With the MLB Winter Meetings underway in Nashville, Tennessee, the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes appear to be entering their final stretch as the most-coveted free agent in league history nears a signing.
It was recently reported the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels and Toronto Blue Jays made up the group of finalists for Ohtani. Although the San Francisco Giants are said to be determined to sign Ohtani or Yoshinobu Yamamoto, their standing in the race for the two-way is unclear.
Furthermore, the Giants are believed to have emerged as the current favorite to sign Yamamoto.
As for Ohtani,Jon Morosi of MLB Network said his market still includes the Atlanta Braves:
“Clearly, Shohei Ohtani is the talk of these Winter Meetings. I was told in the last 24 hours it’s increasingly possible he will make his choice within the next week, and one team I think we have not been giving enough attention to in all of this, the Atlanta Braves. Shohei, in looking at his options, he has prioritized teams that have a chance to win sustainably. That’s why we’ve talked about the Dodgers so much. You look at his résumé, the one thing it does not include is postseason baseball in the Major Leagues.
“And the Braves, I’m told, have had some conversations with Ohtani’s camp, that the Braves have not been eliminated from this conversation. So at the very least, the Braves have, I think as good of a chance as the Cubs or the Blue Jays or many other of the non-Dodgers teams we’ve talked about this offseason.”
The Braves were previously speculated as a potential suitor for Ohtani due to having a core of young and talented position players already under team control for the foreseeable future.
Ohtani and his agent Nez Balelo reportedly were expected to hold meetings with teams at the Creative Artists Agency building over the weekend. Whether Ohtani will sign during the Winter Meetings or after MLB’s annual event remains unclear.
Shohei Ohtani contract expectations
Despite not being able to pitch at all in 2024 due to recovering from what’s believed to have been a second Tommy John surgery, Ohtani is in position to sign a record-setting contract.
His unique talent coupled with several interested teams has led to a belief that Ohtani’s contract could approach $600 million in total value.
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