MLB 2023

[The Buscher]

Morosi now confirming that Ohtani is, in fact, en route to Toronto.

Emphasized that he's reportedly not yet made a decision nor has a signed contract.  It's possible this is another part of the recruitment process plus even if he agreed to a deal he'd have to undergo medicals, etc.

Having said that, it feels kinda tough to imagine dealing with customs for a simple recruitment visit.  At this point I'm expecting this deal to close.

[The Buscher]

Aaaand now everyone’s saying Morosi is incorrect and that Ohtani’s home with no decision imminent.

Who knows at this point but this might be an all-time bad reporting performance.  If Bob Nightengale is dunking on you, you’ve done something horribly wrong.

[Krabby]

2 minutes ago, Busch Wyatt said:

Aaaand now everyone’s saying Morosi is incorrect and that Ohtani’s home with no decision imminent.

Who knows at this point but this might be an all-time bad reporting performance.  If Bob Nightengale is dunking on you, you’ve done something horribly wrong.

Isn't Ohtani's whole thing that he doesn't want any of this leaked to the media?

[Gabriel]

24 minutes ago, Krabby said:

Isn't Ohtani's whole thing that he doesn't want any of this leaked to the media?

Yeah, which is why it was shocking that Dave Roberts may have totally fucked his team over by ignoring that request entirely.

It's an interesting subject, and there should definitely be be reporting on it, but it's insane how much speculation is happening. Write about something else, guys.

Leave Shohei alone!

PS: please pick Toronto, Shohei.

[Krabby]

If he wants less media attention, I hear Minnesota is nice!

LMAO

[The Buscher]

38 minutes ago, Krabby said:

Isn't Ohtani's whole thing that he doesn't want any of this leaked to the media?

Supposedly yes.  And I think he should be entitled to his privacy.  But, the news cycle being what it is this everyone wants to be the first one to break the news.  It’s gonna be an extra big gut punch to Jays fans if he doesn’t sign now after all these bogus reports.

I don’t expect this to happen since I don’t think he wants to deal with NYC attention BUT if he were open to it I’ll just say this:  Steve Cohen negotiated a preliminary 12-year, $315 million contract with Correa in the middle of the night while the writers were asleep and he was vacationing in Hawaii.  He also flew out to personally meet with Yamamoto last week and that went completely unreported until yesterday.  He’s managed to work in silence and fly below the NY media when he wants to.

It’s not gonna happen but the combination of that and that man’s wallet will continue to leave me with that 1% of hope until the move elsewhere is official.

[gunnar hendershow]

Cohen hearing what everyone else is offering and then immediately flying to visit Ohtani and offering him $50 million more would be very expected. I'm wondering if his reps have directly told him not to bother since all signs are Ohtani doesn't want to play in NY at all.

[The Buscher]

Weirdly there was some speculation out there that Ohtani expressed “no such concerns” about NY this time around, and that his thoughts about not wanting to play there is rehashed dialogue from last time.  At absolute bare minimum you’d assume his camp would want the illusion of NY being in play in for leverage.

Like I said though, I really doubt it.  The Angels didn’t require him to talk to the media.  It wouldn’t fly in NY so he’d have to be willing to do all of that which would seem to be out of his comfort zone.

[Toe]

I won't be heartbroken if Ohtani doesn't sign with the Jays. Agents have always used the Jays as a way to gain leverage in negotiations with other teams. 

The last time a big name free agent actually made the choice was Jon Tavares - and he grew up wearing Toronto Maple Leaf pajamas.

[The Buscher]

JP Hoornstra (Dodgers writer, BBWAA member, and award winner) isn't retracting his story from yesterday afternoon about Ohtani making his decision to go to Toronto in spite of all the national writers saying no decision's been made.  In fact he's doubling down on it, fully trusts his sources that Ohtani's made up his mind to go to Toronto, that the other teams were notified yesterday and that the announcement of an in principle agreement is still imminent.

Essentially, he feels the decision's been made and there's just minor contract details to sort out but nothing that should be a roadblock.  Still, suitors aren't going to leak anything in case a Correa situation unfolds and they can jump back in.

If it were just some random hack it would be one thing but this is an actual reputable journalist sticking his neck out for this story so we'll see.

[The Buscher]

Well...so much for that.  It's the Dodgers.

10 years, $700 million.  Holy fucking shit.

[gunnar hendershow]

That's a good chunk of change 

[Maxx]

Rolled my eyes at people saying that living and playing in Orange County will be much more preferable to him than LA.  When you have the amount of money he has, you can grab a spot in the Hollywood Hills and be left alone.  Or if he loves Anaheim that much, he could just stay here and the Dodgers will happily chauffeur him around.   
 

If he wanted to stay in Southern California, the Dodgers were always the choice.  Same general locale as the Angels with 10,000x the ability to put together a competitive team.

[The Buscher]

Supposedly this contract contains a record number of deferred money at Ohtani's request to lower the CBT hit for the Dodgers.  I thought that deferring the money didn't impact the CBT and that it was strictly AAV (so a $70 million cap per year) but apparently that's not so.  Deferring allows you to at least somewhat lower the cap hit based on the present day contract value.

I'd assume there's only so much they could do there.  Maybe his number drops from $70 million to like $50 million but if it drops any lower you'll probably have owners claiming CBT circumvention.  Which would be a fun argument for them to make since they will also insist to the union that it's not a salary cap.

[Your Mom]

As usual I was upset for a minute that we didn't sign the big name but then I got realistic and figured out that is way too much money to be shelling out for just one player right now

[gunnar hendershow]

12 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

As usual I was upset for a minute that we didn't sign the big name but then I got realistic and figured out that is way too much money to be shelling out for just one player right now

The Cubs are nowhere near as deep pocketed as the Dodgers. I think the other teams bidding was solely a means by which his reps could go to the Dodgers with the number needed.

[Gabriel]

It was a fun month of Ohtani speculation, and good for him with that record deal. I'm just happy he's not in the AL.

The floodgates should start to open up by Monday now, with so much waiting on Ohtani's decision.

I just woke up, working graveyards, so I'm still trying to get my head together, but the Jays have a lot of room to play right now. I'll have to take a look at the free agent market and see who's out there. We've got a few holes to fill, and a need to add impact to the group. The core is strong, but Toronto absolutely needs some high-end additions this off-season.

[The Buscher]

Mike Puma of the NY Post reporting that the Mets never made Ohtani a formal offer.  They saw how high his pricepoint was going and deemed it to be higher than they were comfortable with for it to be a worthy investment, especially if they were going to need to throw even more at him to get him to agree to go cross-country.  Probably a wise choice.  It would've been fun but objectively the Mets are nowhere near just being one piece away from contending after that disaster of a year.  At 30 years old and at that kind of money you kinda need to be ready to win a title right now to make that move.

It's full-steam ahead on Yamamoto now but I'm mentally prepared for him to pick the Yanks or even the Dodgers depending on the amount Ohtani saved them on the CBT.  I actually still don't think the Mets are contenders with Yamamoto because that lineup still sucks but a 25-year old ace in free agency isn't something you get very often.

If the Mets miss Yamamoto the fanbase is gonna have to accept that 2024 is a transitional year and, while they won't say the word "punt" out loud, they're basically gonna just sign guys to 1-year deals and hope to linger around .500 and get a wild card.

There's gonna be a lot of "I thought we were done with half-assing seasons after the Wilpons" and people calling for David Stearns' head already even though anyone could see he was gonna have some significant cleanup to do.  Cohen flexed his wallet to spend big for a 2022-23 window.  2022 was one of the best regular seasons in franchise history because of it.  2023 was a disaster, so he flexed his wallet again to basically buy some top prospects at the deadline when his original plan didn't work.  But the kids eventually have to play and for Stearns to actually rebuild the org it's gonna take several draft and prospect cycles.  It takes time, in a fanbase that is (understandably) impatient.

[gunnar hendershow]

The threat of Steve Cohen is probably enough to get max dollars out of other teams.

[DMN in the House]

Don't worry, we'll still lose in the NLDS.