All you need to know about when will Shohei Ohtani become a free agent in MLB as other teams prepare for bidding war.
After the conclusion of the upcoming season, Shohei Ohtani will be a free agent. The Angels’ undisputed ace was a right-handed pitcher who finished the year 2022 with a record of 15-9 and an earned run average of 2.33. Ohtani, a left-handed batter who batted.273 and drove in 95 runs at the plate, was a great complement to the Angels’ other tremendous talent, outfielder Mike Trout. Ohtani hit 34 home missiles.
Despite this, the Angels finished third in the American League West in ’22, and they haven’t even come close to making the playoffs since Ohtani joined the team prior to the start of the 2018 season. Nez Balelo, Ohtani’s agent, told reporters earlier this week in Phoenix that his client had “earned the right to play through the year, explore free agency, and we’ll see where it works out.” Ohtani is a professional baseball player.
As a result of Aaron Judge, age 30, signing a massive nine-year, $360 million deal to remain with the Yankees this past offseason, and Justin Verlander, age 40, securing a two-year, $86.6 million contract with the Mets, the Angels owner should expect to empty his wallet in order to acquire Shohei Ohtani.
It is not completely out of the question to believe that a player of Ohtani’s level might sign a contract worth $500 million in today’s ever-increasing market for baseball player contracts. There was immediate interest from a number of Major League Baseball clubs, including the Yankees, when Ohtani was posted for the first time by his Japanese team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, in the year 2017.
Ohtani and his representatives were given a “great presentation” by Yankee general manager Brian Cashman at the time; but, the Japanese star ultimately decided to sign with the Angels rather than with the Yankees. These statements came from Yankee president Randy Levine.
Shohei Ohtani could get around $600 million in free agency
Shohei Ohtani, a two-way superstar for the Los Angeles Angels, has yet to play a meaningful game for the Angels this season, but the price tag on his prospective future contract continues to increase.
Ohtani was mentioned as a potential candidate to become “baseball’s first $600 million guy” in a piece written by Jon Heyman for the New York Post one month ago. In the past, it was hypothesised that Ohtani might collect a total of $500 million in compensation in the event that he enters free agency after the forthcoming season.
Ohtani has “earned the right to play through the year, explore free agency, and we’ll see where it works out,” Ohtani’s agent Nez Balelo said to reporters earlier this week. Heyman released his update after Balelo made those comments. A source close to Major League Baseball revealed that “Ohtani is not signing early and will be a free agent” later on in this year.
Ohtani was named the Most Valuable Player of the American League for the 2021 season. According to reports, Ohtani “wasn’t happy about not winning the MVP” in the previous year, when he made history by becoming the first player in the World Series era to qualify for the leaderboards for the same campaign both as a pitcher and a hitter. Ohtani won the award for the 2021 season.
This past fall, 2022 American League MVP Aaron Judge explored his options about free agency. In the end, though, he decided to sign a new deal with the New York Yankees that pays him $360 million over nine years. Judge, who will turn 31 years old in April, plays the outfield when he isn’t being used as the designated hitter for the team. Ohtani will be 29 in July, when the next birthday celebration takes place.
Heyman has said that the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Mets are among the teams that could emerge victorious in sweepstakes for Ohtani. Both the Dodgers and the Giants have the potential to keep Ohtani on the West Coast, and it is expected that both teams will have sufficient finances available to sign him to a long-term deal prior to the holiday season.
Ohtani is said to have told the Yankees five years ago that he wasn’t interested in playing in New York at that time. Now, according to Heyman’s source, “his advisors believe he’s more geographically open now.” Enter big-spending Mets owner Steve Cohen, who has already assembled the greatest payroll in all of Major League Baseball and who has adopted a “World Series or bust” mentality until further notice.
It is interesting to note that Heyman has intimated that the Angels will not shop Shohei Ohtani before the trade deadline in the summer. This is in part because club owner Arte Moreno continues to be confident that the two-time All-Star pick might remain with the Angels. On the other hand, the passage of each day without Ohtani signing an extension with his current employer makes the possibility of such a situation appear less and less feasible.
Which team is Shohei Ohtani likely to sign for?
The Los Angeles Dodgers have a lot of issues to resolve in the near future, but another one is already starting to pop up for when November and December come around. With the conclusion of the 2022 regular season, things have not been going particularly well overall.
Even though the Los Angeles Lakers still have a roster full of some of the finest players in the league, the team lost a lot of its lustre during the summer due to the departures of players such as Trea Turner, Tyler Anderson, Justin Turner, and Cody Bellinger, amongst others. Corey Seager, Max Scherzer, Joe Kelly, Jake McGee, Kenley Jansen, Joc Pederson, and Kiké Hernandez were among the players who left their teams in free agency during the two previous offseasons.
Despite this, you can bet that the Dodgers had a strategy in mind! Shohei Ohtani has been rumoured to be a target of theirs over the past couple of years, and the Los Angeles Angels have needed to generate financial flexibility in order to even make that potential a reality. When Ohtani becomes eligible for free agency following the 2023 season, it is anticipated that he will sign the record-setting contract in the annals of Major League Baseball.
The New York Mets and the San Diego Padres have been mentioned most frequently as potential suitors for the outstanding talent who can play both outfield and infield. The Angels were always a potential landing spot for Ohtani, but the club’s inability to field a contending team throughout his time with them, as well as for many years prior to that, has put them on the outside looking in.
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