Shohei Ohtani’s free agent sweepstakes have been largely shrouded in mystery, as Ohtani and agent Nez Balelo have specifically prioritized a low-profile approach to perhaps the most high-profile free agency in baseball history.
As such, there has been a lot of speculation and relatively little facts about Ohtani’s market, though there are some indications that the two-time AL MVP might be coming somewhat closer to a decision.
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi hears from a source that Ohtani “is likely to” make his choice within the week, though this timeline could indicate that the news could come after the Winter Meetings have concluded.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale has a slightly different timeline, indicating that Ohtani will make his choice “certainly before the Christmas holidays” but also more than a week from now, so roughly mid-December.
It isn’t a stretch to say that whenever Ohtani does make the call, it will automatically become the most pivotal day of the offseason calendar. Ohtani is widely expected to sign the largest contract in baseball history, and thus his free agency has to some extent held up the market as a whole.
Such known suitors as the Angels, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Giants, and Cubs have largely held off on any other major business until they know if they’ll be adding a $500M+ Ohtani contract to their long-term payroll plans.
As such, several top players have yet to make their own free agent decisions, waiting for these big-spending potential suitors to more fully engage in the rest of the market — and possibly be more eager to spend elsewhere after missing out on Ohtani.
Since it’s only Dec. 3, it’s worth reminding you that the offseason isn’t even at the halfway point yet, and Ohtani is hardly taking any sort of unusually long time to decide on his next team.
Given the sport-altering amounts of money involved and how any free agent decision big or small is a life-changing decision for a player, it would’ve been more surprising if Ohtani had already made his choice this relatively early into the winter.
So little is known about Ohtani’s thought process that it is hard to say whether or not the aforementioned five teams (or any possible mystery teams) could be true finalists.
However, the last few days have seen the Red Sox, Rangers, and Mets reportedly all step back from the Ohtani sweepstakes in some sense, perhaps indicating that the bidding has either gotten too high or that Ohtani’s camp has given some indication that these three clubs are no longer in consideration.
