While the New York Mets are major players in the chase for Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, they were completely ignored in the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes.
The first month of MLB free agency 2023 was fairly quiet, but that changed in a major way on Saturday when the top name on this year’s market, Shohei Ohtani, ended his grand pursuit. In signing a massive 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers he broke records and likely set the table for what many other players could get in December.
The Dodgers were always the favorites to land the two-way superstar, however, teams like the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants were also seen as serious contenders for the reigning American League MVP. Until recently, both the New York Yankees and New York Mets were also seen as potential future homes since many elite free agents take their talents to NYC.
However, when it came to Ohtani, the common belief was that playing on the East Coast — even further away from his native Japan — would be a tough sell. Nevertheless, the Mets and Yankees had the money to at least make the three-time All-Star listen. Well, not necessarily it seems.
New York Mets boss never once heard from Shohei Ohtani’s management
Over the weekend, The Athletic’s Mets reporter Will Sammon spoke with the team’s owner about the Ohtani sweepstakes and their place in it, and the billionaire team boss revealed the player’s representatives completely ignored him in free agency.
“The agent never reached out to me personally,” Cohen said, “and I think that’s pretty telling.”
Related: New York Mets owner shows how serious he is about signing Yoshinobu Yamamoto with rare maneuver
The belief is that the same holds for Ohtani’s interest in the Yankees as well and likely means that it wasn’t so much playing on the East Coast that was a problem and more he just had no interest in playing in New York. Especially since Toronto was a serious candidate for his services and the popular Canadian city is just an eight-hour drive from New York City.
The Mets and Yankees are still seen as the top two contenders for Ohtani’s World Baseball Classic teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto.