Ohtani Stays In LA, Commits & Readings
The Unicorn staying on the West Coast, some college commits plus some reading fun...
OHTANI & DEKOPIN THE DOGGO STAYING IN L.A.
10 years / $700,000,000.00 USD ($938,000,000.00 CAD)
A massive amount of deferred money, a full no-trade clause, and what I would say is a rather interesting clause outlining when Ohtani can opt out of his record-breaking deal. If the reports are to be believed, Shohei can opt out of his deal if owner Mark Walter or president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman are no longer with the Dodgers. The likelihood is low but it’s interesting nonetheless. A universe where a majority owner or the POBO of the LOS ANGELES DODGERS aren’t around the organization a decade from now exists but I’m not putting the rent cheque on that being the universe we currently occupy.
My first thought when I saw the news of a LAD-Shohei/Dekopin deal would best be summed up with the following -
As you may have suspected, being a Canadian baseball Substack and the inclusion of a Canadian dollar value of Shohei’s deal I’m a Canadian Toronto Blue Jays fan. Shocking, I know. After getting over the “We’ve been bamboozled!!” nonsense, I was “Well, of course, he was going to the Dodgers”.
My gut told me immediately as free agency opened that he was going to the Dodgers. It makes all the sense in the world. You’re not just getting an absolute unicorn of a player and everything that an international superstar at his level brings along. Los Angeles just makes sense but from Chavez Ravine rather than Anaheim. As an aside…can we check on Mike Trout?
It’s not like I don’t think the Jays had a chance, they did. Did we get our hopes up and start connecting dots that weren’t there or were there but how the hell did we connect those anyways? I believe so and it was natural and kind of fun! When was the last time there was this type of energy around a potential acquisition? There aren’t any, at least that I can recall. This was ground-breaking territory for the organization to be in on arguably the best player in the game. You see Shohei strolling around Dunedin and the dream is getting closer and closer to reality. After that, it’s reaaalll easy to go can you imagine the dome on his first ever AB in the 6? etc etc….
Rumors started coming out that made it sound as though the Blue Jays made The Godfather off to Shohei and his camp at CAA. I was thinking something in the mid-600s, maybe 675 over 10 years with Shohei having player options after 3 and 5 years or something along those lines. We know with that amount of money there are going to be some deferrals to make it work and that’s expected. Get creative! Which they did. If the Jays got off their A-swing (assuming a similar enough offer to compare to LAD contract) and that was the offer he couldn’t refuse…then it got refused, it has to be a blow that I don’t think a Bellinger deal and/or Yelich trade will make anyone forget that throat chop/gut punch two-piece fully. It’ll no doubt help if either of those comes to pass and by the time spring training comes around there’s going to be a buzz around Dunedin. We’ll be over-reacting to spring training and look back saying “Remember that time when Kikuchi booked a sushi spot for 50 (he didn’t) and there was that PJ that Ohtani and potentially Doggo were passengers of that lined up just so perfectly? Then turned out it was the guy from Shark Tank. What a wild time” It’ll be fun, we’ll high five but we’ll still remember that two-piece…
It would have been my #3 Jays Fandom Moment after WS 1992 & 1993 and it wasn’t meant to be and that’s alright. Assuming Rogers was in the ballpark with LAD, that’s a promising thing the front office can build on. There’s money to spend and it opens up a more positive off-season outlook on the free agency front. There’s also a definite buzz of excitement at the moment going into the new year. I’m willing to wait and see what the squad looks like when pitchers & catchers are reporting to grade the off-season. Either get really excited or really realistic.
A tip of the cap to Shohei and CAA for getting this unprecedented deal. CAA did their job extremely well and this deal is a prime example of what they can get done with a client as unique as Shohei. I’m still a big fan of Ohtani and will be cheering him on … just not against the Jays in any future match-ups. We are witnessing history with the career of Ohtani and I want nothing to get in my way of enjoying and appreciating a player I’m going to tell potential grandchildren about.
Dekopin
The name of Shohei Ohtani's dog is Japanese. His American name is Decoy, the two-way star revealed at his introductory news conference with the Dodgers on Thursday at Dodger Stadium
I’m not going to get too far into the aftermath in regards to what was said about Toronto, Canada, baseball fans in Canada, or anything like that. It was total bozo behavior. I’ll let Bob Elliot and Ricky Romero do that:
That wraps it up nicely I think. Can’t wait to see what else is cooking on the Hot Stove this off-season!
BOOKS I’M READING:
From The Streets of Shaolin: The Wu-Tang Saga
The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell: Speed, Grace, and the Negro Leagues
A COUPLE OF POSTS I’VE ENJOYED ON THE SUBSTACK MACHINE:
CANUCK COLLEGE COMMITS
Canadians who have committed to schools in Florida:1
NCAA Division I
INF Charles Davalan, St Bruno De Montarville QC, Florida Gulf Coast
INF Jack Lines, Okotoks AB, Florida State University
FOR 2024/25
NCAA Division I
RHP Makaio Cisneros, Whitby ON, University of Central Florida
RHP Liam Cruickshank, Mississauga ON, University of South Florida
INF Brendan Lawson, Toronto ON, University of Florida
JUCO
C Matthew MacDonald, Kamloops BC, Chipola College
RHP Alex Uher, Pickering ON, Northwest Florida State College
FOR 2025/26
INF Tim Piasentin, Vancouver BC, University of Miami
UPCOMING SHENANIGANS:
Inductee In An Instant, finally. Kinda fell off on this one but it’s a fun inductee that should be getting finished soon.
A pair of Canucks & a non-Hoser duo of profiles coming up on a couple of favorites.
I am starting work on the first Smurf’s Top Canadian Prospects list. This is going to be a fun exercise.
We are looking to get a high-level start on our next Pro Baseball History In….Montreal. After Montreal, we’ll head to Manitoba and get into the history of pro ball in Winnipeg. We’re looking good on this series.
Good article Sean. I think, in a way, that the Jays dodged a bullet by not signing Shohei. His health going forward on the field is definitely in question; especially as a two-way player.
However, from an objective viewpoint, I would have rather seen Ohtani sign with Toronto or a team such as the Cubs to truly find out if he is capable of putting a team on his shoulders that is on the "cusp" of big things, rather than watch him add to a franchise that has won 211 games in the past two seasons. Ohtani will have the luxury of being able to mask any shortcomings he has on a team that is plenty capable of winning 100 games again with or without his services. The true test for the Dodgers will be in the playoffs once again.
I am with you that Ohtani is a fun player to watch and hard to root against, but I'm not sure that I believe he puts the Dodgers over the hump in '24 as the team's DH. Last year was a career year with the stick and the first time Shohei hit over .300 or had an OBP over .400 in six MLB seasons. We shall see if the UCL surgery slows him down at all.
Good read. Keep it up.