NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dave Roberts began to dodge the large query about Shohei Ohtani, rocking backwards and forwards in his seat and staying silent for 3 seconds earlier than his massive admission:
“Yeah, we met with him,” the Los Angeles Dodgers supervisor mentioned Tuesday on the winter conferences, making Roberts‘ club the first to publicly admit a sit-down with the unique two-way player likely to break baseball’s wage report.
Officials on different groups danced meticulously across the query as if choregraphed by Bob Fosse. Toronto normal supervisor Ross Atkins, who sparked hypothesis of a doable assembly by holding his Monday media availability on Zoom moderately than on the winter conferences lodge, had this to say: “Some meetings that occur, that don’t occur, I’m not going to get into the specifics of.”
New Chicago Cubs supervisor Craig Counsell batted away Ohtani queries as if in a cross-examination. After saying he had not met with Ohtani, Counsell was requested whether or not anybody within the Cubs entrance workplace had. Counsell replied: “I have not.”
Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, one other prized free agent, may very well be sought by the New York Yankees and Mets, who set payroll information this 12 months of their third season underneath proprietor Steve Cohen. The Mets’ projected last 2023 payroll is about $346 million and their luxurious tax roughly $102 million.
“I don’t know if anybody can compete with Steve Cohen,” Yankees normal supervisor Brian Cashman mentioned. “He’s obviously a titan of industry. He’s had a lot of success and built an empire which has allowed him to do things like the Mets. … We can just concentrate on what we’re going to concentrate on. Obviously, it’s a player of interest and we’ll compete for him and see where that takes us, and it will be enough or won’t be enough.”
Cashman additionally has talked about attempting to amass slugger Juan Soto from San Diego. The outfielder is eligible free of charge company after subsequent season, and Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has mentioned swaps.
“He’s a transformational bat. He’s one of the best hitters in the game. So he’s impact, period,” Cashman mentioned. ”I do know A.J. in all probability is being open-minded to do a number of various things.”
New Padres supervisor Mike Shildt plans to fulfill with Soto in Miami on Dec. 17.
Only one comparatively small signing was introduced through the day. Tampa Bay agreed to a $1.1 million, one-year contract with reliever Chris Devenski, a deal that features a membership possibility for 2025.
Erick Fedde, a 30-year-old right-hander who spent this 12 months with the NC Dinos in South Korea, agreed to a $15 million, two-year contract with the Chicago White Sox, an individual aware of the deal mentioned. The individual spoke to The Associated Press on situation of anonymity as a result of the settlement was topic to a profitable bodily.
Also, Cleveland gained the MLB draft lottery and can have the highest choose for the primary time when picks are made on July 14.
Roberts mentioned Ohtani met with the workforce at Dodger Stadium for two-to-three hours a number of days earlier and referred to as the two-time AL MVP “our top priority.”
“I think that he had questions for us, just trying to get more of the landscape. But being in this league for six years, he’s got a pretty good idea of the Dodgers, what we’re about, the city itself,” Roberts mentioned.
Cashman went to Japan to observe Yamamoto and noticed him pitch his second profession no-hitter on Sept. 9 for the Orix Buffaloes towards the Lotte Marines.
“A lot of teams went over there with their executives and I certainly wasn’t going to make the mistake of not being one of the executives that went over there, too,” Cashman mentioned. “Certainly a negotiation is an important part of it, but I also think those type of personal touches are also important.”
