Maybe they're just Japanese LOL.  Just cultural differences.  Though I know nothing about either of them personally.

Edited December 3, 2023 by Stratos

[David]

6 minutes ago, ToolDRT said:

That guy isn’t really to be taken seriously though, right? How would he have all this info that none of the national guys have.

If he actually has information (and, as we've seen, occasionally these randoms do), then it's perfectly reasonable for him to say things that the journos aren't willing to.  Those guys need more concrete info, more sources, etc before they put it out there, as a rule. 

 

FWIW, he did have degrom signing before anyone reported it. 

[David]

5 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Is this you tweeting this?

No.

[JHBulls]

10 minutes ago, ToolDRT said:

That guy isn’t really to be taken seriously though, right? How would he have all this info that none of the national guys have.

 

IMO, the official Shohei signing will just play out how most FA signings do. The National guys will post one tweet that Ohtani and a team are in agreement on a contract and then a few hours later it will become official with a follow up tweet listing the contract details. When the tweets drop, they will drop out of the blue. 
 

[Irrelevant Dude]

1 hour ago, gocubs218 said:

What’s an off that will “blow everyone out of the water”? 650 million? If we are in it this far, I doubt we lose him because someone outbid us. 

It's easy to say that, but if it comes down to money, there can only be one highest bidder.  Both the Dodgers and Cubs can approach negotiations with the intent that "we aren't going to be outbid," but at least one of them is going to be outbid.

[ILMindState]

3 hours ago, David said:

 

Nice try but nobody wants to follow your Twitter account 

[WhyCantWeWin]

Yeah I thought he was posting his own tweets lmao

[Rcal10]

10 minutes ago, ILMindState said:

Nice try but nobody wants to follow your Twitter account 

It is probably strictly BS, but nice to see Xubs mentioned as the favorite. Even knowing it is BS still like reading that better than they are out on Ohtani. The guy has been right before on deGrom. Maybe lightening strikes twice? 

[David]

With such a unique name like David, it makes sense that you guys would make that mistake.

[Stratos]

3 hours ago, JHBulls said:

 

IMO, the official Shohei signing will just play out how most FA signings do. The National guys will post one tweet that Ohtani and a team are in agreement on a contract and then a few hours later it will become official with a follow up tweet listing the contract details. When the tweets drop, they will drop out of the blue. 
 

With all the secrecy I agree

[ILMindState]

2 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

It is probably strictly BS, but nice to see Xubs mentioned as the favorite. Even knowing it is BS still like reading that better than they are out on Ohtani. The guy has been right before on deGrom. Maybe lightening strikes twice? 

If it’s 100 BS who cares what he has to say? You can find another account saying the same thing about the Dodgers too if you try. These fake accounts just throw out enough BS that things occasionally stick then they just delete the tweets that they were wrong about. They’re just trying to gain followers and engagement on their tweets. Stop paying them any attention. 

[thawv]

14 hours ago, SOFNR said:

That might be the goofiest comparison I've ever seen. Ohtani is deciding the next decade or so of his career and life. Likely the place he retires. He's not picking out a hat or sunglasses. He's making one of the biggest decisions of his life. And if he makes a decision before or during the winter meetings that is actually super early in FA, especially for a top star.  It doesn't make him wishy washy or indecisive to get all the information possible before making a major decision. It makes him smart.

He said that he may be wish washy or indecisive.  And he very well may be.   He was just showing an example of someone who has a hard time making a decision.  Not comparing a hat to a life changing decision. 

Also, you can take it to the bank that Ohtani has all the information possible right now.  He knows where he wants to play, and I'd expect it to be announced before the meeting start tonight, or during tonight's coverage.

[thawv]

12 hours ago, Stratos said:

Agree 100%.  Teams will want things done but I doubt he or his agent care, and I doubt they'll want to out too much pressure on him.

He is holding up teams.  He's holding up are the teams visiting him in LA.  The rest can move on with their business.  That said, if he's made his choice, he should announce it so the 4 teams talking to him can build their team.  But yes, this doesn't affect the other teams.

 

It's not likely, but another thought is, if he picked his team and hasn't told them, they themselves may just decide to pull out and move on.  That won't work for him.  I think he tells them today or tomorrow.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

24 minutes ago, thawv said:

He is holding up teams.  He's holding up are the teams visiting him in LA.  The rest can move on with their business.  That said, if he's made his choice, he should announce it so the 4 teams talking to him can build their team.  But yes, this doesn't affect the other teams.

There is a knock on effect. Other FAs would be wise to wait until Ohtani signs, as there’ll suddenly be three teams that had ~$50 million AAV earmarked for Ohtani that’ll need to explore other options to improve their rosters. Similarly, teams with premiere trade chips like Juan Soto might choose to wait and see if any or all of the three runners up will jump into the bidding.

[thawv]

18 minutes ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

There is a knock on effect. Other FAs would be wise to wait until Ohtani signs, as there’ll suddenly be three teams that had ~$50 million AAV earmarked for Ohtani that’ll need to explore other options to improve their rosters. Similarly, teams with premiere trade chips like Juan Soto might choose to wait and see if any or all of the three runners up will jump into the bidding.

I agree.  With that said, teams may have an Ohtani budget, and a non Ohtani budget though.   I'll use the Cubs as an example.  They may choose to go to or past the 3rd CBT level if they sign O.  Without him, they may not be willing to go past the 2nd.  So it wouldn't surprise me if that extra money is just Ohtani money, and not used on other players.  Or at least some of that money.

 

[BigbadB]

24 minutes ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

There is a knock on effect. Other FAs would be wise to wait until Ohtani signs, as there’ll suddenly be three teams that had ~$50 million AAV earmarked for Ohtani that’ll need to explore other options to improve their rosters. Similarly, teams with premiere trade chips like Juan Soto might choose to wait and see if any or all of the three runners up will jump into the bidding.

Exactly. He may not care if he's holding things up, but every other free agent and team is waiting to see how his deal plays out before deciding how they want to move forward.

[Backtobanks]

I'd love to have Ohtani, but that $500 million sure would go a long way toward filling all of the holes that the Cubs have.  As for Soto, use all of those prospects to acquire a TOR starter or two.  Any money left over from not signing Ohtani can go toward signing Soto next year.

[Jason Ross]

11 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

Exactly. He may not care if he's holding things up, but every other free agent and team is waiting to see how his deal plays out before deciding how they want to move forward.

I think most are, but clearly not every one. The Cardinals have inked three starting pitchers including Sonny Gray. I have a feeling the Rays may move Glasnow before Ohtani signs. Dylan Cease seems likely to be traded in the next few days as well. So while I think a good 90% of the market is sitting on Ohtani (just a rough estimate), I think a decent portion of the market will still move.