Jason Ross

Jeff Passan on Yamamoto: "the 25-year-old right-hander will decide among a who's who of teams interested in him: The Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox and Cubs are among the favorites, with the Giants, Blue Jays and Phillies also expected to be in the mix."

Jeff Passan on Ohtani this AM: "The Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox and New York Mets, who were among the initial group of suitors, have turned their attention to other players, sources said.” "Among those confirmed by sources to be still in the bidding: the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays and Angels. The San Francisco Giants have long had a fondness for Ohtani, though where they stand in these sweepstakes is unknown."

I think he has a far more stable foundation that Hamilton. There's questions on Pete Crow-Armstrong's total bat, but his offensive ability right now is at least a standard deviation better than Hamilton (and that's being cautious on the downside. If PCA is ~95 wRC+ hitter, or a league average center fielder at the plate, he'd be much better of a hitter, and if he's better then that...well you can see where I'm going), who is a career 66 wRC+ hitter, has 24 career home runs (a number Pete Crow-Armstrong could legitimately match in a year), and his best season was that of a 78 wRC+. I don't think PCA will add as much on the bases (though, still could be a terror), but overall, think he's a far more complete baseball player.

I'd prefer the Cubs to be kicking the tires here regardless of his free agency status, personally. Juan Soto is a great baseball player and the Cubs need great baseball players. It's true, he's only controlled for a year, but that also should be reflected in acquisition cost. There's certainly a line where I wouldn't cross on Soto, but if the Cubs miss out on Ohtani, they should probably be checking out this one. At least from my point of view There just isn't any one else in free agency who is so good (outside of the unicorn, of course) that I'd pass on a chance at the impact Soto can have. With the way Brett explained Rogers' report, it sounds less like Soto is plan 1b and more like it's not on the cards. Which, I'm just not sure if I'm all that excited about. Maybe it reflects their confidence in Ohtani and this is all moot.

I would guess where there is a will, there is a way. Perhaps Maquee sells their international broadcast rights to a Japanese broadcasting company? So while I can't really say how these things work...I would bet my ass that it does.

I would really hope not. Lots of offseason to go, so I'm going to do my best not to panic after this. Hell, we might get Ohtani and everything will be awesome! Right?! Right...

Yeah, exactly how I feel about that. It'd be one thing if it was like Matt Spiegel or Dave Kaplan reporting this. It's another to hear from Rogers. Even more disappointing that it doesn't appear to be because of their pursuit of Ohtani, which makes me a *bit* worried about their chances of landing those big time bats they really need. If they eggs are in the Ohtani basket, that's still an uphill battle. There aren't many other big hitters out there. I'd be pretty bummed, ultimately, with like a Matt Chapman / Ryhs Hoskins toe-the-line offseason, for example.

I don't like hearing that about Soto.

Yep! Everyone's guessing. Ohtani is incredibly secretive here. Teams have seemingly been told not to leak anything. Journalists are seemingly not leaking anything (and I have to think a few people out there know something. There's no such thing as a full secret). I've been telling myself here for a bit...until someone like Passan/Rosenthal releases this one not to worry about what we see from other accounts because it's got to be just speculation. Maybe if we saw multiple locals (Levine + Rogers) "break" it, than maybe I'd be willing to believe it...but I don't think they'll know first.

Conveniently, that screengrab on the tweet leaves out the next paragraph, which I think clarifies his position: "I still think the Dodgers are going to wind up being the fit for him, he said. "They're in a position of how they handled their payroll where they can offer him a lot of money and he'd be teamed with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, so he'd have a lot of cover" Without that quote, it makes it seem like Olney knows he's picked the Dodgers. With that quote, it's clear he's speculating it's the Dodgers. I still think the Dodgers have to be considered the favorites. They're a great team in the city he's already in. But I think Olney is doing a lot of what most are doing right now; they're guessing.

If it's from Mr. Rass, then I don't believe that the person is legitimate. First, he was responding to "Dave" who is clearly not a real source. Secondly there seems to be zero other mentions of Olney claiming Ohtani has decided it is the Dodgers. If true, itd be everywhere. He posted that over an hour ago. Rass has 20 followers. I think we just have to wait until a real source here, and even at that, like the best of the best. This will broken by a Passan or a Ken. This is supposed to be very hushed.

I don't think the Cubs are out. No one in Chicago is reporting that. Wouldn't even consider it yet.

Eh, I can accept Toronto. There's some fun talents there. Play in a dome; not outside. Get to play against the Red Sox and Yankees on the reg but not have to be on those teams. Bichette and Vlad seem like fun young talents (and I know Vlad had a down year but I'd not be shocked to see a major bounceback). A handful of other good players. Tiedemann coming up soon. I'd get it. I think in the end, if the Cubs lose him to anyone, I'll probably get it. I'll say this...I am pretty confident the Cubs are going to put out a very competitive contract to the Dodgers and the Blue Jays and the whomevers. I think in the end it'll be a choice of preference and sometimes you just can't win that.

I wouldn't worry much about that. People like hedging bets. Recent rumors have had the Jays at the forefront as a team to not discount. Honestly, the quieter the Cubs are here, the better, IMO. The Dodgers and the Cubs just haven't been coming up as names as much as Toronto in the last 2 days and I think that's probably a good thing for both.

Ahhhh that makes sense!

I'll say this...all of those predictions would track. They're not crazy. That said, unless it's coming from Passan or Rosenthal or someone like that...I'm just going to ride the wave here on Ohtani. I don't think we'll see much from small fish here.

He is followed by Craig Mish, who's the pre-emptive Blue Jays beat writer. Also followed by La Canfora, mostly NFL past though. With that said, I doubt any one has an idea of who it's down between. That seems pretty hard to know with how little leaks we're going to get on this.

Yeah tomorrow would make sense if this goes down before the meetings. Figure people are traveling and getting ready to travel on Saturday with the meetings kicking off Sunday evening.

A Yamamoto doomsday scenario for New York baseball exists in which Shohei Ohtani chooses a team other than the Dodgers — semi-informed gossip about that scenario is rampant this week in baseball circles — leaving Los Angeles with hundreds of millions of dollars to lavish on Yamamoto - Andy Martino, NY Post

I think we have to remember that there's a reason teams run on advanced metrics now a days. It's hard to fathom a run saved=a run earned with how many more offensive opportunities players seemingly have but strong analytical teams who generally overplay their talent levels are doing so with much of this as a basis. Teams like Milwaukee and Cleveland have made livings on strong defensive teams (obviously with strong pitching, as well, it's not just defense) with much poorer offenses. Regardless of whether the Cubs play half of their games in Wrigley Field, defense remains a factor (I also think the "easy" of Wrigley Field gets over blown). I don't think t's a coincidence that the Cubs have a "type" when it comes to players up the middle (athletic and strong defensively). They are also aware of their field and how it functions. PCA has to hit some but he doesn't have to really hit that well. He can't be Brenton Doyle horsefeathers with the bat of like, a 43 wRC+ (but then again, almost no one is Brenton Doyle bad with the bat). But a .230/.280/.390 line matches Varsho's and he was worth 2 fWAR because of his speed/defense. If Pete Crow-Armstrong hits, even CF league average (98 wRC+) we're talking about a 3.5 win player. If he's a 110 wRC+ hitter, he's 4.5 win player. As long as he can avoid being epically awful, he's pretty much a lock to be useful. It might not be a "pretty" kind of fun at the plate, but his usefulness will remain.

Oh, for sure. It's always the risk with the young, brash, hotshot like PCA. He's just cocky enough to where the importance of the situation may just not occur to him so he just goes out and is an absolute monster, or, he gets exposed like he did. I'm hoping it's a good moment for him to learn.

I would assume Bichette could handle 3b. His arm strength isn't particularly strong, but neither is Swanson, Hoerner, or Madrigal and all three have been +DRS players at traditionally "strong armed" positions with both the Cubs and other teams. He's been a pretty neutral, or slightly +DRS player at SS over his career (except for the -16 in 2022, but that feels like a weird outlier based on his other data). I think he's a square peg, square hole for the Cubs in that he's a good player, with control. With all that said...the Blue Jays aren't trading him. Recent reports refuted they're interested in moving him and I don't see the motivation. I don't see the Cubs matching up well with them either. So I think if there's a square peg, round hole area it's these things. We aren't getting him.

Yeah, PCA is a blast. In many ways, I could see him being a Cubs-version of Ryan Braun (hopefully without the steroid scandal!). That guy who's really good for the Cubs but if you're anyone else, you really kind of hate that jerk. He's loud. He' fun. I think getting his ass kicked for a few weeks in the MLB will be good for him...he needed a little humbling. I think a Kevin Keirmaier kind of career sounds like a good "mid-ground" for what he can become. He'll hit 20 home runs, provide excellent defense and every so often put up 4 wins.

One of the reasons why people believe the Rangers may be out on Ohtani is just this reason (per Rosenthal).

I wouldn't let 19 bad plate appearances ruin anything. The best players in the world struggle for 19 PA's, let alone a kid under 22, making his debut during a playoff race. If most players get 4 plate appearances a game, that's like, 5 games. Shohei Ohtani, for example, had 18 PA's where he had a negative wRC+, one hit and struck out 40% of the time. Not saying PCA is anywhere near the player Ohtani is, only that, bad small samples exist for anyone. Sometimes they happen at the start, or in the middle. And many times young kids struggle upon their first few games, especially if they have added pressure. I think if you had doubts on PCA before those first 19 PCA's, you should have them. If you didn't don't trick yourself into extra worry, either, if that makes sense. I'd say the same thing if he hit .700 with 8 home runs in those 19 PA's.