The defending National League West champion Los Angeles Dodgers have been among the teams most linked to reigning American League MVP Shohei Ohtani during MLB free agency.
Now that the MLB Winter Meetings are upon us and a decision is expected within the next week, rumors are heating up about a potential landing spot for the game’s best player.
The backdrop here includes Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, telling interested parties that any leaks to the public about potential meetings would be held against them.
“It is not known whether Ohtani is close to a deal with any team. His free agency remains shrouded in secrecy, and officials with interested teams say his agent, Nez Balelo, has warned them that leaking any details of the process would be held against them,” USA Today MLB insider Bob Nightengale on Shohei Ohtani situation.
We’ve already seen leaks come from general directions as it relates to the San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays having potentially met with Ohtani.
But for the first time, a prime decision-maker for an interested team has admitted it publicly. In talking to reporters from the site of the MLB Winter Meetings in Nashville, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that they met with Ohtani at Dodger Stadium a couple days ago. “I think it went well,” Roberts said.
One could look at this a couple different ways. Perhaps, Roberts and the Los Angeles Dodgers are so confident they’ll land the generational talent that they have no issue with directly leaking a meeting to the public. Another possibility is that he spoke out of turn, which could impact Los Angeles’ ability to land Ohtani.
Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes seemed to confirm the latter theory in talking with reporters. He said that he wouldn’t comment on Roberts’ saying that the Dodgers met with Ohtani, telling reporters that he was surprised when he saw the comments.
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With fans around the baseball world legitimately tracking private flights and doing other deep digging as it relates to Ohtani, Roberts’ comments did not go unnoticed. The reactions were pretty much all the same.
In all seriousness, Los Angeles Dodgers still in on Shohei Ohtani
Despite these reactions in a react-first social media climate, there is absolutely no reason to believe that the Dodgers are out on Ohtani despite Roberts’ comments on Tuesday. It makes for good fodder at a time when the MLB world is pretty much held up until the two-time AL MVP makes a decision.
These Dodgers were always going to be in play for Ohtani. Comments from Roberts — regardless of whether they were intended — don’t change the dynamics too much.
Ohtani is likely looking at north of $500 million on a contract. There are very few large-market teams that can afford that. The Dodgers are one of them. In fact, they are seen as favorites. This hasn’t changed.
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