Yesterday dawned to the beginning of a shi...Twe......X-storm of speculation and false reporting that Shohei Ohtani was signing with a Toronto Blue Jays for 12 years and almost $600 M. The initial report of a definite signing came from JP Hoonrstra of Dodgers Nation which I believe is their equivalent of McCovey Chronicles. More on that later. It was then backed up by Jon Morosi of MLB.com. The reports were quickly contradicted by multiple reporters who said no decision was made. The rest of the day was breathless talk of a plane carrying Ohtani was in route from the OC to Toronto and Yusei Kikuchi LHP had reserved 50 seats at a pizza restaurant there. By evening Ohtani was reported to be comfortably esconced in his home on the OC with apparently no plans to meet with any teams or announce anything.
OK, I am going to indulge in bit of conspiracy-mongering here. Does it seem a little odd that a writer for the Dodgers equivalent of MCC was breaking this news? Is there some reason why this Hoornstra dude might intentionally write a false report? Well yes! Yes there is! We all know about what has become the infamous Ohtani ban on leaks and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gaffe in revealing that, gasp, the Dodgers had indeed met with him. Hoornstra has not posted an apology, retraction or any other statement. It's possible Hoornstra has a real source and has the scoop which will be confirmed on Monday or sometime next week. Is it also possible this was a satire piece or even a hit piece on the BJ's trying to sabotage the deal? We should eventually find out. Hoornstra will either be a hero or he and Vox will have some answering to do and decisions to make.
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Like sands through the hourglass so are the days of the hot stove! It is incredibly painful waiting for moves to be made and having to put up with all the speculation and inaccurate reports. There are still good moves out there even if we don’t get Ohtani. Probably a blessing disguise if we don’t btw. There are also bad moves that need to be avoided and can’t be made just for the sake of making moves. No to Chapman or Bellinger, yes to Yamamoto and Hoskins, settle for Montgomery, Merrifield and Gurriel?!?
ReplyDeleteOhtani $700 million with the Dodgers.
ReplyDeleteRidiculous, but glad we did not sign him.
Snell and Bellinger?
Richard in Winnipeg
Curious what the Dodger's total AAV for Betts, Freeman and Ohtani will be...
DeleteLooks like Ohtani has signed with the Hated Ones. 10 years $700 million
ReplyDeleteLooks like Ohtani has signed with the Dodgers - 10 years $700 million
ReplyDeleteDoc, I have been mostly quiet this off season.
ReplyDeleteI am not a Farhan supporter. Never have been.
Forget the fact he is Canadian.
Alex Anthopoulos is the Canadian who knows whaty a ballplayer looks like.
Stop with signing birds that fly into windows, and hope they will be able to fly again.
Stop taking muff dives.
Farhan has no intellectual strategy to create a winning team.
He is way out of his pay grade.
Suggest Giants hire Happy Gilmour!
At least he will make we Giant fans smile!
Sorry for a negaive post.
But!!
We had none chance of signing him. He wants to play for a winner and the Giants organization is far, far from that.
ReplyDeleteWell, who could have predicted that?
ReplyDeleteThe $700 million is heavily deferred, they say, which doesn't surprise. I suspect that when the details of the LA and SF offers leak out, they'll be pretty close in present value. The guy just wanted to be a Dodger, and for that he deserves traditional hate and a few brushbacks. He's probably not used to being booed.
Hopefully Yamamoto will get Ohtani out, over and over. It'll be an outlandish number but the Giants need to pull that trigger. Unless, of course, Yamamoto too wants to be a Dodger, in which case an outlandish number should cause the Dodgers financial pain.
Next, sign Lee.
Next, trade for Corbin Burnes, without trading Harrison. If needed, sign Snell. Put together a dominant rotation.
Do not sign Bellinger. I can't imagine him returning to form at Oracle, and certainly not over several years. And he's another former Dodger; enough of that.
Candidly, I'm not sure what hitter/position player would serve as an upgrade or worth the price. I fear they'll sign Chapman for too much and have to dump Davis. Perhaps Adames can come with Burns; that would probably help.
Plenty of options to make this an interesting season, but the best ones seem to me to be pitching, pitching, and more pitching, of the front-of-the-rotation variety. Fortune favors the bold.
Regarding Yamamoto, I hate to say, it’s not really outlandish that the Dodgers grab him as well. They’ve been saving their Pennie’s for this off-season. Aside from the inconvenience of having to maneuver around the Luxury tax, the Dodgers will likely make money on the Ohtani deal, provided he stays relatively healthy.
ReplyDeleteOhtani would have solved a lot of problems in SF (maybe more PR ones, rather than winning another Championship) but the Giants couldn’t afford to take that kind of risk.
It’s not a shock Ohtani chose LA. That was the expected outcome. And I think $700M is too much.
ReplyDeleteHeyman just reported the Bums are still
in on Yamamoto m, too, which is not expected and would be a real bummer if he went to LA. I’d like to think FZ can close one of these deals, but there may not be enough money to make it happen if they are competing with the Bums, Yanks, Mets, and Red Sox.
Maybe FZ would be better targeting some “lower profile” FAs like Chapman, Imanaga, and Lee. More likely they can be signed if the money is right.
-TK